`migrate-claude-sdk-to-acp`

Faster programmatic Claude — one process, many prompts.

A Claude Code plugin with migration guides and ready-to-use ACP client implementations for TypeScript, Go, and Python.

Install · Why ACP? · Demo · What You Get · Protocol Docs

Install

claude plugin marketplace add LivioGama/migrate-claude-sdk-to-acp
claude plugin install migrate-claude-sdk-to-acp

That's it. The skill auto-activates when you ask Claude Code about migrating from the CLI, the Agent SDK, or subprocess patterns.

One-session usage without installing: claude --plugin-dir /path/to/migrate-claude-sdk-to-acp

Why ACP?

With claude -p, every call spawns a new process — startup, authentication, initialization, then exit. If you're sending multiple prompts from code, you pay that overhead every time.

ACP (Agent Client Protocol) keeps a single long-lived process. Sessions stay in memory. Send as many prompts as you want without re-spawning.

claude -p:   spawn → init → auth → prompt → exit → spawn → init → auth → prompt → exit
ACP:         spawn → init → auth → prompt → prompt → prompt → prompt → ...

	`claude -p`	ACP
Process lifecycle	New process per call	Single long-lived process
Session state	Loaded from disk on each resume	Stays in memory across prompts
Startup cost	3-8s per invocation	3-8s once, then instant
Streaming	Available (`--output-format stream-json`)	Built-in typed events (thinking, text, tools, usage)
Multi-turn	Possible (`--continue`, `--resume`)	Native — same session, same process
Protocol	Ad-hoc stdout parsing	JSON-RPC 2.0 over stdin/stdout

Measured Performance

Benchmark: Haiku model, "say pong" × 5 sequential calls on Apple Silicon:

Method	Per-call avg	5-call total	Notes
`claude -p`	1534ms	7668ms	New process each call
SDK `query()`	6579ms	32894ms	Wraps CLI with extra overhead
SDK streaming / ACP	1300ms (warm)	10539ms	5.1s startup, then ~1300ms/call

The per-call difference is modest (~15%) since most latency is the API round-trip. The real gains come at scale — at 50 calls, ACP is ~10% faster overall — and from architectural benefits: no API key management, conversation context preserved across turns, and mid-session control (model switching, interrupts, permission changes).

Note: claude -p with --continue/--resume and --output-format stream-json can achieve similar functionality. ACP's advantage is performance for multi-prompt workflows and a standardized protocol (JSON-RPC) instead of ad-hoc output parsing.

Demo

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0380ff65-2b6b-4192-895d-0deb29b4e19f

What You Get

The plugin provides complete, copy-paste ACP clients and migration guides for three languages:

TypeScript / JavaScript Go Python

const client = new AcpClient(cwd);
client.start();
await client.initialize();
await client.prompt('Refactor auth');
await client.prompt('Now add tests');

Migrates from query() in @anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk

client := acp.NewClient(cwd)
client.Start(ctx)
client.Initialize()
client.Prompt("Refactor auth")
client.Prompt("Now add tests")

Migrates from exec.Command("claude", "-p", ...)

client = AcpClient(cwd)
client.start()
client.initialize()
client.prompt("Refactor auth")
client.prompt("Now add tests")

Migrates from subprocess.run(["claude", ...])

Each client includes:

Full JSON-RPC protocol handling
Streaming event parsing (thinking, text, tool calls, usage)
Session persistence across prompts
Cancellation support

A web visualizer is also included in assets/visualizer/ as inspiration for building your own streaming UI.

migrate-claude-sdk-to-acp

Popularity

What's Inside

README