On July 9, 2026, Anthropic (the company behind Claude) issued Jam AI the Claude Partner Badge for Claude Code. It is an official partner credential, it is verified, and I am still a little giddy about it. 🧡

But this post is not just a victory lap. "AI certified" gets stamped on a lot of websites these days, and most people have no way to tell what is real. So let me show you exactly what this badge is, what it took to earn it, how Anthropic's partner program actually works, and (most importantly) how you can verify anyone's AI credentials in about ten seconds before you hire them.

First, here's the badge itself

This is the live, verified badge, pulled straight from Credly, the credentialing platform Anthropic uses. Click it and you land on the official record with my name on it, issued by Anthropic.

Verify this badge on Credly →
It also lives on my about page, right above my Anthropic training certificates.

What is the Claude Partner Network?

In 2026 Anthropic launched the Claude Partner Network, a formal program for the consultancies, agencies, and specialists who help businesses adopt Claude. This is not a casual affiliate list. Anthropic committed an initial $100 million for 2026 to back its partners with training, technical support, and co-marketing.

The response was enormous. According to Anthropic, more than 40,000 firms applied to join the network, and more than 10,000 consultants have earned a Claude certification. The big management consultancies are in there. So are specialist AI shops. And so are small, focused practices like mine.

Membership itself is free, but standing within the program is earned. Anthropic added a Services Track with tiers, and every firm is measured on the same three things:

  • Certified practitioners. Real people on staff who hold current Anthropic credentials and actively use Claude.
  • Production deployments. Customers actually running Claude in their business, not pilots that went nowhere.
  • Public customer stories. Named clients willing to vouch for the work.

Translation: Anthropic built a trust layer. Instead of taking someone's word that they "know AI," you can look for the badge, and Anthropic stands behind what it measures.

What the Claude Code partner badge actually requires

My badge is the Claude Partner Badge - Claude Code. In Anthropic's own words, it "validates that consultants are ready to scope, deploy, configure, and run Claude Code activations end-to-end." Here is what sits behind that sentence.

8 courses, one for each stage of a real client engagement

The program is built like an actual consulting project, from the first scoping conversation to the final handoff. You do not just watch videos. Each course pairs lessons with practice exercises and real deliverables, the same documents you would hand a paying client:

  • Configuration packs: the settings and setup files that make Claude Code behave correctly inside a specific business.
  • Deployment decision docs: written recommendations for how a company should roll Claude out, and why.
  • Security questionnaires: the answers IT and leadership need before they let any AI tool near company data.
  • Custom commands, Skills, and hooks: reusable instructions and automations built for a client's actual workflows.
  • Telemetry configs: the measurement setup that shows whether the rollout is actually working.

If some of those words are new to you, that is fine. The point is what they represent: the badge tests whether you can run the whole engagement, from "what should we even do?" to "here is proof it is working."

Then a scenario-based capstone

The finale is a capstone assessment built around a realistic client scenario. You are handed a situation like the ones real businesses bring me every week, and you have to scope it, plan it, configure it, and defend your decisions. Pass that, and Anthropic issues the badge through Credly with your name on it.

One more detail I genuinely like: the badge does not last forever. Partner credentials have to stay current, and Anthropic counts a practitioner as active only if they hold a current certification and have used Claude recently. You cannot earn this once in 2026 and coast on it for a decade. That protects you, the client.

Why this matters if you own a small business

You have probably noticed that everyone became an "AI expert" in the last two years. Some are wonderful. Some watched three YouTube videos and bought a nice website. From the outside, they look identical.

That is the actual problem partner programs solve. When someone holds a current Anthropic partner badge, you know three specific things:

  • They were trained by the source. Not by a course reseller, not by a guru. By the company that builds the tool.
  • They practiced on real deliverables. Scoping docs, security answers, configurations. The unglamorous work that makes an AI rollout stick.
  • They can be verified in one click. No trust required. The record is public.

For my own practice, the badge covers exactly what I do most: helping non-technical business owners put Claude to work inside their real businesses. I have taught 7,500+ business owners to use AI, and the pattern never changes. The tools are not the hard part. The setup, the context, and the follow-through are. That is precisely what this program trains and tests.

How to verify anyone's AI credentials in 10 seconds

Here is the practical takeaway I want you to keep, whether you ever work with me or not. Before you hire anyone who claims an AI credential:

  • Ask for the verification link. Real badges live on platforms like Credly with an issuer, a date, and a name. "Certified" text on a website proves nothing.
  • Check who issued it. A badge from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, or Microsoft means the maker of the tool vouches for the training. A badge from "The AI Institute of Excellence" might mean someone paid $49.
  • Check that it is current. AI moves fast, and legitimate programs expire and renew their credentials.
  • Ask what they built to earn it. Anyone who really did the work can describe their capstone in plain English. I will happily talk your ear off about mine.

Mine is here anytime: verify my Claude Partner Badge on Credly.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Claude Partner Network?

The Claude Partner Network is Anthropic's official program for consultancies, agencies, and specialists who help businesses adopt Claude. Anthropic committed an initial $100 million in 2026 to support partners with training, technical resources, and co-marketing. More than 40,000 firms applied in its first year, and partners are measured on certified staff, real customer deployments, and public customer stories.

What is the Claude Partner Badge for Claude Code?

It is an official credential issued by Anthropic through Credly. It validates that a consultant can scope, deploy, configure, and run Claude Code engagements end-to-end. Earning it requires completing 8 courses that mirror the stages of a real client engagement, producing real deliverables like configuration packs, security questionnaires, and deployment decision docs, then passing a scenario-based capstone assessment.

Is a partner badge the same as a certificate of completion?

No. A certificate of completion says you finished a course. A partner badge is issued through Anthropic's partner program, requires assessed work including a capstone, must be kept current, and counts toward a firm's official standing in the Claude Partner Network. Both are useful signals, but the partner badge carries assessment behind it.

How can I check whether someone is really certified or an official partner?

Ask for their verification link. Legitimate credentials are issued on platforms like Credly and show the issuer, the recipient's name, and the issue date on a public page. If someone claims an AI credential but cannot produce a clickable verification record from the company that issued it, treat the claim as decoration.

Does my small business need a Claude partner to start using AI?

No, and I would never tell you otherwise. Most owners can start on their own with a free Claude account and a little guidance. A partner makes sense when you want AI wired into your actual business systems, when security questions are holding you back, or when you have tried on your own and it did not stick. Verified training just tells you your helper learned from the source.

What is Claude Code in plain English?

Claude Code lets Claude work directly inside your computer's files and your business systems instead of only chatting in a browser. That is what makes real delegation possible: drafting documents into the right folders, updating spreadsheets, building pages, and running multi-step work. It is the same tool I used to build my own AI team, and it is the specific tool this partner badge covers.

The warm and fuzzy part

I started Jam AI in 2023 with one question: how do I help non-technical owners actually use this? Three years later, the company that makes Claude looked at that work and said "yes, this one's a partner." I do not take that lightly.

If you are curious what a Claude Code engagement could look like in your business, that is exactly what I do. And if you just want to learn this stuff yourself, stick around the blog or come build with us. Either way, you now know exactly what the badge on my site means, and how to check anyone else's. 🧡