Claude Code

Claude Code speaks the Anthropic Messages API (POST /v1/messages). Openference accepts Bearer authentication. Use ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN — not ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, which sends an x-api-key header that Anthropic’s API expects directly.

Quick setup (shell)

export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.openference.com"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="YOUR_API_KEY"

Claude Code appends /v1/messages to the base URL itself, so do not include /v1 in ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL (otherwise requests go to /v1/v1/messages and fail). The settings.json example below follows the same convention. Then run claude as usual.

Persistent configuration (`settings.json`)

For a config that survives new shells, edit ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "YOUR_API_KEY",
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.openference.com",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "DeepSeek-V4-Flash",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL_NAME": "DeepSeek-V4-Flash",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "DeepSeek-V4-Pro",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL_NAME": "DeepSeek-V4-Pro",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "GLM-5.2",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL_NAME": "GLM-5.2",
    "CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_GATEWAY_MODEL_DISCOVERY": "1"
  },
  "model": "sonnet",
  "theme": "auto"
}

Replace model IDs with exact values from the Models page or GET /v1/models. The haiku / sonnet / opus env vars map Claude Code’s tier picker (/model) to Openference model IDs. Set CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_GATEWAY_MODEL_DISCOVERY to 1 so Claude Code discovers models from your gateway instead of Anthropic’s catalog.

Model tiers

Claude Code labels models as haiku, sonnet, or opus. Map each tier to an Openference model:

Env var	Tier
`ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL`	Fast / lightweight
`ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL`	Balanced (default)
`ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL`	Most capable

Use the matching *_MODEL_NAME vars for display names in the UI.

Chinese models

GLM, DeepSeek, Kimi, and Qwen work through /v1/messages — use exact IDs from the catalog. See Chinese LLM Models.

One key, many tools

The same API key works in Cursor, Codex, Cline, and OpenAI SDK scripts. See the Compatibility Matrix.

Getting Started

API Reference

Client Integrations

Models

Billing, Quotas & Usage

API Keys & Security

Reliability & Architecture

Troubleshooting

Reference

FAQ

Claude Code

Claude Code

Quick setup (shell)

Persistent configuration (`settings.json`)

Model tiers

Chinese models

One key, many tools

​Claude Code

​Quick setup (shell)

​Persistent configuration (settings.json)

​Model tiers

​Chinese models

​One key, many tools

Claude Code

Quick setup (shell)

Persistent configuration (`settings.json`)

Model tiers

Chinese models

One key, many tools