Claude Configuration

1. What Claude Code is

Claude Code is Anthropic’s official terminal coding agent. It can understand code, edit files, run commands, and work with IDEs such as VS Code and JetBrains.

When you use Claude Code through RouteAPI, you still use the Anthropic protocol, but Claude Code sends requests to your RouteAPI endpoint. This is better for unified key, quota, and model management.

Before you start, prepare:

• A working terminal environment
• Claude Code CLI installed
• Your RouteAPI site address
• Your RouteAPI key
• A Claude protocol model ID available in the RouteAPI console

Protocol note

Claude Code uses the Anthropic protocol. When connecting to RouteAPI, point ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL to https://www.routeapi.ai/; do not append a V1 suffix.

2. Step 1: Install Claude Code

Install the CLI

macOS / Linux / WSL:

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

Windows PowerShell:

irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex

On native Windows, Git for Windows is usually required first.

Verify installation

claude --version

A version number means the CLI is installed.

3. Step 2: Configure RouteAPI

Claude Code can read the endpoint and key from environment variables. To share the same configuration between terminal and IDE, write them into settings.json.

3.1 Find the configuration file

• macOS / Linux: ~/.claude/settings.json
• Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.claude\settings.json

3.2 Write RouteAPI access information

{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://www.routeapi.ai/",
    "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "your RouteAPI key"
  }
}

In this configuration:

• ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL: your RouteAPI site root address, usually without /v1
• ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN: your RouteAPI key, suitable for Bearer Token authentication

For temporary testing, you can set environment variables in the current terminal session.

If you use bash, zsh, or sh on macOS / Linux / WSL:

export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://your-routeapi-domain"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="your RouteAPI key"

If you use Windows PowerShell:

$env:ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://your-routeapi-domain"
$env:ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="your RouteAPI key"

After configuration, reopen a terminal window before starting claude.

4. Step 3: Select your model

Claude Code has two common model selection modes.

Option A: Pin one default model

If all sessions should use one model by default, set ANTHROPIC_MODEL:

{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://your-routeapi-domain",
    "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "your RouteAPI key",
    "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "your model name"
  }
}

This is the simplest setup for teams that want one default model.

Option B: Keep Opus / Sonnet / Haiku choices

If you want to keep Claude Code’s tiered model selection, specify defaults for the three tiers:

{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://your-routeapi-domain",
    "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "your RouteAPI key",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "your high-performance model ID",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "your primary model ID",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "your lightweight model ID"
  }
}

After configuration, start Claude Code:

claude

Then enter in the session:

/model

You can then select the model tier for the current Claude Code session.

Model name

Enter the actual model ID available in the RouteAPI console, not a display name. Copying the Claude protocol model name from the console is the safest option.