The Principal Dev – Masterclass for Tech Leads

The Principal Dev – Masterclass for Tech LeadsNov 27-28

Join

Discord

This project is sponsored by Z.ai, supporting us with their GLM CODING PLAN.
GLM CODING PLAN is a subscription service designed for AI coding, starting at just $3/month. It provides access to their flagship GLM-4.7 model across 10+ popular AI coding tools (Claude Code, Cline, Roo Code, etc.), offering developers top-tier, fast, and stable coding experiences.
Get 10% OFF GLM CODING PLAN：https://z.ai/subscribe?ic=8JVLJQFSKB

A powerful tool to route Claude Code requests to different models and customize any request.

✨ Features

🚀 Getting Started

1. Installation

First, ensure you have Claude Code installed:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Then, install Claude Code Router:

npm install -g @musistudio/claude-code-router

2. Configuration

Create and configure your ~/.claude-code-router/config.json file. For more details, you can refer to config.example.json.

The config.json file has several key sections:

Environment Variable Interpolation

Claude Code Router supports environment variable interpolation for secure API key management. You can reference environment variables in your config.json using either $VAR_NAME or ${VAR_NAME} syntax:

{
  "OPENAI_API_KEY": "$OPENAI_API_KEY",
  "GEMINI_API_KEY": "${GEMINI_API_KEY}",
  "Providers": [
    {
      "name": "openai",
      "api_base_url": "https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions",
      "api_key": "$OPENAI_API_KEY",
      "models": ["gpt-5", "gpt-5-mini"]
    }
  ]
}

This allows you to keep sensitive API keys in environment variables instead of hardcoding them in configuration files. The interpolation works recursively through nested objects and arrays.

Here is a comprehensive example:

{
  "APIKEY": "your-secret-key",
  "PROXY_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:7890",
  "LOG": true,
  "API_TIMEOUT_MS": 600000,
  "NON_INTERACTIVE_MODE": false,
  "Providers": [
    {
      "name": "openrouter",
      "api_base_url": "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions",
      "api_key": "sk-xxx",
      "models": [
        "google/gemini-2.5-pro-preview",
        "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4",
        "anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet",
        "anthropic/claude-3.7-sonnet:thinking"
      ],
      "transformer": {
        "use": ["openrouter"]
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "deepseek",
      "api_base_url": "https://api.deepseek.com/chat/completions",
      "api_key": "sk-xxx",
      "models": ["deepseek-chat", "deepseek-reasoner"],
      "transformer": {
        "use": ["deepseek"],
        "deepseek-chat": {
          "use": ["tooluse"]
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "ollama",
      "api_base_url": "http://localhost:11434/v1/chat/completions",
      "api_key": "ollama",
      "models": ["qwen2.5-coder:latest"]
    },
    {
      "name": "gemini",
      "api_base_url": "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/models/",
      "api_key": "sk-xxx",
      "models": ["gemini-2.5-flash", "gemini-2.5-pro"],
      "transformer": {
        "use": ["gemini"]
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "volcengine",
      "api_base_url": "https://ark.cn-beijing.volces.com/api/v3/chat/completions",
      "api_key": "sk-xxx",
      "models": ["deepseek-v3-250324", "deepseek-r1-250528"],
      "transformer": {
        "use": ["deepseek"]
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "modelscope",
      "api_base_url": "https://api-inference.modelscope.cn/v1/chat/completions",
      "api_key": "",
      "models": ["Qwen/Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B-Instruct", "Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507"],
      "transformer": {
        "use": [
          [
            "maxtoken",
            {
              "max_tokens": 65536
            }
          ],
          "enhancetool"
        ],
        "Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507": {
          "use": ["reasoning"]
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "dashscope",
      "api_base_url": "https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1/chat/completions",
      "api_key": "",
      "models": ["qwen3-coder-plus"],
      "transformer": {
        "use": [
          [
            "maxtoken",
            {
              "max_tokens": 65536
            }
          ],
          "enhancetool"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "aihubmix",
      "api_base_url": "https://aihubmix.com/v1/chat/completions",
      "api_key": "sk-",
      "models": [
        "Z/glm-4.5",
        "claude-opus-4-20250514",
        "gemini-2.5-pro"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "Router": {
    "default": "deepseek,deepseek-chat",
    "background": "ollama,qwen2.5-coder:latest",
    "think": "deepseek,deepseek-reasoner",
    "longContext": "openrouter,google/gemini-2.5-pro-preview",
    "longContextThreshold": 60000,
    "webSearch": "gemini,gemini-2.5-flash"
  }
}

3. Running Claude Code with the Router

Start Claude Code using the router:

ccr code

Note: After modifying the configuration file, you need to restart the service for the changes to take effect:

ccr restart

4. UI Mode

For a more intuitive experience, you can use the UI mode to manage your configuration:

ccr ui

This will open a web-based interface where you can easily view and edit your config.json file.

UI

5. CLI Model Management

For users who prefer terminal-based workflows, you can use the interactive CLI model selector:

ccr model

This command provides an interactive interface to:

The CLI tool validates all inputs and provides helpful prompts to guide you through the configuration process, making it easy to manage complex setups without editing JSON files manually.

6. Activate Command (Environment Variables Setup)

The activate command allows you to set up environment variables globally in your shell, enabling you to use the claude command directly or integrate Claude Code Router with applications built using the Agent SDK.

To activate the environment variables, run:

eval "$(ccr activate)"

This command outputs the necessary environment variables in shell-friendly format, which are then set in your current shell session. After activation, you can:

The activate command sets the following environment variables:

Note: Make sure the Claude Code Router service is running (ccr start) before using the activated environment variables. The environment variables are only valid for the current shell session. To make them persistent, you can add eval "$(ccr activate)" to your shell configuration file (e.g., ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc).

Providers

The Providers array is where you define the different model providers you want to use. Each provider object requires:

Transformers

Transformers allow you to modify the request and response payloads to ensure compatibility with different provider APIs.

Available Built-in Transformers:

Custom Transformers:

You can also create your own transformers and load them via the transformers field in config.json.

{
  "transformers": [
    {
      "path": "/User/xxx/.claude-code-router/plugins/gemini-cli.js",
      "options": {
        "project": "xxx"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Router

The Router object defines which model to use for different scenarios:

Custom Router

For more advanced routing logic, you can specify a custom router script via the CUSTOM_ROUTER_PATH in your config.json. This allows you to implement complex routing rules beyond the default scenarios.

In your config.json:

{
  "CUSTOM_ROUTER_PATH": "/User/xxx/.claude-code-router/custom-router.js"
}

The custom router file must be a JavaScript module that exports an async function. This function receives the request object and the config object as arguments and should return the provider and model name as a string (e.g., "provider_name,model_name"), or null to fall back to the default router.

Here is an example of a custom-router.js based on custom-router.example.js:

// /User/xxx/.claude-code-router/custom-router.js

/**
 * A custom router function to determine which model to use based on the request.
 *
 * @param {object} req - The request object from Claude Code, containing the request body.
 * @param {object} config - The application's config object.
 * @returns {Promise<string|null>} - A promise that resolves to the "provider,model_name" string, or null to use the default router.
 */
module.exports = async function router(req, config) {
  const userMessage = req.body.messages.find((m) => m.role === "user")?.content;

  if (userMessage && userMessage.includes("explain this code")) {
    // Use a powerful model for code explanation
    return "openrouter,anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet";
  }

  // Fallback to the default router configuration
  return null;
};
Subagent Routing

For routing within subagents, you must specify a particular provider and model by including <CCR-SUBAGENT-MODEL>provider,model</CCR-SUBAGENT-MODEL> at the beginning of the subagent's prompt. This allows you to direct specific subagent tasks to designated models.

Example:

<CCR-SUBAGENT-MODEL>openrouter,anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet</CCR-SUBAGENT-MODEL>
Please help me analyze this code snippet for potential optimizations...

Status Line (Beta)

To better monitor the status of claude-code-router at runtime, version v1.0.40 includes a built-in statusline tool, which you can enable in the UI. statusline-config.png

The effect is as follows: statusline

🤖 GitHub Actions

Integrate Claude Code Router into your CI/CD pipeline. After setting up Claude Code Actions, modify your .github/workflows/claude.yaml to use the router:

name: Claude Code

on:
  issue_comment:
    types: [created]
  # ... other triggers

jobs:
  claude:
    if: |
      (github.event_name == 'issue_comment' && contains(github.event.comment.body, '@claude')) ||
      # ... other conditions
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
      pull-requests: read
      issues: read
      id-token: write
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 1

      - name: Prepare Environment
        run: |
          curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash
          mkdir -p $HOME/.claude-code-router
          cat << 'EOF' > $HOME/.claude-code-router/config.json
          {
            "log": true,
            "NON_INTERACTIVE_MODE": true,
            "OPENAI_API_KEY": "${{ secrets.OPENAI_API_KEY }}",
            "OPENAI_BASE_URL": "https://api.deepseek.com",
            "OPENAI_MODEL": "deepseek-chat"
          }
          EOF
        shell: bash

      - name: Start Claude Code Router
        run: |
          nohup ~/.bun/bin/bunx @musistudio/claude-code-router@1.0.8 start &
        shell: bash

      - name: Run Claude Code
        id: claude
        uses: anthropics/claude-code-action@beta
        env:
          ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL: http://localhost:3456
        with:
          anthropic_api_key: "any-string-is-ok"

Note: When running in GitHub Actions or other automation environments, make sure to set "NON_INTERACTIVE_MODE": true in your configuration to prevent the process from hanging due to stdin handling issues.

This setup allows for interesting automations, like running tasks during off-peak hours to reduce API costs.

📝 Further Reading

❤️ Support & Sponsoring

If you find this project helpful, please consider sponsoring its development. Your support is greatly appreciated!

ko-fi

Paypal

Alipay WeChat Pay

Our Sponsors

A huge thank you to all our sponsors for their generous support!

(If your name is masked, please contact me via my homepage email to update it with your GitHub username.)

Join libs.tech

...and unlock some superpowers

GitHub

We won't share your data with anyone else.