Open-Source Proxy Lets Developers Use Claude Code CLI Without Anthropic API Key
Summary
A free open-source proxy called 'free-claude-code' now lets developers run Claude Code CLI and its VSCode extension without an Anthropic API key by rerouting requests through alternative providers like NVIDIA NIM, DeepSeek, or OpenRouter.
Key Points
- A free, open-source proxy called 'free-claude-code' allows developers to use Claude Code CLI and VSCode extension without an Anthropic API key by routing requests to providers like NVIDIA NIM, OpenRouter, DeepSeek, LM Studio, or llama.cpp.
- The project supports advanced features including per-model routing for Opus, Sonnet, and Haiku, smart rate limiting, thinking token support, request optimization to save API quota, and a Discord or Telegram bot for remote autonomous coding sessions.
- Setup requires cloning the repository, configuring a .env file with a chosen provider's API key and model names, running the proxy server locally on port 8082, and pointing Claude Code's ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL environment variable to that local server.