Claude Code

Claude Code is Anthropic's official AI coding terminal tool for interactive programming directly from the command line. Its standout feature is deep integration with git / the file system / the shell, enabling autonomous multi-step execution (analyze requirements → write code → run tests → fix bugs). Official VS Code / JetBrains plugins are also available.

Who it's for: developers who prefer terminal-based workflows; anyone doing agentic coding tasks (not just plain Q&A); those who manage code with git and want the AI to commit on its own.

This tutorial: point Claude Code at the claude-api.org relay to enjoy the native Claude 4.7 series experience without an Anthropic subscription.

Anthropic's official terminal / IDE plugin. Use it with the Claude Official (Claude Code only) Channel to call native Claude models directly.

Recommended Channel

Claude Official (Claude Code only) (1.4x) — high-quality upstream with the best stability, optimized exclusively for the Claude Code CLI, and only accepts the official claude-cli/X.Y.Z client.

To call Claude from other clients such as Cline / Cursor / opencode, please choose Claude Official (any client) (2.0x) or Budget Claude (0.5x, with relatively less stable quality).

Installation

Requires Node.js 18+.

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

VS Code / JetBrains users can also install the official IDE extension; the configuration is the same.

Configuration

Option 1: Environment variables (recommended)

macOS / Linux

# 加到 ~/.zshrc 或 ~/.bashrc
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://claude-api.org"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="sk-你的key"
export CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC="1"  # 可选：禁用遥测/网搜

Windows PowerShell

# 加到 $PROFILE
$env:ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL = "https://claude-api.org"
$env:ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN = "sk-你的key"
$env:CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC = "1"

一次性 (当前终端)

ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://claude-api.org" \
ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="sk-你的key" \
claude

Option 2: Write to ~/.claude/settings.json

{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://claude-api.org/",
    "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "sk-你的key",
    "CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC": "1"
  }
}

Don't commit settings.json

The ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN inside it is the access credential to your Balance — if leaked, others can drain your wallet. Be sure to exclude this file with .gitignore.

Verification

claude

Once you've entered Claude Code's interactive mode, send a Hello. If you get a normal reply back, you're all set.

You can also verify with curl:

curl -sS https://claude-api.org/v1/messages \
  -H "x-api-key: sk-你的key" \
  -H "anthropic-version: 2023-06-01" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "max_tokens": 32,
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "ping"}]
  }'

Advanced

One-click install script

Paste this into your terminal:

curl -fsSL https://claude-api.org/install.sh | bash -s -- "sk-你的key"

The script automatically writes the environment variables into your shell rc file; just reopen your terminal.

Model selection

Add --model at startup:

claude --model claude-opus-4-7              # 旗舰，慢但强
claude --model claude-sonnet-4-6            # 主力，平衡（推荐）
claude --model claude-haiku-4-5-20251001    # 便宜快

You can also switch with /model during an interactive session.

Context window

Opus 4.7 / Sonnet 4.6 default to a 200K context; adding --model claude-opus-4-7[1m] at startup expands it to 1M (priced at a 2x surcharge on input tokens).

FAQ

401 Unauthorized

• The Key picked up an extra space when copied → recopy and paste it
• The Key was deleted / regenerated by you → go to the dashboard → API Keys and create it again
• The Key is bound to an OpenAI-platform Channel → for Claude Code it must be the Claude Official (Claude Code only) or Claude Sonnet Discount Channel

429 Rate Limit

The system is throttling to protect itself. What to do:

• Wait 1–2 minutes for it to recover automatically
• Triggering it frequently → spread out your usage (19:00–23:00 is peak)

Connection refused / ECONNREFUSED

• ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL is wrong (it must be https://claude-api.org, not api.anthropic.com)
• A local VPN / proxy is intercepting it → try unset HTTP_PROXY or whitelist claude-api.org in your VPN software

The call keeps streaming but produces no output

This is usually a timeout on intermediary equipment that domestic carriers apply to long-lived SSE connections. Temporary workaround:

export ANTHROPIC_NO_STREAM=1     # 关闭流式

Or upgrade your local npm package to ≥ 1.0.x (which has built-in stream-interruption retry).

For more, see the FAQ.