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Claude Code is Anthropic’s official agentic coding tool that lives in your terminal. Connect it to ClearMaas to access the full Claude model family plus any other provider through the OpenAI-compatible path.

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Prerequisites

  • Claude Code installed (npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code or via installer)
  • A ClearMaas API key starting with sk-

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Setup

Set two environment variables before launching Claude Code: 
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-..."
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.clearmaas.com"
claude
The Anthropic SDK that Claude Code uses appends /v1/messages itself, so the base URL must be the bare host �?no /v1 suffix.

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Persistent configuration

Rather than exporting env vars each time, add them to your shell profile: 
# ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-..."
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.clearmaas.com"
Or configure them in Claude Code’s settings.json under the env key: 
{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "sk-...",
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.clearmaas.com"
  }
}
Settings file locations (in order of precedence):
  • .claude/settings.json �?project-scoped
  • ~/.claude/settings.json �?user-scoped

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Choosing a model

By default Claude Code uses claude-sonnet-4-7-latest. Override the model in settings.json: 
{
  "claude": {
    "model": "anthropic/claude-opus-4.8"
  }
}
Any model with the anthropic/ prefix routes through ClearMaas’s Anthropic-compatible path. To use models from other providers (GPT, Grok, DeepSeek, etc.), Claude Code can route them via ClearMaas’s translation layer.

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Model routing via ClearMaas

ClearMaas translates OpenAI-style requests to upstream providers. To use a non-Anthropic model with Claude Code: 
{
  "claude": {
    "model": "openai/gpt-4o-mini"
  }
}
ClearMaas handles the protocol translation so Claude Code (which natively speaks Anthropic) can call any supported provider. When ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL points to a non-Anthropic host, Claude Code disables MCP tool search by default. If your proxy forwards tool_reference blocks correctly, re-enable it: 
export ENABLE_TOOL_SEARCH=true

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Verification

Run a quick test after setup: 
claude
# Type: "What model are you using?"
Claude Code should confirm it’s connected through ClearMaas. Check your ClearMaas dashboard to see the request logged.

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Troubleshooting

IssueSolution
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL ignored during setupUpgrade Claude Code to the latest version; this was fixed after v2.0.74
MCP tools not workingSet ENABLE_TOOL_SEARCH=true or upgrade Claude Code
Model not foundEnsure the model ID uses the correct prefix (anthropic/, openai/, etc.)
Auth errorVerify your ClearMaas API key starts with sk-

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See also