claude-or

Route Claude Code through OpenRouter to alternative models. One command, zero config files.

Quick Start

1. Install

# From GitHub
pipx install 'claude-or @ git+https://github.com/iagochavarry/claude-or.git'

# Or with pip
pip install 'claude-or @ git+https://github.com/iagochavarry/claude-or.git'

2. Configure

Create a .env file (in your working directory or ~/.claude-or/.env):

OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-your-key-here

3. Run

Full mode (proxy + Claude Code):

claude-or

Proxy only (start proxy in background):

claude-or --proxy-only
# Then in another terminal:
claude-or --claude-only

Claude only (connect to existing proxy):

claude-or --claude-only

Pass additional flags to Claude Code:

claude-or -- --debug --allowed-tools Bash,Read

Headless mode (single prompt, no TUI):

claude-or -- -p "Explain this codebase"

Quickly understand any codebase:

claude-or -- -p "Explain this codebase"

That's it. All Claude model requests are now routed through OpenRouter.

Configuration

All configuration is via environment variables or .env file:

CLI Flags

claude-or -p 4001           # custom port
claude-or -v                # verbose logging
claude-or --proxy-only      # proxy only, no Claude launch
claude-or --claude-only     # Claude only, connect to existing proxy
claude-or -- --debug        # pass --debug to Claude Code

How It Works

Claude Code sends requests to http://localhost:4000 thinking it's talking to Anthropic's API. The proxy (powered by LiteLLM) translates the request format and routes it to your configured model on OpenRouter.

Claude Code → localhost:4000 → LiteLLM Proxy → OpenRouter → Your Model

Why LiteLLM?

• Translates between Anthropic message format and OpenAI chat format
• drop_params silently discards Anthropic-specific fields that would cause errors
• Provider pinning ensures consistent backend quality
• Production-grade, actively maintained

.env File Lookup Order

1. .env in current working directory
2. ~/.claude-or/.env
3. Shell environment variables

Shell env vars always take precedence over .env files.