Skip to main content
Claude Code is Anthropic’s official CLI AI coding assistant that lets you write, debug, and refactor code directly in your terminal.

​
Prerequisites

Make sure Claude Code CLI is installed: 
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
Add to your shell config file: 
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://betarouter.com"
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
Apply and start: 
source ~/.zshrc
claude

​
Method 2: Inline at Launch

Useful for temporary use or multi-account switching: 
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://betarouter.com" \
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-xxxxxxxxxxxx" \
claude

​
Method 3: Config File

Edit ~/.claude/settings.json: 
{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://betarouter.com",
    "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "sk-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
  }
}

Priority

Launch args > Environment variables > Config file. Higher priority overrides lower priority.
ImportantANTHROPIC_BASE_URL does not need a /v1 suffix — Claude Code appends the path automatically. This differs from OpenAI’s OPENAI_BASE_URL.

​
Verify Configuration

After starting Claude Code, send a simple question to test: 
claude "Hello, please reply in English"
If you receive a normal response, the configuration is successful.