How to Use Claude Code with OpenRouter

Routing Claude Code through OpenRouter enhances reliability and management by acting as an intermediary between Claude Code and Anthropic’s API, providing failover capabilities, budget controls, and usage visibility without requiring a local proxy. Users can set up the system using three environment variables, ensuring seamless integration and shared billing for multiple developers. OpenRouter also supports model routing, allowing users to assign specific models for different tasks, such as Opus for deep reasoning and Sonnet for everyday coding. Additionally, OpenRouter offers a Fast Mode for certain Opus models, enabling faster output at a premium rate, and a free tier for limited daily requests. Users pay per-token rates with a small credit purchase fee, and OpenRouter ensures sessions continue running even if rate limits are encountered by redirecting requests to another provider.

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