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Claude Code is Anthropic’s official CLI for Claude. RouterLink exposes an Anthropic-compatible endpoint, so you can route Claude Code through RouterLink and pay with credits instead of an Anthropic subscription.
  • Pay-as-you-go — bill against your RouterLink credit balance, no monthly subscription.
  • Per-key budgets — hard-cap monthly spend on the key Claude Code uses.
  • Unified billing — Claude Code usage shows up in the same dashboard as the rest of your traffic.
  • Files API supported — upload, fetch, and delete files via Claude Code’s tool use loop.

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Setup

1

Get a RouterLink API key

Follow the Quickstart if you don’t have one yet.
2

Install Claude Code

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
Or follow the official install guide.
3

Point Claude Code at RouterLink

Set two environment variables before launching:
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://router-link.world3.ai/api/anthropic"
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="<your-routerlink-key>"

claude
Add these to your shell profile (~/.zshrc, ~/.bashrc) so every Claude Code session uses RouterLink automatically.
4

Verify

Run claude and ask a quick question. Then check your RouterLink Dashboard — you should see the request appear within a few seconds, billed against your key.

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What’s supported

FeatureStatus
/v1/messages (streaming + non-streaming) Supported
/v1/messages/count_tokens Supported
Tool use Supported
Prompt caching (cache_control) Supported
Extended thinking Supported
Files API (/v1/files) Supported
Batches API Coming soon
For the full compatibility matrix and edge cases, see the Integration Guide.

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Switching models

Claude Code uses Sonnet by default. To switch model, use Claude Code’s /model slash command — RouterLink forwards whatever model you select to the upstream provider, so any Anthropic model name works (claude-sonnet-4-6, claude-opus-4-7, claude-haiku-4-5, …).

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Troubleshooting

Check that ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is your RouterLink key (starts with rl-), not an Anthropic key. RouterLink does not accept upstream Anthropic keys.
The key Claude Code is using has hit its monthly budget cap. Raise the cap in API Keys → Edit or add credits in Billing → Recharge.
Make sure you’re on the latest Claude Code version. RouterLink ships streaming fixes for cross-vendor thinking that landed in v1.0+.