yoink vs CC Switch

Two ways to point an agent at a provider

Both tools start from the same place: every coding agent keeps its provider in its own JSON, TOML or YAML file, and editing those by hand gets old. They differ in what ends up in that file.

• CC Switch, Direct mode. It replaces the connection fields (endpoint, key, model) in the tool's config and leaves your plugins, hooks and comments alone, backing up each file to ~/.cc-switch/backups/live-first-write/ before the first rewrite.
• CC Switch, Routing mode. The tool's config points at a local address (http://127.0.0.1:15721 by default) with the placeholder key PROXY_MANAGED, and CC Switch forwards each request to the real provider. That is how it converts between Anthropic Messages, OpenAI Chat, OpenAI Responses and Gemini, fails over to the next provider in a queue, and lets Claude Code use an OpenAI-format provider. When you quit CC Switch, it writes the direct config back.
• yoink. It writes the provider's own URL and key into each harness config, then exits. Nothing runs between the agent and the provider. The trade is that a pairing only works when the provider already speaks the harness's protocol, so yoink refuses the ones that do not:

yoink connect openrouter --to codex

✖ codex: openrouter has no endpoint codex can use (needs one of: openai-responses).

Neither approach is free of cost. A proxy can convert formats and fail over, and it has to be running. A native config keeps working with yoink closed or uninstalled, and it cannot translate a protocol the provider lacks. Harnesses lists each harness's protocols.

Which coding agents each one covers

CC Switch splits its tools into "Switch" (one active provider) and "Coexist" (several providers written at once). yoink has the same split: Claude Code holds one provider at a time, and the other harnesses hold as many as you connect.

Feature by feature

The yoink "No" on subscriptions as providers reflects how it works: yoink never copies a subscription token from one tool into another.

Choose CC Switch if

• You want a GUI on Windows, Linux or macOS, with tray switching.
• You want Claude Code on an OpenAI- or Gemini-format provider, or Codex on an Anthropic one, through format conversion.
• You want failover between providers, or one model list that mixes several providers.
• You want MCP servers, skills and prompts managed in one place, or usage and quota at a glance.
• You use Gemini CLI, Grok Build, OpenClaw, Hermes or MiniMax Code.

Choose yoink if

• You work in a terminal or over SSH, and want to script setup with yoink add --external, keys on --token-stdin and --json output.
• You use omp, Qwen Code, Kilo Code, Droid, Crush, Continue, Goose or Zed.
• You keep several Claude Code accounts, or several Kimi Code, Gemini or Copilot logins, and switch between them.
• You want nothing running between your agent and the provider.

echo "$OPENROUTER_API_KEY" | yoink add --external --name openrouter --preset openrouter \
  --models z-ai/glm-4.7 --connect opencode,crush --default z-ai/glm-4.7 --token-stdin

Can you use both?

Yes, if each agent has one owner. Both tools rewrite provider fields in the same files for Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and Pi, and each keeps its own record of what is active, so two owners for one file drift apart. A split that works: CC Switch for Gemini CLI, Grok Build and routing, yoink for Crush, Droid, Continue, Qwen Code and your subscription logins.

FAQ