Use OpenRouter, Kimi, DeepSeek or z.ai in Claude Code

The short answer

yoink add
yoink connect openrouter --to claude-code --default z-ai/glm-4.7
yoink current
yoink work

yoink add walks you through the preset, the hidden key prompt and the model picker. yoink connect with --to claude-code makes the provider the active Claude Code profile. yoink current prints the active profile for each tool, including Claude Code, and yoink work (or yoink use work) switches back to the Claude account you saved as work. Restart Claude Code after each switch so it reads the new settings.

What Claude Code needs

Claude Code talks to one backend over the Anthropic Messages API. Pointing it at another provider means setting ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL to an endpoint that speaks that protocol, plus a token and model names. In yoink's terms, Claude Code accepts only providers with an anthropic-messages endpoint, and it holds one at a time: connecting a provider to it switches the active profile, like yoink use <provider>. One difference: yoink use and the interactive checklist ask before changing a running Claude Code, while a scripted yoink connect <provider> --to claude-code switches without that check, so quit Claude Code first. pi, opencode and codex can keep many providers side by side; Claude Code cannot.

Endpoints per provider

Five of the seven presets ship an Anthropic Messages endpoint, so all five work in Claude Code:

yoink presets prints the full list with every protocol each preset speaks. The preset table has the OpenAI Chat URLs the other harnesses use.

Connect a provider

Interactively, run yoink add, choose Provider (API key), pick the preset, paste the key and select models. When the harness list appears, tick Claude Code. yoink asks whether to apply it Globally or to This project only, then asks for the model. From a script, pass the key on stdin so it never lands in your shell history:

echo "$DEEPSEEK_API_KEY" | yoink add --external --name deepseek --preset deepseek \
  --models <model> --token-stdin
yoink connect deepseek --to claude-code --default <model>

Without --default, Claude Code keeps the last model you used with that provider there, or takes the provider's first selected model. A --default that is not one of the provider's selected models is refused, and the error lists the ones you can use.

The seven keys yoink writes

yoink merges these into the env block of ~/.claude/settings.json (or the file under CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR when that is set) and leaves every other key alone:

One model fills every tier, so every request Claude Code makes, subagents and background calls included, goes to a model you selected for that provider. If git tracks ~/.claude/settings.json, for example through a dotfiles repo, the interactive flow asks before writing the key there, and the scripted yoink connect refuses unless you add --allow-tracked.

Switch back to your Claude subscription

yoink use work
yoink use deepseek

Switching to a saved Claude account restores that login and deletes the same seven keys, so the subscription takes over again. Switching to a provider profile writes them back. If Claude Code is running, yoink use asks before switching, because a live session keeps its old settings until it restarts. Pass --force to skip the question. Disconnecting the provider from Claude Code (yoink disconnect deepseek --from claude-code) also strips the keys, and marks the Claude profile that matches your live login as active.

Why Ollama and OpenAI do not appear for Claude Code

The ollama preset only has an OpenAI Chat endpoint (http://localhost:11434/v1), and the openai preset has OpenAI Responses and Chat. Neither speaks Anthropic Messages, so the harness picker shows Claude Code as "no compatible endpoint" for them, and a scripted connect stops with "<name>" has no Anthropic-compatible endpoint, which Claude Code requires. A custom URL is different: yoink probes /v1/messages, and Claude Code becomes available only if that probe answers. See Connect a custom provider.

One project only

If only one repository should use DeepSeek while the rest of your machine stays on your subscription, choose This project only in the interactive picker. That writes the same seven keys into ./.claude/settings.local.json instead. The per-project guide covers the details.

Other ways to do this

Last checked 2026-10-10.

• Set the variables by hand. OpenRouter's own Claude Code guide has you export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL, ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN and an empty ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in your shell profile, or put them in .claude/settings.local.json. That works with no tool at all; switching back means editing the file again. yoink does not write ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, so if your shell exports one, follow OpenRouter's advice about it.
• A routing proxy. claude-code-router runs a local gateway (by default at http://127.0.0.1:3456) that sits in the request path and routes Claude Code traffic by rules. yoink is not a proxy: it writes settings.json and steps aside, so Claude Code talks to the provider directly.
• An env switcher. claude-code-switch (ccm) exports the same kind of ANTHROPIC_* variables into your current shell, or writes them to the user or project settings file. It covers Claude Code only, where yoink also writes the key into the other harnesses you use.

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