A different Claude Code provider for one project

The short answer

cd ~/code/side-project
yoink connect openrouter

In the harness checklist, tick Claude Code. yoink asks Apply to Claude Code where? with two choices: Globally (switches Claude Code everywhere) and This project only (writes ./.claude/settings.local.json). Pick the second, then pick the model. Claude Code always needs one, so there is no "keep current" option here. When it is done, yoink prints Wrote ./.claude/settings.local.json. Start Claude Code in that folder and it uses the provider; every other folder keeps your subscription.

The provider must have an Anthropic Messages endpoint. The openrouter, kimi-code, moonshot, deepseek and zai presets do; openai and ollama do not. See Use OpenRouter, Kimi, DeepSeek or z.ai in Claude Code for the provider side.

Why settings.local.json wins

Claude Code merges settings from several files. Anthropic's settings documentation lists the order, highest first:

yoink's global connection writes the user file. The project scope writes the project local file, which sits above both the user file and the team's committed .claude/settings.json. So the override holds even after you run yoink work to switch your global Claude Code back to a Claude account: yoink strips the seven keys from ~/.claude/settings.json, but the project file still names the provider. Only managed settings or claude --settings can beat it.

What gets written

The same seven keys as a global connection, merged into the env block of the project file: ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL, ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN, ANTHROPIC_MODEL, ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL, ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL, ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL and CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_MODEL. Anything else in the file, such as permission rules Claude Code saved there, is kept. yoink creates .claude/ if it is missing and writes the file owner-only (0600).

The path is relative to the directory you run yoink in. Anthropic's docs note that when Claude Code starts in a subdirectory of a git repository, it reads and writes this file at the repository root, so run yoink connect from the root.

The .gitignore check

The key sits in plain text in that file, so yoink checks .gitignore in the current directory before writing. It accepts any of these lines as covering the file: .claude/, /.claude/, .claude/settings.local.json or /.claude/settings.local.json. If none is there, it asks:

Add .claude/settings.local.json to .gitignore so your API key isn't committed?

Yes is the default and appends the line. Saying no brings a second question, "Your API key will sit unignored in .claude/settings.local.json. Continue anyway?", which defaults to no. The check reads only that one .gitignore, not nested ignore files or your global git excludes, so it may offer to add a line your setup already covers. Adding it anyway is harmless.

Refreshing after you edit the provider

A project scope is not recorded as a connection. That has three consequences:

• yoink edit, yoink models and a key rotation re-sync every recorded harness, but not this file. Run yoink connect <name> in the project again and pick This project only to refresh it.
• yoink disconnect and yoink remove do not touch it either. To stop the override, delete the seven keys from ./.claude/settings.local.json, or the file if yoink created it.
• The project does not change which profile yoink current reports. Your active Claude Code profile is whatever you last switched to globally.

The scope question appears only when Claude Code is being newly ticked. If the provider is already your global Claude Code profile, Claude Code shows as connected in the checklist; switch globally to a Claude account first (yoink work), then connect again.

FAQ