How to connect Claude Code to RuAPI

Claude Code is Anthropic’s official command-line coding assistant. It hits api.anthropic.com by default — set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL to https://www.ruapi.ai to point it at RuAPI instead, no proxy layer required. You don’t need an Anthropic subscription or an Anthropic login for this.

This page covers direct setup. If you’d rather manage multiple providers in a GUI, see CC Switch.

Prerequisites

RuAPI account + API key

If you haven’t yet: register at www.ruapi.ai, top up with USDT, then Console → API Keys → Create API key to get a sk-... string. See Top-up and API keys & security.

Node.js ≥ 22 (for the npm install)

Installing via npm requires Node.js 22 or newer. Check with:

node --version

If it’s missing or older, grab the LTS from nodejs.org, or on macOS:

brew install node

The official installer (below) doesn’t need Node.js at all.

Install Claude Code

macOS / Linux
Windows

Via npm:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Or with the official installer (no Node.js needed):

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

Confirm:

claude --version

In PowerShell, via npm:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
claude --version

Or with the official installer:

irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex

Claude Code runs natively on Windows. With Git for Windows installed it runs shell commands through Git Bash; without it, it uses PowerShell. You can also work inside WSL2 — follow the macOS / Linux path there.

If the official installer at claude.ai doesn’t open from your network, install via npm instead — the result is the same.

Point Claude Code at RuAPI

Three configuration methods, in order of preference:

Method 1: `settings.json` (recommended)

Edit ~/.claude/settings.json (macOS / Linux) or %USERPROFILE%\.claude\settings.json (Windows). Create it if missing and paste this in, with your own key:

{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://www.ruapi.ai",
    "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "sk-your-RuAPI-key",
    "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "claude-sonnet-5",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "claude-opus-5-5",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "claude-sonnet-5",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "claude-haiku-4-5-20251001"
  }
}

Do not append /v1 to ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL. The Anthropic SDK adds /v1/messages itself, and an extra /v1 causes 404s.

What each field does

Field	Meaning
`ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL`	The RuAPI address: `https://www.ruapi.ai` (no trailing `/v1`)
`ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN`	Your RuAPI key (not the official Anthropic key). Sent as the `Authorization: Bearer` header
`ANTHROPIC_MODEL`	Default model. Claude Sonnet offers the best balance of price and performance
`ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL`	What the `opus` alias resolves to (`/model opus`, plan mode)
`ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL`	What the `sonnet` alias resolves to
`ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL`	Lightweight model for background tasks (session titles and the like) — Claude Haiku keeps costs low

Why AUTH_TOKEN and not ANTHROPIC_API_KEY

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY works too (RuAPI accepts both headers), but with it Claude Code asks on first launch whether to use that key — answer “no” by accident and requests bypass RuAPI. ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN skips that question. The old ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL variable is deprecated — use ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL instead.

Method 2: shell env vars

For a quick trial:

macOS / Linux (zsh / bash)
Windows (PowerShell)

export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://www.ruapi.ai"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="sk-your-key"
export ANTHROPIC_MODEL="claude-sonnet-5"
claude

Add the same lines to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc to make them permanent.

$env:ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL   = "https://www.ruapi.ai"
$env:ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN = "sk-your-key"
$env:ANTHROPIC_MODEL      = "claude-sonnet-5"
claude

For permanent:

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL", "https://www.ruapi.ai", "User")
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN", "sk-your-key", "User")
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("ANTHROPIC_MODEL", "claude-sonnet-5", "User")

Method 3: use CC Switch

If you bounce between RuAPI and your official account, install CC Switch and manage providers from a GUI.

First call

Open a new terminal (so env vars are loaded), cd into any project:

cd ~/some-project
claude

In the interactive prompt, ask the simplest possible thing:

> Reply with one English sentence: hello

You should get an immediate Claude reply, and the RuAPI Console → Usage Logs should show the request with a token-level cost line.

To double-check the call really went through RuAPI, open RuAPI Console → Usage Logs and look at the newest entry — the model name should match claude-sonnet-5 (or whatever you configured).

Switch models on the fly

Inside a session:

/model claude-opus-5-5

Full model list at the pricing page.

Troubleshooting

401 Unauthorized / Invalid token

ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN must be your RuAPI token (sk-...), not Anthropic’s sk-ant-....
Watch for trailing whitespace or line breaks when copying.
In RuAPI Console → API Keys, confirm the key is enabled and that the model you’re calling is in the key’s Allowed models (if that list is set).

Model not found (503) or 404

Typo in the model ID. Claude model families on RuAPI are Claude Sonnet, Claude Opus, and Claude Haiku — see the pricing page for exact names.
Don’t add /v1 to ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL.

403 / insufficient balance

Check USD balance on the Console home page and top up more USDT. Long-context conversations and tool calls burn tokens fast — 5–10 USD is a reasonable starting buffer.

Network timeout / can't connect

Verify reachability: curl -I https://www.ruapi.ai
If you’re behind a corporate proxy, make sure HTTPS_PROXY isn’t sending requests through a proxy that’s down.
No VPN required.

Keep both the official account and RuAPI

Use CC Switch for one-click toggling, or direnv to bind different env vars per project directory.

Advanced

MCP servers: independent of which backend API you use — configure as usual.
Tool calls / function calling: RuAPI forwards Anthropic’s tool calls unchanged.
Streaming / SSE: on by default, nothing extra to configure.

For more Claude Code tips, see the official documentation.

Getting Started

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API Reference

Model guides

Integrations

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Recipes

Legal

How to connect Claude Code to RuAPI

Prerequisites

Install Claude Code

Point Claude Code at RuAPI

Method 1: `settings.json` (recommended)

Method 2: shell env vars

Method 3: use CC Switch

First call

Switch models on the fly

Troubleshooting

Advanced

​Prerequisites

​Install Claude Code

​Point Claude Code at RuAPI

​Method 1: settings.json (recommended)

​Method 2: shell env vars

​Method 3: use CC Switch

​First call

​Switch models on the fly

​Troubleshooting

​Advanced

Prerequisites

Install Claude Code

Point Claude Code at RuAPI

Method 1: `settings.json` (recommended)

Method 2: shell env vars

Method 3: use CC Switch

First call

Switch models on the fly

Troubleshooting

Advanced