The CLI and the Model Are Two Different Things
Claude Code is a terminal client that speaks the Anthropic Messages format. That format is a protocol, not a lock — which means something can sit in the middle, expose the same format locally, and forward the request wherever you point it.
That something is Claude Code Router. The interface, the tools and the workflow stay exactly as they are; only the engine underneath changes.
Two Commands, Then ccr code
Install Claude Code and the router with npm, launch with ccr code, and switch models mid-session with /model. Because CCR reproduces the same request format Claude Code already sends, nothing about how you work has to change.
Pick Your Provider
Point it at a free-tier key from OpenRouter or NVIDIA NIM for models like DeepSeek, Kimi and GLM — or run entirely local with Ollama if you have a decent GPU, no key and no network required. You can mix them: something cheap for background work, something stronger for reasoning.
Read This Part Before You Switch
Two things the guide is upfront about, and so are we. Claude Code Router is an independent open-source community project — it is not built or supported by Anthropic. And swapping the model is not quality-neutral: open models are capable but vary by task, cloud free tiers come with limits, and Ollama's ceiling is whatever your own hardware can run.
What's in the Guide
The two install commands, how the routing works, the provider options with what each one gets you, and the links to the project and every provider.
The full field guide is in the PDF.
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