What is Claude Code?
Claude Code is Anthropic's official CLI tool that lets you use Claude directly in your terminal. It's incredibly powerful for coding, debugging, and automating development tasks.
The problem? It uses the Anthropic API, which means you're paying $3/$15 per million tokens for Sonnet, or $5/$25 for Opus.
The Solution: Use a Cheaper API Provider
Instead of connecting directly to Anthropic, you can route Claude Code through APIVAI — an API gateway that offers the same models at over 50% off.
What changes: One environment variable (the base URL) What stays the same: Everything else — same models, same quality, same features
Setup Guide
Prerequisites
- Claude Code installed (
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code) - A APIVAI account (sign up here)
- An API key from your APIVAI dashboard
Mac / Linux
Add these to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc for permanent setup:
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="your-apivai-api-key" export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.apivai.com"
Then run:
source ~/.bashrc # or source ~/.zshrc claude
Windows PowerShell
Add to your PowerShell profile ($PROFILE):
$env:ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="your-apivai-api-key" $env:ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.apivai.com"
Then just run claude.
One-liner (temporary)
Mac/Linux:
ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="your-key" ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.apivai.com" claude
PowerShell:
$env:ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="your-key"; $env:ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.apivai.com"; claude
Also Works With Codex CLI
Since Codex 0.121+, you need a config file:
mkdir -p ~/.codex && cat > ~/.codex/config.toml << 'EOF' model = "gpt-5.5" model_provider = "apivai" [model_providers.apivai] name = "APIVAI" base_url = "https://api.apivai.com/v1" env_key = "OPENAI_API_KEY" wire_api = "responses" EOF
Then run:
OPENAI_API_KEY="your-apivai-key" codex
Available Models
| Model | Best For |
|---|---|
| Claude Opus 4.7 | Most complex tasks, research |
| Claude Opus 4.6 | Complex coding, analysis |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | Latest Sonnet, advanced reasoning |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Best balance of speed and quality |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | Fast tasks, simple queries |
| GPT-5.5 | Alternative perspective and code generation |
Cost Comparison
| Daily Usage | Official API | APIVAI |
|---|---|---|
| Light (10 msgs/day) | ~$6/mo | Less than half |
| Medium (30 msgs/day) | ~$18/mo | Less than half |
| Heavy (100 msgs/day) | ~$60/mo | Less than half |
Exact per-model rates are on the live pricing page.
Troubleshooting
"Unauthorized" error: Make sure your API key starts with sk-ant- and has sufficient balance.
"Connection refused": Check that ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL is set to https://api.apivai.com (no trailing slash, no /v1).
Slow responses: First request may be slower due to prompt caching. Subsequent requests are faster.
Get Started
- Sign up at apivai.com
- Top up your balance (minimum $10)
- Copy your API key from the dashboard
- Set the environment variables and run
claude
That's it. Same Claude Code, over 50% cheaper.