---
title: "Claude Code"
description: "Run Claude Code against your private-gpt server."
---

[Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code) is Anthropic's official CLI for Claude. When pointed at a `private-gpt` server it routes all requests through your private, self-hosted API instead of `api.anthropic.com`.

## Compatibility

| Feature | Status | Notes |
|---|:---:|---|
| Chat & streaming | ✅ | |
| Tool use / function calling | ✅ | |
| File tools (read, write, edit) | ✅ | |
| Multi-agent (sub-agents) | ✅ | |
| Images | ✅ | |
| Web search | ✅ | |

---

## Prerequisites

- `claude` binary installed — see [Claude Code docs](https://claude.ai/code)
- `private-gpt` server running (see [serve](/configuration/cli#serve))

---

## Run

`private-gpt run` resolves the server URL and API key from your settings and injects them automatically before launching Claude Code:

```bash
private-gpt run claude-code
```

The server is started automatically if it is not already running. Pass `--no-server` to skip that check when the server is managed externally.

**With a specific model:**

```bash
private-gpt run claude-code --model default
```

**Resume a previous session:**

```bash
private-gpt run claude-code -- --resume abc123
```

**CI / non-interactive:**

```bash
private-gpt run claude-code --auto-approve --no-server -- -p "explain this file"
```

---

## Manual setup

If you prefer to manage the environment variables yourself:

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="macOS / Linux">
    ```bash
    export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="http://localhost:8080"
    export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="secret-key"  # server.auth.secret; any value if auth is disabled

    # Optional: pin all Claude tiers to one model
    export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL="default"
    export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL="default"
    export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL="default"

    claude
    ```

    Add the exports to `~/.zshrc` or `~/.bashrc` for a persistent setup.
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Windows (PowerShell)">
    ```powershell
    $env:ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL = "http://localhost:8080"
    $env:ANTHROPIC_API_KEY = "secret-key"

    # Optional: pin all Claude tiers to one model
    $env:ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL = "default"
    $env:ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL = "default"
    $env:ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL = "default"

    claude
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

---

## What gets injected

`private-gpt run claude-code` writes these variables into the environment before exec. Values are derived from your server settings at launch time.

| Variable | Value |
|---|---|
| `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL` | `http://localhost:<port>/<root_path>` |
| `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` | `server.auth.secret` if auth is enabled, else `"no-auth"` |
| `ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN` | same as `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` |
| `ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL` | `--model` if provided, else `llm.default_model` from settings |
| `ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL` | `--model` if provided, else `llm.default_model` from settings |
| `ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL` | `--model` if provided, else `llm.default_model` from settings |