OpenClaude

OpenClaude is an open-source coding-agent CLI that works with more than one model provider.

Use OpenAI-compatible APIs, Gemini, GitHub Models, Codex, Ollama, Atomic Chat, and other supported backends while keeping the same terminal-first workflow: prompts, tools, agents, MCP, slash commands, and streaming output.

Why OpenClaude

• Use one CLI across cloud and local model providers
• Save provider profiles inside the app with /provider
• Run locally with Ollama or Atomic Chat
• Keep core coding-agent workflows: bash, file tools, grep, glob, agents, tasks, MCP, and web tools

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Quick Start

Install

npm install -g @gitlawb/openclaude

If the npm install path later reports ripgrep not found, install ripgrep system-wide and confirm rg --version works in the same terminal before starting OpenClaude.

Start

openclaude

Inside OpenClaude:

• run /provider for guided setup of OpenAI-compatible, Gemini, Ollama, or Codex profiles
• run /onboard-github for GitHub Models setup

Fastest OpenAI setup

macOS / Linux:

export CLAUDE_CODE_USE_OPENAI=1
export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-key-here
export OPENAI_MODEL=gpt-4o

openclaude

Windows PowerShell:

$env:CLAUDE_CODE_USE_OPENAI="1"
$env:OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-your-key-here"
$env:OPENAI_MODEL="gpt-4o"

openclaude

Fastest local Ollama setup

macOS / Linux:

export CLAUDE_CODE_USE_OPENAI=1
export OPENAI_BASE_URL=http://localhost:11434/v1
export OPENAI_MODEL=qwen2.5-coder:7b

openclaude

Windows PowerShell:

$env:CLAUDE_CODE_USE_OPENAI="1"
$env:OPENAI_BASE_URL="http://localhost:11434/v1"
$env:OPENAI_MODEL="qwen2.5-coder:7b"

openclaude

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Setup Guides

Beginner-friendly guides:

• Non-Technical Setup
• Windows Quick Start
• macOS / Linux Quick Start

Advanced and source-build guides:

• Advanced Setup
• Android Install

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Supported Providers

Provider	Setup Path	Notes
OpenAI-compatible	/provider or env vars	Works with OpenAI, OpenRouter, DeepSeek, Groq, Mistral, LM Studio, and compatible local /v1 servers
Gemini	/provider or env vars	Google Gemini support through the runtime provider layer
GitHub Models	/onboard-github	Interactive onboarding with saved credentials
Codex	/provider	Uses existing Codex credentials when available
Ollama	/provider or env vars	Local inference with no API key
Atomic Chat	advanced setup	Local Apple Silicon backend
Bedrock / Vertex / Foundry	env vars	Additional provider integrations for supported environments

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What Works

• Tool-driven coding workflows Bash, file read/write/edit, grep, glob, agents, tasks, MCP, and slash commands
• Streaming responses Real-time token output and tool progress
• Tool calling Multi-step tool loops with model calls, tool execution, and follow-up responses
• Images URL and base64 image inputs for providers that support vision
• Provider profiles Guided setup plus saved .openclaude-profile.json support
• Local and remote model backends Cloud APIs, local servers, and Apple Silicon local inference

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Provider Notes

OpenClaude supports multiple providers, but behavior is not identical across all of them.

• Anthropic-specific features may not exist on other providers
• Tool quality depends heavily on the selected model
• Smaller local models can struggle with long multi-step tool flows
• Some providers impose lower output caps than the CLI defaults, and OpenClaude adapts where possible

For best results, use models with strong tool/function calling support.

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Agent Routing

Route different agents to different AI providers within the same session. Useful for cost optimization (cheap model for code review, powerful model for complex coding) or leveraging model strengths.

Configuration

Add to ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "agentModels": {
    "deepseek-chat": {
      "base_url": "https://api.deepseek.com/v1",
      "api_key": "sk-your-key"
    },
    "gpt-4o": {
      "base_url": "https://api.openai.com/v1",
      "api_key": "sk-your-key"
    }
  },
  "agentRouting": {
    "Explore": "deepseek-chat",
    "Plan": "gpt-4o",
    "general-purpose": "gpt-4o",
    "frontend-dev": "deepseek-chat",
    "default": "gpt-4o"
  }
}

How It Works

• agentModels: Maps model names to OpenAI-compatible API endpoints
• agentRouting: Maps agent types or team member names to model names
• Priority: name > subagent_type > "default" > global provider
• Matching: Case-insensitive, hyphen/underscore equivalent (general-purpose = general_purpose)
• Teams: Team members are routed by their name — no extra config needed

When no routing match is found, the global provider (env vars) is used as fallback.

Note: api_key values in settings.json are stored in plaintext. Keep this file private and do not commit it to version control.

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Web Search and Fetch

WebFetch works out of the box.

WebSearch and richer JS-aware fetching work best with a Firecrawl API key:

export FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=your-key-here

With Firecrawl enabled:

• WebSearch is available across more provider setups
• WebFetch can handle JavaScript-rendered pages more reliably

Firecrawl is optional. Without it, OpenClaude falls back to the built-in behavior.

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Source Build

bun install
bun run build
node dist/cli.mjs

Helpful commands:

• bun run dev
• bun run smoke
• bun run doctor:runtime

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VS Code Extension

The repo includes a VS Code extension in vscode-extension/openclaude-vscode for OpenClaude launch integration and theme support.

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Security

If you believe you found a security issue, see SECURITY.md.

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome.

For larger changes, open an issue first so the scope is clear before implementation. Helpful validation commands include:

• bun run build
• bun run smoke
• focused bun test ... runs for touched areas

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Disclaimer

OpenClaude is an independent community project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anthropic.

"Claude" and "Claude Code" are trademarks of Anthropic.

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License

MIT