Claude Code

This tutorial walks you through using the Kimchi Inference API with Claude Code, Anthropic's agentic coding tool. You'll route Claude Code through Kimchi to use open-source LLMs like Kimi K2.7 and MiniMax M3 as drop-in replacements.

Overview

By the end of this tutorial, you'll be able to:

Point Claude Code at Kimchi as its model provider
Use Kimi K2.7 for agentic coding tasks via Claude Code's interface
Switch between supported open-source models on demand

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Kimchi exposes an Anthropic-compatible endpoint for Claude Code, so the same API key and base URL work with any tool that speaks the Anthropic Messages API.

Prerequisites

A Kimchi API key — Go to Kimchi → API Keys and click Create API key. Copy the key and store it securely.
Node.js 18 or higher — Check your version with node --version
Claude Code installed:

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

claude --version

Configure Claude Code

Claude Code reads its provider configuration from environment variables. Set the following in your shell profile (~/.zshrc, ~/.bashrc) to point Claude Code at Kimchi:

export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://llm.kimchi.dev/anthropic"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="YOUR_KIMCHI_API_KEY"
export ANTHROPIC_MODEL="kimi-k2.7"
export ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL="minimax-m3"

Variable	Purpose
`ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL`	Routes Claude Code traffic to Kimchi's Anthropic-compatible endpoint
`ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN`	Authenticates requests with your Kimchi API key
`ANTHROPIC_MODEL`	Default model used for primary reasoning and agent tasks
`ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL`	Lightweight model used for background and quick operations

Reload your shell (source ~/.zshrc) so the variables take effect.

Verify the connection

Navigate to a project directory and start Claude Code:

cd ~/your-project

claude

In the interactive prompt, ask a simple question:

> Explain what this project does in one paragraph

If the response streams back, Claude Code is successfully routing through Kimchi. You can confirm usage in the Kimchi console.

Switching Models

To swap the active model, update ANTHROPIC_MODEL and restart Claude Code. Common pairings:

Model	Best for
`kimi-k2.7`	Agentic coding, image analysis (latest)
`minimax-m3`	Fast code execution and edits

IDE Integration

Claude Code's VS Code and JetBrains extensions inherit the same environment variables when launched from a shell where they're set. If you launch your IDE from the macOS Dock or Windows Start menu, configure the variables at the OS level so they're picked up by GUI applications.

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On macOS, use launchctl setenv ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL https://llm.kimchi.dev/anthropic (and similar for the other variables) to make environment variables visible to GUI apps.

Next steps

Rate limits

Understand request and token limits by plan before building for production.

Hosted model deployment

Deploy models on your own cluster when per-token costs exceed compute costs or compliance requires it.

Overview

Kimchi exposes an Anthropic-compatible endpoint for Claude Code, so the same API key and base URL work with any tool that speaks the Anthropic Messages API.

Prerequisites

Configure Claude Code

Configure Claude Code

Verify the connection

Switching Models

IDE Integration

On macOS, use launchctl setenv ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL https://llm.kimchi.dev/anthropic (and similar for the other variables) to make environment variables visible to GUI apps.

Next steps

On macOS, use `launchctl setenv ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL https://llm.kimchi.dev/anthropic` (and similar for the other variables) to make environment variables visible to GUI apps.