Claude Code Router: What It Is and How to Use It in 2026

Claude Code Router refers to two distinct things in 2026: Anthropic's built-in model routing system and an open-source community proxy tool. The built-in routing is a feature called opusplan — a model alias that automatically uses Claude Opus 4.6 for planning and reasoning, then switches to Claude Sonnet 4.6 for code execution. This gives you Opus-quality thinking on architectural decisions while keeping costs lower on implementation work. The community tool, claude-code-router by @musistudio, is a local proxy with 28k+ GitHub stars that intercepts Claude Code's API requests and routes them to alternative providers — OpenRouter, DeepSeek, Ollama (local models), Google Gemini, and more. Both approaches solve the same core problem: getting the right model for the right task at the right price.

This guide covers both in detail — how to configure the built-in routing, how to set up the community router, and when to use each.

What Is Claude Code Router?

"Claude Code Router" maps to two distinct concepts:

1. Built-in model routing (opusplan) — an official Anthropic feature that automatically switches between Claude models depending on whether you're planning or executing. No extra tools needed.
2. Community proxy (claude-code-router) — an open-source project that acts as a local API proxy, letting you use Claude Code's interface with non-Anthropic models from providers like OpenRouter, DeepSeek, and Ollama.

Both are "routing" in the sense that they direct your requests to different models. The built-in version routes between Anthropic models. The community version routes to any provider you configure.

Built-In Model Routing (opusplan)

opusplan is a model alias built into Claude Code that provides automatic hybrid routing between two models based on your current mode:

• Plan mode — uses Opus 4.6 for deep reasoning, architecture decisions, and complex analysis
• Execution mode — switches to Sonnet 4.6 for code generation, file edits, and command execution

The logic is simple: planning benefits from the most capable model (Opus), while code generation is well-served by the faster, cheaper model (Sonnet). Since most of a session's tokens go toward execution, you get significant cost savings without sacrificing reasoning quality on the decisions that matter most.

All available model aliases in Claude Code:

Aliases always point to the latest model version. To pin a specific version, use the full model ID (e.g., claude-opus-4-6).

How to Configure Model Routing

There are four ways to set your model in Claude Code, listed from highest to lowest priority:

Method 1: Mid-session command

Type /model opusplan during any session to switch immediately. Use /model by itself to see your current model and browse options.

Method 2: CLI flag at startup

claude --model opusplan

This sets the model for the entire session.

Method 3: Environment variable

export ANTHROPIC_MODEL=opusplan

Add this to your shell profile (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc) to make it persistent.

Method 4: Settings file

Edit ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "model": "opusplan"
}

The priority order determines which method wins when multiple are set:

You can also pin what each alias resolves to using environment variables:

• ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL — what opus and opusplan (plan mode) resolve to
• ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL — what sonnet and opusplan (execution mode) resolve to
• ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL — what haiku and background tasks resolve to

Claude Code Router (Community Project)

claude-code-router is an open-source proxy (MIT license) by @musistudio with 28k+ GitHub stars. It solves a specific problem: Claude Code only supports Anthropic models natively. The community router intercepts Claude Code's API requests and routes them to any compatible provider.

How it works:

1. The router starts a local Express.js server (default port 3456)
2. It sets ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL to point at the local server
3. Claude Code sends API requests to the router instead of Anthropic
4. The router transforms the request format and forwards it to your configured provider
5. Responses stream back through the router to Claude Code

Supported providers include:

• OpenRouter — access to hundreds of models from multiple providers
• DeepSeek — deepseek-chat, deepseek-reasoner
• Google Gemini — gemini-2.5-flash, gemini-2.5-pro
• Ollama — any local model (Qwen, Llama, Mistral, etc.)
• Groq — fast inference for supported models
• Anthropic — native passthrough (useful for mixing providers)
• Volcengine, SiliconFlow, ModelScope, DashScope, AIHubMix

How to Set Up Claude Code Router

Step 1: Install

npm install -g @musistudio/claude-code-router

This installs the ccr command globally. You need Claude Code installed first (npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code).

Step 2: Configure

Create ~/.claude-code-router/config.json with your providers and routing rules:

{
  "Providers": [
    {
      "name": "openrouter",
      "api_base_url": "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions",
      "api_key": "$OPENROUTER_API_KEY",
      "models": ["anthropic/claude-sonnet-4", "google/gemini-2.5-pro"],
      "transformer": { "use": ["openrouter"] }
    },
    {
      "name": "deepseek",
      "api_base_url": "https://api.deepseek.com/chat/completions",
      "api_key": "$DEEPSEEK_API_KEY",
      "models": ["deepseek-chat", "deepseek-reasoner"],
      "transformer": { "use": ["deepseek"] }
    },
    {
      "name": "ollama",
      "api_base_url": "http://localhost:11434/v1/chat/completions",
      "api_key": "ollama",
      "models": ["qwen2.5-coder:latest"]
    }
  ],
  "Router": {
    "default": "deepseek,deepseek-chat",
    "think": "openrouter,anthropic/claude-sonnet-4",
    "background": "ollama,qwen2.5-coder:latest"
  }
}

API keys can reference environment variables with $VAR_NAME syntax for secure key management.

Step 3: Run

The simplest way — start the router and launch Claude Code in one command:

ccr code

Or manage the service separately:

# Start the router in the background
ccr start

# Export environment variables for Claude Code
eval "$(ccr activate)"

# Run Claude Code normally — requests route through the proxy
claude

Context-aware routing

The Router config supports task-type routing. Each rule maps to a "provider,model" string:

This lets you use a cheap local model for background tasks, a reasoning-focused model for complex thinking, and a large-context model when your session grows — all automatically.

opusplan vs Claude Code Router: Which Should You Use?

Use opusplan if you want the simplest path to cost-optimized Claude Code usage with zero setup and full feature compatibility. It's one command and it works.

Use the community router if you want to use non-Anthropic models, run local models via Ollama, or need fine-grained control over which model handles which type of task.

Can you use both? Not directly — the community router overrides ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL, which bypasses Anthropic's API entirely. But you can configure the community router to use Anthropic as one of its providers alongside others, effectively recreating opusplan-style routing with additional providers mixed in.

Tips for Cost-Effective Claude Code Usage

• opusplan for best quality-to-cost ratio — Opus-quality reasoning on architecture decisions, Sonnet efficiency on implementation. This is the recommended starting point for most developers.
• Haiku for quick tasks — use claude --model haiku for simple questions, quick edits, and boilerplate generation. Haiku is significantly cheaper than both Opus and Sonnet.
• Community router + cheap models for boilerplate — route background tasks to DeepSeek or local Ollama models. Save Anthropic credits for work that needs Claude's reasoning.
• Monitor your usage — use the /cost command in Claude Code to see token consumption and spending for your current session.
• Plan before executing — enter plan mode (Shift+Tab twice) to think through your approach before the model starts generating code. Better plans mean fewer wasted iterations.

For extending Claude Code's capabilities beyond model routing, browse available skills on PolySkill — portable packages that add coding standards, workflow automations, and specialized prompts to your sessions.

Related: How to Add Skills to Claude Code (2026) | Codex vs Claude Code: Full Comparison (2026) | Claude Code vs Cursor: Full Comparison (2026)

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