Claude Code
A terminal app and a VS Code / Cursor / JetBrains plugin. No settings window here — environment variables.
Three fields. Copy, don’t type
https://cheapai.lol
claude-opus-4.8
Claude Code appends /v1/messages itself. So the URL here has no /v1. If the app wants a full path — https://cheapai.lol/v1/messages.
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://cheapai.lol export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=sk-… export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY= export ANTHROPIC_MODEL=claude-opus-4.8
Do it in order. Don’t skip
If Claude Code isn't installed yet: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
Two ways from here: way 1 sets it up permanently, way 2 lasts for the current terminal window.
WAY 1. Find the settings file: ~/.claude/settings.json on macOS and Linux, C:\Users\YourName\.claude\settings.json on Windows. The .claude folder may not exist — on Windows create it in PowerShell: mkdir "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude" -Force
Create settings.json in that folder with: {"env": {"ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://cheapai.lol", "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "sk-…", "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "claude-opus-4.8"}} — your full key instead of sk-…. This sticks for good.
WAY 2. Copy the commands from the card below into a terminal. They last while the window is open. export does not work on Windows — in PowerShell write $env:ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://cheapai.lol" and $env:ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="sk-…"
The key goes into ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN and ANTHROPIC_API_KEY stays empty — otherwise Claude Code assumes you pay Anthropic directly and asks you to sign in.
Run: claude
Type “hi”. A reply means you're set.
Check
Run claude in a terminal and type hi. A reply means the variables are right.
If it didn’t start
- It asks you to sign in to claude.ai — the key went into ANTHROPIC_API_KEY instead of ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN, or the settings file sits in the wrong folder.
- export errors out on Windows — that's macOS/Linux syntax. In PowerShell use $env:NAME="value".
- The address here has no /v1 tail — Claude Code appends it itself.
- “401 / unauthorized / invalid api key” — the key was not copied whole. It starts with sk- and has no space at either end.
- “model not found” / “named models unavailable” / model in red — the name must match exactly: claude-opus-4.8. Not “Opus 5”, not opus, not claude-3, not gpt-4.
- The app shows no models — reopen its settings page: the model list is served from our address and appears once the Base URL and key are right.
- “Connection error” / spinner and silence — wrong Base URL. Almost every app wants the address with a /v1 tail.
- “/v1/v1” in the error — the app appends /v1 itself. Drop the tail, leave the site address.
- It replied, then stopped — you ran out of tokens. The balance is in your dashboard. Topping up on FunPay from the same nick lands on the same key.