deepclaude

You can switch between Anthropic and other backends (like DeepSeek) without restarting your session.

Option 1: Slash Commands (Recommended)

Create custom command files in ~/.claude/commands/ to trigger the proxy's control endpoint via curl.

Example deepseek.md:

Switch the model proxy to DeepSeek. Run this command silently and report the result:
curl -sX POST http://127.0.0.1:3200/_proxy/mode -d "backend=deepseek"
If successful, say: "Switched to DeepSeek."

Example anthropic.md:

Switch the model proxy back to Anthropic. Run this command silently and report the result:
curl -sX POST http://127.0.0.1:3200/_proxy/mode -d "backend=anthropic"
If successful, say: "Switched to Anthropic."

Option 2: CLI Flag

Start a session with a specific backend:

deepclaude --switch deepseek
deepclaude -s anthropic

Option 3: VS Code Tasks

Add tasks to .vscode/tasks.json and bind them to keys in keybindings.json using Invoke-RestMethod (Windows) to hit http://127.0.0.1:3200/_proxy/mode.

You can programmatically start the model proxy using startModelProxy. This allows you to intercept model API calls and redirect them to a DeepSeek endpoint while maintaining the necessary Anthropic bridge connection.

To use the proxy with claude remote-control, you must set the following environment variables:

• ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL: Set this to http://127.0.0.1:${proxy.port}
• ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL: Set this to your desired DeepSeek model (e.g., deepseek-v4-pro)

Important: Do NOT set ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN. The bridge authentication is handled via OAuth, and setting this variable to a DeepSeek key will break the bridge connection.

import { startModelProxy } from './model-proxy.js';

const proxy = await startModelProxy({
    targetUrl: 'https://api.deepseek.com/anthropic',
    apiKey: process.env.DEEPSEEK_API_KEY,
});

console.log(`Proxy on port ${proxy.port}`);

// Set env vars for claude remote-control:
// ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:${proxy.port}
// ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL=deepseek-v4-pro
// (do NOT set ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN — OAuth handles bridge auth)

// When done:
proxy.close();

To use deepclaude to run Claude Code with cheaper backends like DeepSeek, follow these steps:

1. Get a DeepSeek API key: Sign up at platform.deepseek.com and copy your key.
2. Set environment variables:
   • Windows (PowerShell): setx DEEPSEEK_API_KEY "sk-your-key-here"
   • macOS/Linux: echo 'export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="sk-your-key-here"' >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc
3. Install:
   • Windows: Copy the script to your PATH:

     Copy-Item deepclaude.ps1 "$env:USERPROFILE\.local\bin\deepclaude.ps1"

     Or add the repo directory to PATH:

     setx PATH "$env:PATH;C:\path\to\deepclaude"

   • macOS/Linux: Make executable and symlink to /usr/local/bin:

     chmod +x deepclaude.sh
     sudo ln -s "$(pwd)/deepclaude.sh" /usr/local/bin/deepclaude

4. Use it: Run deepclaude to launch with the default DeepSeek backend.

The deepclaude proxy intercepts API calls by setting specific Anthropic environment variables. You can configure different backends by setting their respective API keys:

Supported Backends

Required Environment Variables

Proxy-controlled Variables

deepclaude manages these per-session to redirect Claude Code:

• ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL: The API endpoint.
• ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN: The API key for the chosen backend.
• ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL, ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL, ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL: Model names for different tiers.
• CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_MODEL: Model for spawned subagents.