free-claude-code

To use Claude Code with free OpenAI-compatible providers, you need a local proxy service that intercepts CLI requests and routes them to alternative endpoints. This proxy bridges Claude Code and Codex CLI to open-source providers like Mistral, OpenRouter, and Ollama without requiring a paid subscription.

Yes, you can run Codex CLI locally without a paid subscription by using a proxy server. The proxy redirects your CLI traffic to free, OpenAI-compatible providers such as DeepSeek, Groq, and NVIDIA NIM, allowing full CLI functionality at no cost.

Connecting Claude Code to OpenRouter requires initializing a local proxy configuration and starting the proxy server. You use command-line wrappers to initialize the environment and launch the server, which then handles the routing between your CLI and the OpenRouter API.

Yes, the Claude Code proxy supports integration with Discord and Telegram through a built-in bridge functionality. This allows you to interact with the proxy service and execute commands directly from your chat platforms, alongside an optional Admin UI for management.

Using a local proxy for Claude Code means your experience depends entirely on the rate limits, latency, and capabilities of the free open-source providers you route to, such as Mistral or Ollama. Complex coding tasks may perform differently compared to the native paid Claude subscription.