Aether

Aether is an open-source coding-agent CLI that works with more than one model provider.

Use OpenAI-compatible APIs, Gemini, GitHub Models, Codex, Ollama, Atomic Chat, and other supported backends while keeping the same terminal-first workflow: prompts, tools, agents, MCP, slash commands, and streaming output.

Why Aether

• Use one CLI across cloud and local model providers
• Save provider profiles inside the app with /provider
• Run locally with Ollama or Atomic Chat
• Keep core coding-agent workflows: bash, file tools, grep, glob, agents, tasks, MCP, and web tools

Provenance & Legal Notice

Aether is derived from Anthropic's Claude Code CLI source code, which was inadvertently exposed in March 2026 through a packaging error in npm. The original Claude Code source is proprietary software owned by Anthropic PBC.

This project adds multi-provider support, strips telemetry, and adapts the codebase for open use. It is not an authorized fork or open-source release by Anthropic.

"Claude" and "Claude Code" are trademarks of Anthropic PBC.

Contributors should be aware that the legal status of distributing code derived from Anthropic's proprietary source is unresolved. See the LICENSE file for details.

Quick Start

Install

npm install -g @oevortex/aether

If the npm install path later reports ripgrep not found, install ripgrep system-wide and confirm rg --version works in the same terminal before starting Aether.

Start

Aether

Inside Aether:

• run /provider for guided setup of OpenAI-compatible, Gemini, Ollama, or Codex profiles
• run /onboard-github for GitHub Models setup

Fastest OpenAI setup

macOS / Linux:

export CLAUDE_CODE_USE_OPENAI=1
export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-key-here
export OPENAI_MODEL=gpt-4o

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Windows PowerShell:

$env:CLAUDE_CODE_USE_OPENAI="1"
$env:OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-your-key-here"
$env:OPENAI_MODEL="gpt-4o"

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Fastest local Ollama setup

macOS / Linux:

export CLAUDE_CODE_USE_OPENAI=1
export OPENAI_BASE_URL=http://localhost:11434/v1
export OPENAI_MODEL=qwen2.5-coder:7b

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Windows PowerShell:

$env:CLAUDE_CODE_USE_OPENAI="1"
$env:OPENAI_BASE_URL="http://localhost:11434/v1"
$env:OPENAI_MODEL="qwen2.5-coder:7b"

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Setup Guides

Beginner-friendly guides:

• Non-Technical Setup
• Windows Quick Start
• macOS / Linux Quick Start

Advanced and source-build guides:

• Advanced Setup
• Android Install

Supported Providers

| Provider | Setup Path | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | | OpenAI-compatible | /provider or env vars | Works with OpenAI, OpenRouter, DeepSeek, Groq, Mistral, LM Studio, and compatible local /v1 servers | | Gemini | /provider or env vars | Google Gemini support through the runtime provider layer (API key, access token, or local ADC) | | GitHub Models | /onboard-github | Interactive onboarding with saved credentials | | Codex | /provider | Uses existing Codex credentials when available | | Ollama | /provider or env vars | Local inference with no API key | | Atomic Chat | advanced setup | Local Apple Silicon backend | | Bedrock / Vertex / Foundry | env vars | Additional provider integrations for supported environments |

For Gemini, /provider can now save either the API-key path, a securely stored access-token path, or a local ADC profile.

What Works

• Tool-driven coding workflows Bash, file read/write/edit, grep, glob, agents, tasks, MCP, and slash commands
• Streaming responses Real-time token output and tool progress
• Tool calling Multi-step tool loops with model calls, tool execution, and follow-up responses
• Images URL and base64 image inputs for providers that support vision
• Provider profiles Guided setup plus saved .aether-profile.json support
• Local and remote model backends Cloud APIs, local servers, and Apple Silicon local inference

Provider Notes

Aether supports multiple providers, but behavior is not identical across all of them.

• Anthropic-specific features may not exist on other providers
• Tool quality depends heavily on the selected model
• Smaller local models can struggle with long multi-step tool flows
• Some providers impose lower output caps than the CLI defaults, and Aether adapts where possible

For best results, use models with strong tool/function calling support.

Agent Routing

Route different agents to different AI providers within the same session. Useful for cost optimization (cheap model for code review, powerful model for complex coding) or leveraging model strengths.

Configuration

Add to ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "agentModels": {
    "deepseek-chat": {
      "base_url": "https://api.deepseek.com/v1",
      "api_key": "sk-your-key"
    },
    "gpt-4o": {
      "base_url": "https://api.openai.com/v1",
      "api_key": "sk-your-key"
    }
  },
  "agentRouting": {
    "Explore": "deepseek-chat",
    "Plan": "gpt-4o",
    "general-purpose": "gpt-4o",
    "frontend-dev": "deepseek-chat",
    "default": "gpt-4o"
  }
}

How It Works

• agentModels: Maps model names to OpenAI-compatible API endpoints
• agentRouting: Maps agent types or team member names to model names
• Priority: name > subagent_type > "default" > global provider
• Matching: Case-insensitive, hyphen/underscore equivalent (general-purpose = general_purpose)
• Teams: Team members are routed by their name — no extra config needed

When no routing match is found, the global provider (env vars) is used as fallback.

Note: api_key values in settings.json are stored in plaintext. Keep this file private and do not commit it to version control.

Web Search and Fetch

By default, WebSearch now works on non-Anthropic models using DuckDuckGo. This gives GPT-4o, DeepSeek, Gemini, Ollama, and other OpenAI-compatible providers a free web search path out of the box.

Note: DuckDuckGo fallback works by scraping search results and may be rate-limited, blocked, or subject to DuckDuckGo's Terms of Service. If you want a more reliable supported option, configure Firecrawl.

For Anthropic-native backends (Anthropic/Vertex/Foundry) and Codex responses, Aether keeps the native provider web search behavior.

WebFetch works but uses basic HTTP plus HTML-to-markdown conversion. That fails on JavaScript-rendered pages (React, Next.js, Vue SPAs) and sites that block plain HTTP requests.

Set a Firecrawl API key if you want Firecrawl-powered search/fetch behavior:

export FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=your-key-here

With Firecrawl enabled:

• WebSearch can use Firecrawl's search API (while DuckDuckGo remains the default free path for non-Claude models)
• WebFetch uses Firecrawl's scrape endpoint instead of raw HTTP, handling JS-rendered pages correctly

Free tier at firecrawl.dev includes 500 credits. The key is optional.

Source Build

bun install
bun run build
node dist/cli.mjs

Helpful commands:

• bun run dev
• bun run smoke
• bun run doctor:runtime

VS Code Extension

The repo includes a VS Code extension in vscode-extension/aether-vscode for Aether launch integration and theme support.

Security

If you believe you found a security issue, see SECURITY.md.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome.

For larger changes, open an issue first so the scope is clear before implementation. Helpful validation commands include:

• bun run build
• bun run smoke
• focused bun test ... runs for touched areas

Disclaimer

Aether is an independent community project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anthropic.

"Claude" and "Claude Code" are trademarks of Anthropic.

License

MIT