cclau

Claude Code launcher with profile manager.

cclau wraps Claude Code so you can switch between API endpoints (DeepSeek, MiniMax, Moonshot Kimi, OpenCode Go, custom, …) without editing settings files. Each profile carries its own endpoint, API key, and mode (direct / rectify / openai); a local sidecar server kicks in automatically when needed.

Install

# Bun runtime required (>= 1.0)
curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash

git clone https://github.com/cha133/cclau.git
cd cclau
bun install
bun link          # expose `cclau` globally

Quick start

cclau add           # interactive wizard: vendor → mode → endpoint → key → model → 1m → name
cclau default work  # mark "work" as the default profile
cclau               # launch Claude Code with the default profile
cclau work          # launch Claude Code with a specific profile
cclau work -c       # launch with claude args (everything after profile name passes through)

Commands

| Command | Purpose | |---|---| | cclau add | Interactively add a profile | | cclau edit <name> | Edit a profile (endpoint / key / mode / model / 1m) | | cclau rm <name> | Remove a profile | | cclau ls | List all profiles | | cclau show <name> | Show profile details | | cclau default [name] | Show or set the default profile (nvm-style) | | cclau <name> [claude args…] | Launch Claude Code with a profile | | cclau -h / cclau --help | Show cclau help | | cclau -v / cclau --version | Show cclau version |

Routing rules (in priority order):

1. cclau (no args) → launch the default profile
2. cclau -h / cclau --help (as the only argument) → cclau help (intercepts Claude Code's own -h)
3. cclau -X (any other flag) → launch the default profile, pass everything after to Claude Code
4. cclau <known-subcommand> → commander subcommand
5. cclau <name> → fuzzy-match a profile, pass everything after to Claude Code

Modes

Each profile is one of three modes:

| Mode | Sidecar | Use when | |---|---|---| | direct | No | Anthropic-protocol upstream, no protocol fixes needed (fastest, zero hop) | | rectify | Yes | Anthropic-protocol upstream that needs request/response patching (e.g. OpenCode Go dual auth, Kimi thinking-type normalization) | | openai | Yes | OpenAI Chat-Completions upstream that needs protocol translation to Anthropic Messages |

The sidecar listens on 127.0.0.1:3133 (or next free port) and is torn down when Claude Code exits.

Vendor presets

cclau add ships with these built-in presets:

• DeepSeek — https://api.deepseek.com/anthropic, mode direct
• MiniMax — https://api.minimaxi.com/anthropic, mode direct
• Xiaomi MiMo — https://api.xiaomimimo.com/anthropic, mode direct
• Moonshot Kimi — https://api.moonshot.cn/anthropic, mode rectify (rectifier preset available)
• OpenCode Go — https://opencode.ai/zen/go, mode rectify (rectifier preset available)
• Custom — you pick endpoint and mode

Built-in rectifier presets

The wizard shows a mode-aware single-select picker. Same vendor name may resolve to a different rule body depending on the profile's mode:

• rectify mode (anthropic-protocol sidecar → upstream):
  • opencode-go — adds an Authorization: Bearer <apiKey> header alongside the default x-api-key (fixes 401 on OpenCode Go)
  • kimi — normalizes thinking.type to the supported string values (fixes 400 on Kimi thinking effort)
• openai mode (anthropic → openai-converted → upstream):
  • opencode-go — drops thinking when reasoning_effort is also set (avoids opencode-go's chat-completions endpoint returning HTTP 400 "cannot specify both")

Why split: cclau's openai mode routes to opencode-go's chat-completions endpoint, which has different protocol quirks than its anthropic-messages endpoint. Each vendor name is a single namespace entry point; the actual hook surface is mode-dependent.

Default-mode heuristic: when you pick a vendor with its own rule (OpenCode Go, Kimi), the wizard pre-selects rectify so the rule picker actually appears in the next step — and the matching rule is pre-selected there too (press Enter twice to accept both). Vendors without a dedicated rule (DeepSeek, MiniMax, MiMo) default to direct. Custom vendors leave the mode picker open.

In the rule picker you can also pick any other rule from the list to borrow a workaround for a different vendor's quirk. To skip entirely, choose none (no rectifier); you can also hand-edit TOML afterwards. A name that's listed for rectify but not for openai mode silently does nothing if the profile's mode doesn't apply to it (no error).

Configuration file

Path: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/cclau/config.toml (defaults to ~/.config/cclau/config.toml). Manually editable.

default = "work"

[profiles.work]
endpoint = "https://api.deepseek.com/anthropic"
apiKey = "sk-..."
mode = "direct"
model = "deepseek-chat"
supports1m = true
createdAt = 1750000000000
updatedAt = 1750000000000

[profiles.workbench]
endpoint = "https://opencode.ai/zen/go"
apiKey = "sk-..."
mode = "rectify"
model = "big-pickle"
supports1m = false
createdAt = 1750000000000
updatedAt = 1750000000000
rectifier = "opencode-go"

rectifier = "opencode-go" is an opaque name reference — the profile only declares which built-in rule to use; the concrete hook (e.g. Authorization: Bearer header) lives in code (src/preset-rules.ts) and is resolved at sidecar boot via resolveRectifierByName. Unknown names fall through to no-op with a warning.

1M context

Set supports1m = true and Claude Code will use the 1M context window when given a flag like --context 1m. The [1m] marker is a Claude Code internal hint and is stripped before the request leaves the sidecar — upstream never sees it.

Behavior notes

• First profile added becomes the default automatically — cclau (no args) works immediately after cclau add. Subsequent adds do NOT auto-default; pick explicitly with cclau default <name>. The trigger is lazy: a dangling default (references a profile that no longer exists) is treated as unset, so the next cclau add overwrites it.
• Removing the current default profile auto-promotes the next one (alphabetical, first by name) so cclau keeps working. If you remove the last profile, the default key is left stale (pointing at the removed name) — the next cclau add overwrites it, or run cclau default <name> after to set explicitly.
• The default profile lives at the top of config.toml as default = "<profile-name>" (single source of truth; multi-default cannot occur). cclau edit does NOT change the default — use cclau default <other> to switch.
• Profile fields not specified in the wizard are left at their default — add always sets supports1m and mode; edit lets you change any of endpoint / apiKey / mode / model / supports1m. To tweak things the wizard doesn't expose, hand-edit the TOML.
• Upgrading from a pre-global-default config — if you have a default = true line under any [profiles.<name>] from a previous cclau version, every command will refuse to run until you migrate. Hand-delete those default = true lines from your config.toml, then run cclau default <your-default-name> once.

Debugging

cclau opencode-go --cclau-debug    # writes per-session log
cclau --cclau-debug                # default profile + debug

The flag is consumed by cclau itself (never forwarded to claude code), and turns on the sidecar's debug log:

• Location: $XDG_STATE_HOME/cclau/debug-{ISO timestamp}.log (default ~/.local/state/cclau/debug-…log)
• Naming: every cclau invocation gets its own timestamped file. Old files are kept — rm ~/.local/state/cclau/debug-*.log to clear
• Contents: inbound request (claude-code → sidecar), outbound request (sidecar → upstream), and upstream SSE chunks (one per chunk). Header values matching *api*key* / *authorization* / *bearer* / *token* are redacted to first-4 + bullets + last-4 so full credentials never land on disk
• Compare two sessions: diff debug-A.log debug-B.log — useful for diagnosing "sometimes thinking, sometimes not" by lining up the body.thinking field sent upstream

This is independent of claude code's own --debug. cclau's flag records what the sidecar saw; claude code's flag records what its CLI saw. They cover different layers.

Development

bun install
bun run dev --help         # run src/cli.ts directly
bun run typecheck          # tsc --noEmit (strict + noUncheckedIndexedAccess)
bun test                   # bun test, isolated via CCLAU_CONFIG env var
bun run verify             # typecheck && bun test

License

MIT