OpenRouter Claude Code Launcher (orcc)

An interactive, cross-platform CLI that browses OpenRouter models (free and paid) and launches Claude Code against the one you pick — with zero global config and per-launch credential injection.

📦 Published on npm: openrouter-claude-code-launcher — run it with npx openrouter-claude-code-launcher.

Why this exists

OpenRouter exposes an Anthropic-compatible endpoint, so Claude Code can talk to it natively — no local proxy required. The usual setup, though, means exporting ANTHROPIC_* variables into your shell or a repo file, which makes the model + key global and static and pollutes every other claude invocation.

orcc takes a cleaner approach: it spawns claude as a child process and injects the OpenRouter configuration into that process only. Every launch is independent, you pick a fresh model each time, and nothing leaks into your shell or your repo.

Features

• 🔎 Full catalog — fetches every model from OpenRouter's public API (no key needed just to browse).
• 🆓💲 Free / Paid / Favourites / Search-all — choose a category up front, or search across everything.
• ⌨️ Searchable picker — type to fuzzy-filter by id or name; arrow keys to navigate.
• ⭐ Favourites — star any model while selecting; favourites persist (in your config) and are pinned to the top of every list.
• 💸 Cheapest-first — paid models are sorted by price ascending; ⭐ marks Anthropic (recommended for Claude Code).
• 🛠️ Tool-capable only — hides models that lack tools support (Claude Code is tool-use driven and won't work without it).
• 🧹 Clean pricing — filters out sentinel/invalid-price entries (e.g. openrouter/auto).
• 🚀 Per-launch env injection — never touches your global shell or repo files.
• 🧠 Smart model roles — your pick drives the main + subagent models; the cheap background/"fast" role uses a compatible cheap model (never a quota-capped free one).
• 🔐 Safe credentials — OPENROUTER_API_KEY → saved config (chmod 600) → prompt once.
• ⚡ Cached + resilient — short-lived model-list cache with stale-fallback on network failure.
• 🧯 Robust errors — clear handling for missing key, network failure, missing claude binary, and empty model lists; passes Claude Code's exit code through.
• 🪟🍎🐧 Cross-platform — macOS, Linux, and Windows.
• ⬆ Self-update — notifies when a newer version is on npm (throttled, non-blocking); orcc --update upgrades in place.
• 🧰 Scriptable — non-interactive flags (--model, --list, --refresh, --version, --update).

How it works

orcc spawns Claude Code with these variables set for that process only:

ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://openrouter.ai/api
ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=<your OpenRouter key>
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=                         # explicitly empty (required by OpenRouter)
ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL   = <picked model>
ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL = <picked model>
CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_MODEL     = <picked model>
ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL  = <cheap compatible model>   # background / "fast" role
ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL     = <cheap compatible model>

The chosen model is also passed via claude --model <id>. The background/"fast" role is never routed to a free model (those are quota-capped and unreliable) — for an Anthropic main model it uses the cheapest Anthropic haiku, otherwise it reuses your picked model.

Prerequisites

• Node.js ≥ 18
• Claude Code — npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
• An OpenRouter API key — https://openrouter.ai/keys

Installation

Run instantly with npx (nothing installed permanently):

npx openrouter-claude-code-launcher

Or install globally for a persistent orcc command:

npm install -g openrouter-claude-code-launcher
orcc

The package ships as a single bundled file, so there's no dependency tree to download — installs and npx cold-starts are fast. Requires Node ≥ 18 (and Claude Code — see Prerequisites).

From source (development)

git clone [email protected]:sherazahmedvaival/openrouter-claude-code-launcher.git
cd openrouter-claude-code-launcher
npm install            # installs deps and builds dist/ via the `prepare` hook
node bin/orcc.js       # run directly from the ESM source
# or: npm link         # symlink the global `orcc` to your checkout

Usage

orcc                       # browse models, pick one, launch Claude Code
orcc --list                # print free + paid (tool-capable) models and exit
orcc --refresh             # ignore the ~10 min cache and re-fetch the catalog
orcc -m anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5            # skip the picker, launch this model
orcc -- --dangerously-skip-permissions        # forward args after -- to claude

Interactive flow

Running orcc with no flags:

1. Pick a category: ★ Favourites, 🔍 Search all models (across free + paid), Paid, or Free.
2. Browse a searchable list — type to filter by id/name, ↑/↓ to navigate, ↩ Back to change category. Paid is cheapest-first; ⭐ marks Anthropic; ★ favourites are pinned to the top.
3. After choosing a model: Launch it, or ★ add / remove it from favourites (saved in your config and pinned next time).
4. A free selection prints a one-line reliability warning (non-blocking).
5. Prompts for your API key if one isn't already configured, then launches Claude Code.

Credentials

orcc resolves your OpenRouter key in this order:

1. OPENROUTER_API_KEY environment variable
2. Saved config file
3. Interactive prompt (optionally saved for next time)

The config lives at ~/.config/orcc/config.json (POSIX, written chmod 600) or %APPDATA%\orcc\config.json (Windows). It also stores the short-lived model-list cache.

Updating

orcc checks npm for a newer version (at most once a day, non-blocking) and prints a notice when one is available. To update:

orcc --update      # install the latest from npm (npm install -g …@latest)
orcc --version     # show the installed version

Using npx? You always run the latest: npx openrouter-claude-code-launcher. Set ORCC_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 to disable the background check.

Uninstall

orcc --uninstall          # interactive: remove orcc's saved data, then optionally the package
orcc --uninstall --yes    # non-interactive: remove data + the global package, no prompts

--uninstall deletes orcc's data directory (~/.config/orcc or %APPDATA%\orcc — API key, favourites, last model, cache) and can also run the global npm uninstall for you. To remove just the command yourself:

npm uninstall -g openrouter-claude-code-launcher

Choosing a model

For a reliable Claude Code session, pick an Anthropic model (⭐). OpenRouter only guarantees Claude Code with Anthropic first-party models. orcc lists everything, but:

• Free models are rate-limited (~50 requests/day under $10 credit) and each is served by a single sponsor provider. Claude Code makes many calls per prompt, so free models commonly hit 429 · Provider returned error mid-session.
• Cheap non-Anthropic models often accept simple requests but reject Claude Code's full payload (system prompt + tool definitions) with 422, or return empty/garbled output.

anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5 is the cheapest reliable option; anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6 for stronger results. Sustained use needs real OpenRouter credit ($10+).

Troubleshooting

| Symptom | Cause | Fix | |---|---|---| | Retrying… 10/10, "attempted to connect to server" | Free-model quota / provider throttling (429) | Use a paid Anthropic model; add OpenRouter credit | | API Error: 422 Provider returned error | A non-Anthropic model rejected Claude Code's full request | Switch to an Anthropic model (⭐) | | Empty / no response but exit 0 | Non-Anthropic model output doesn't map to Claude Code's format | Use an Anthropic model | | `claude` was not found | Claude Code isn't installed / on PATH | npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code | | Failed to load models | Network/API issue | Re-run; orcc falls back to cached list when possible |

How free vs paid is decided

A model is free only when both its prompt and completion prices are 0 on OpenRouter (these IDs usually end in :free). Everything else is paid and billed to your OpenRouter account. Only tool-capable models are listed in either group.

Publishing (maintainers)

npm version <patch|minor|major>   # bump version + tag
npm publish                       # `prepare` rebuilds dist/orcc.cjs before packing
git push --follow-tags

The published tarball contains only dist/orcc.cjs, package.json, README.md, and LICENSE (enforced by the files whitelist) — source and dev deps stay out.

License

MIT