CCL — Claude Code Launcher

CCL runs Claude Code against a different model provider — DeepSeek, GLM, a local model, whatever — without you editing config or exporting environment variables by hand.

It works because Claude Code only speaks the Anthropic Messages API. Any provider that also speaks that API will work with Claude Code; the model just needs to be reachable at the right URL with the right key. CCL knows those URLs and keys, sets them, and launches claude.

How it works

ccl --provider deepseek does three things:

1. Reads the deepseek entry from your config — base URL, API key, model name.
2. Sets the ANTHROPIC_* environment variables to match, and removes any pre-existing ANTHROPIC_* / CLAUDE_CODE_* variables from the environment so they can't leak through.
3. Replaces itself with claude via syscall.Exec.

There's no proxy or translation layer in the request path — CCL exits the moment claude starts, and the process you're left talking to is Claude Code, configured. (Transformer rules for non-Anthropic-shaped APIs exist but are opt-in; nothing runs between you and the model unless you set them up.)

Install

go install github.com/dotcommander/cclauncher/cmd/ccl@latest

~/go/bin must be on your PATH. From source:

git clone https://github.com/dotcommander/cclauncher
cd cclauncher
go build -o ccl ./cmd/ccl
mkdir -p "$(go env GOPATH)/bin"
ln -sf "$(pwd)/ccl" "$(go env GOPATH)/bin/ccl"

Usage

ccl                                  # pick a provider; pre-selects the default
ccl --provider deepseek              # this session only; skips the picker
ccl --provider synthetic "fix the null pointer in main.go"

Launch arguments other than CCL provider selectors pass through to claude unchanged. The first -- is consumed by CCL and ends provider parsing; subsequent arguments, including later -- delimiters, pass through.

Command	Description
ccl --provider <name>	Select a provider for this session
ccl providers	List providers and whether each key is set
ccl doctor [--provider <name>] [--json] [--check-net]	Check provider configuration and optional reachability
ccl update [--check]	Update CCL
ccl version	Print the version

Note on -p: CCL uses -p for --provider; Claude Code uses -p for print mode. Only a leading -p PROVIDER pair belongs to CCL. Later -p arguments belong to Claude Code. CCL recognizes --provider before its first -- delimiter.

ccl -p deepseek -p "fix this bug"   # provider=deepseek, claude in print mode
ccl -p "fix this bug"               # error: "fix this bug" is not a provider

Use the long form --provider to avoid ambiguity.

For the full docs index, see docs/README.md.

Providers

CCL ships with eleven providers in three categories. They're pre-configured; you only supply the key.

Cloud — synthetic, deepseek, minimax, zai, openrouter, wafer. Each reads one environment variable:

export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="sk-..."
ccl --provider deepseek

export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or-..."
ccl --provider openrouter

Local — llamabarn, lmstudio, llamacpp, omlx. No key; the model server runs on your machine and CCL points at localhost:

ccl --provider lmstudio          # LM Studio, localhost:1234
ccl --provider llamacpp          # llama.cpp, localhost:8080
ccl --provider llamabarn         # LlamaBarn, localhost:2276

Anthropic — claude. Auth is handled by the claude CLI's own OAuth; nothing to set.

Endpoints, environment variables, and per-provider notes: docs/providers.md.

Configuration

On first run, CCL writes ~/.config/cclauncher/config.yaml with all providers filled in. You supply the API key through an environment variable; CCL can't guess it.

Run bare ccl at an interactive terminal to open the provider picker. It pre-selects the configured default, so press Enter to launch it or pick another provider for that launch only. Both input and output must be terminals for the picker. With redirected input or output, bare ccl uses the configured default without prompting. Launches with arguments also use that default unless a provider is selected.

Set that default by editing cli.defaultProvider in ~/.config/cclauncher/config.yaml.

Override a single key without editing the config — CCL_<PROVIDER>_API_KEY takes precedence:

export CCL_DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="sk-..."

If you select a provider whose key is missing, CCL stops before launching and tells you which variable to set, rather than producing a 401 mid-session.

Config schema and interpolation rules: docs/configuration.md. Local model setup: docs/local-models.md.

Check your setup

ccl doctor                         # check every configured provider
ccl doctor --provider deepseek     # check one provider
ccl doctor --json                  # emit machine-readable results
ccl doctor --check-net             # also probe provider reachability

ccl doctor checks credentials, required fields, and base URLs without making network requests. Add --check-net when you also want reachability probes. Missing optional credentials are warnings; invalid required configuration exits non-zero. Network probes run concurrently with doctor.probeConcurrency from YAML (default 4; set 1 for sequential probes), preserve sorted provider order, and stop on caller cancellation. Each probe is limited to five seconds.

Standalone ccl --help, ccl help, and local command help do not load configuration. Use ccl -- --help or ccl --provider deepseek --help for Claude Code help.

ccl update --check requires no Go compiler. Release lookup has a ten-second limit; installation retains caller cancellation without that lookup deadline. Only a newer stable numeric version is installed. Development, malformed, and prerelease versions are indeterminate and skip installation.

Development

go build ./...
go test ./...
go vet ./...
go run ./cmd/ccl --help

Providers are defined in YAML, not Go. To add one, update internal/config/default-config.yaml, then run go run ./internal/tools/gen-config-examples so committed examples stay generated from the canonical default config. CCL sets provider env vars generically. See docs/providers.md.

License

MIT