kdsuomi/cc-simplerouter

cc-simplerouter is a small command line tool that lets you run Claude Code, Anthropic's coding assistant, with a completely different AI model behind it, such as one from OpenRouter, Google AI Studio's Gemini, OpenAI, DeepSeek, Z.AI, or Meta. Normally, switching Claude Code to another provider means editing configuration files, setting environment variables, or running your own local proxy server by hand. This tool does all of that automatically each time you launch it, and it never touches your existing Claude Code account or subscription sign in. You install it with a single install script for Windows, macOS, or Linux, which downloads a prebuilt binary. The first time you run the simplerouter command, it opens a picker where you choose a provider, paste in that provider's API key, and select a model from a filtered, curated list. After that first setup, you can just type simplerouter to relaunch with your saved choice, or pass flags like minus minus model and minus minus provider to skip the picker and jump straight into a chosen model. Under the hood, the tool sets environment variables for the launched Claude Code process only, pointing it at the right endpoint and your saved key. For most providers that require a different request format than Claude Code expects, simplerouter starts a small proxy running only on your own machine for that single session, translating between Claude Code's requests and the provider's API, and shutting the proxy down as soon as Claude Code exits. For OpenRouter specifically, you can also press Tab in the model picker to pin a specific inference provider behind that model, which the tool passes through using the same local proxy trick. There is also a flag to disable Claude Code's thinking related request fields if a particular provider does not support them, and a flag to reset your saved API keys and start fresh. This project is aimed at developers who already use Claude Code and want the flexibility to try cheaper or different AI models without permanently reconfiguring their setup or running extra infrastructure themselves.