OpenRouter can sit between Claude Code and its model provider without requiring a separate proxy on the developer's computer. Its integration guide describes an endpoint that accepts Anthropic's native message format, allowing requests to pass through OpenRouter's billing and usage controls. Developers redirect the endpoint and supply OpenRouter access credentials. The guide limits its compatibility guarantee to Anthropic models through the first-party provider. The useful change is centralized management of those coding sessions, rather than unrestricted model interchangeability.
Terms in this piece · Glossary
tool use — A model's ability to call external functions — run code, search the web, edit files — instead of only generating text.
streaming — Sending a model's response token by token as it is generated, so the reader sees text immediately instead of waiting for the whole answer.
