Claude Code and Claude Agent SDK

AI Gateway provides Anthropic-compatible API endpoints so you can use Claude Code and the Claude Agent SDK through a unified gateway.

Claude Code is Anthropic's agentic coding tool. You can configure it to use Vercel AI Gateway, enabling you to:

• Monitor traffic and token usage in your AI Gateway Overview
• View detailed traces in Vercel Observability under AI

1. Configure environment variables

   First, log out if you're already logged in:

   claude /logout

   Next, ensure you have your AI Gateway API key handy, and configure Claude Code to use the AI Gateway by adding this to your shell configuration file, for example in ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc:

   export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh"
   export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="your-ai-gateway-api-key"
   export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=""

   Setting ANTHROPIC_API_KEY to an empty string is important. Claude Code checks this variable first, and if it's set to a non-empty value, it will use that instead of ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN.

2. Run Claude Code

   Run claude to start Claude Code with AI Gateway:

   claude

   Your requests will now be routed through Vercel AI Gateway.

3. (Optional) macOS: Secure token storage with Keychain

   If you're on a Mac and would like to manage your API key through a keychain for improved security, set your API key in the keystore with:

   security add-generic-password -a "$USER" -s "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN" \
     -w "your-ai-gateway-api-key"

   and edit the ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN line above to:

   export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=$(
     security find-generic-password -a "$USER" -s "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN" -w
   )

   If you need to update the API key value later, you can do it with:

   security add-generic-password -U -a "$USER" -s "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN" \
     -w "new-ai-gateway-api-key"

If you have a Claude subscription, you can use your subscription through the AI Gateway. This allows you to leverage your existing Claude subscription while still benefiting from the gateway's observability, monitoring, and routing features.

1. Set up environment variables

   Add the following to your shell configuration file (e.g., ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc):

   export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh"
   export ANTHROPIC_CUSTOM_HEADERS="x-ai-gateway-api-key: Bearer your-ai-gateway-api-key"

   Replace your-ai-gateway-api-key with your actual AI Gateway API key.

2. Start Claude Code

   Start Claude Code:

   claude

3. Log in with your Claude subscription

   If you're not already logged in, Claude Code will prompt you to authenticate. Choose Option 1 - Claude account with subscription and log in as normal with your Anthropic account.

   If you encounter issues, try logging out with claude /logout and logging in again.

Your requests will now be routed through Vercel AI Gateway using your Claude subscription. You'll be able to monitor usage and view traces in your Vercel dashboard while using your Anthropic subscription for model access.

Fast mode makes Claude Opus 4.6 and Opus 4.7 responses up to 2.5x faster at a higher per-token cost. It uses the same model with the same quality, just with a configuration that prioritizes speed.

To use fast mode with AI Gateway on Opus 4.6, set the CLAUDE_CODE_SKIP_FAST_MODE_ORG_CHECK variable. You can either add it to your shell configuration file (e.g., ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc):

export CLAUDE_CODE_SKIP_FAST_MODE_ORG_CHECK=1

Or add it to ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "env": {
    "CLAUDE_CODE_SKIP_FAST_MODE_ORG_CHECK": "1"
  }
}

For Opus 4.7, also set CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_OPUS_4_7_FAST_MODE:

export CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_OPUS_4_7_FAST_MODE=1
export CLAUDE_CODE_SKIP_FAST_MODE_ORG_CHECK=1

{
  "env": {
    "CLAUDE_CODE_SKIP_FAST_MODE_ORG_CHECK": "1",
    "CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_OPUS_4_7_FAST_MODE": "1"
  }
}

Then toggle fast mode on or off inside Claude Code by typing /fast.

Fast mode usage is billed as extra usage at $30/$150 per million input/output tokens, even if you have remaining usage on your plan. When you hit the fast mode rate limit, Claude Code automatically falls back to standard Opus speed and pricing.

The Claude Agent SDK (@anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk) lets you build AI agents that use the same tools and agentic loop that power Claude Code. You can route Agent SDK requests through AI Gateway by setting environment variables in the env option:

import { query } from '@anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk';
 
for await (const message of query({
  prompt: 'Find and fix the bug in auth.py',
  options: {
    model: 'anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6',
    allowedTools: ['Read', 'Edit', 'Bash'],
    env: {
      ...process.env,
      ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL: 'https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh',
      ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN: 'your-ai-gateway-api-key',
      ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: '',
    },
  },
})) {
  if ('result' in message) console.log(message.result);
}

The Agent SDK spawns Claude Code as a subprocess, so the same environment variables apply. All requests, including messages and token counting, route through AI Gateway.