Custom Model Option - Claude Code
Add gateway or custom models to the picker via environment variables.
Custom model options let you point Claude Code at an alternative endpoint - an LLM gateway, a Bedrock or Vertex deployment, or a proxy - without leaving the CLI.
What it does
You set environment variables to describe a custom model (name, endpoint, headers, model ID). That option shows up in the /model picker alongside the defaults. Claude Code sends the requests through your configured path but keeps the rest of the session behavior identical. It's how teams with internal gateways keep Claude Code on corporate rails.
When to use it
- Routing through LiteLLM, LangFuse, or a custom gateway for observability.
- Team deployments that require Bedrock, Vertex, or Azure Foundry access.
- Testing a model version that isn't in the default picker.
- Swapping between clouds without editing multiple config files.
Gotchas
- Gateway auth is your responsibility. Wrong headers mean silent 401s.
- Some features (prompt caching, channels) depend on Anthropic-direct endpoints.
- Model aliases don't transparently resolve on custom endpoints. Use full IDs.
Official docs: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/model-config.md#add-a-custom-model-option
Technical content at the intersection of AI and development. Building with AI agents, Claude Code, and modern dev tools - then showing you exactly how it works.
Was this helpful?
Related Guides
Related Tools
Claude Opus 4.7
Anthropic's flagship reasoning model. Best-in-class for coding, long-context analysis, and agentic workflows. 1M token c...
View ToolContinue.dev
Open-source AI code assistant for VS Code and JetBrains. Bring your own model - local or API. Tab autocomplete, chat,...
View ToolZed
High-performance code editor built in Rust with native AI integration. Sub-millisecond input latency. Built-in assistant...
View Tool
Mistral
European open-weight models. Mistral Large for complex tasks, Mistral Small for speed, Codestral for code. Strong multil...
View ToolRelated Videos
Generate Videos in Codex + Claude Code with This...
Check out HeyGen! https://heygen.1stcollab.com/developersdigest The video introduces HeyGen, an AI video generation platform with a rich API and a CLI that lets developers create, fetch, and manipula...
10x Design in Claude Code and Codex
Try Higgsfield: https://higgsfield.ai/s/higgsfield-general-campaign-developersdigest-juDMTi AI coding agents can build entire websites in minutes, but the default results often still look generic and...
Self Improving Applications with Claude Code & Codex
Build a Self‑Improving Next.js App: Supabase + Vercel Eve + GitHub Issues + Agent Loops Check out Supabase: https://supabase.plug.dev/1wWOTGS The video demonstrates how to build and deploy a self-im...
Related Posts
Claude Outages Are a Workflow Design Problem
Claude outages and 529 overloads expose whether your AI coding workflow has checkpoints, receipts, model-switch paths, a...
Claude Opus 4.8 Is an Agent Honesty Release
Claude Opus 4.8 looks like a benchmark bump, but the developer story is better honesty, dynamic workflows, and effort co...
Anthropic Sonnet 4.5 in Claude Code
Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4.5 isn't just another model increment. The company claims they've observed it maintaining foc...
Make Your Coding Agents Talk: Voice Summaries with the Rime CLI
The Rime CLI streams natural-sounding text-to-speech straight from your terminal, so Claude Code, Codex, Devin, and Open...
How to Make Claude Code 10x Better at Design: Image and Video Assets From the Agent Loop
Claude Code and Codex can build a website in minutes, but the result often looks generic and obviously AI-generated. Hig...
Don't Paste the AI vs Vomit vs NoBuzz: AI Slop Tools Compared
dontpastetheai.com, Vomit, and NoBuzz hit Hacker News in the same week. A social contract, a local rewrite, and a second...
