inferroute

Quickstart

Claude Code proxy setup

InferRoute is a drop-in proxy for the Anthropic API. Install the CLI and run ir — it launches Claude Code routed through InferRoute, automatically sending simple requests to cheaper models and complex ones to premium, cutting your Anthropic API costs by up to 70%.

Prerequisites

  • Claude Code installed and working with a direct Anthropic API key
  • A free InferRoute account (takes 30 seconds, no credit card required)
  • Windows users: Claude Code runs on Windows via WSL — once WSL is set up, use the same commands below in your WSL terminal
1

Create a free account and get your API key

Sign up at inferroute.ai, then go to your dashboard and create an API key — it starts with inf_. You'll hand it to ir login in the next step.

# Your InferRoute API key looks like:
inf_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
2

Install the CLI and log in

$ pipx install inferroute
$ ir login # paste your inf_ key

ir login saves your key to ~/.config/inferroute/credentials. The CLI sets ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL for you — scoped only to the session it launches, so your regular claude stays untouched.

3

Run ir exactly like claude

Same flags, same workflow, same Claude Code. ir just launches it pointed at InferRoute, which classifies each request in real-time and routes it to the most cost-efficient model that can handle it — automatically.

4

Check your dashboard

Open your InferRoute dashboard to see requests being routed in real-time, your token usage, and exactly how much you're saving compared to direct Anthropic pricing.

How routing works

Every request is classified by specialty and complexity, then routed to the model on the Pareto frontier for that task — from leading open-source models to top closed-source providers. You never pick the model manually.

  • →Simple tasks — code completion, file edits, short Q&A — route to the cheapest capable model for that task type
  • →Complex tasks — multi-step reasoning, large context windows, agentic planning — route to a specialized frontier model matched to the task's demands

No added latency on the routing step itself.

Ready to see your savings? The free tier gets you started in seconds.

Create free accountView pricing