On November 9, 2026 we installed Claude Code Router 3.1.3 from npm on a Mac, gave it one provider (a mock server on 127.0.0.1 with a dummy key) and started it. Before we had launched anything through it, it had written ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3456 into ~/.claude/settings.json, and the next plain claude session we opened went through the router.
Claude Code Router (CCR, claude-code-router on GitHub) is an open source, MIT-licensed local model gateway that lets Claude Code use models from other providers. Its README calls it “a local model gateway and control plane for coding agents” that gives Claude Code and nine other agents “one stable local endpoint”, while you manage the providers, models, routing rules and keys behind it.
source & further reading
formal.ai — original article
Claude Managed Agents: Who Secures What
Claude Code Hooks: What They Can't Stop
Gusto protects sensitive data from external LLM provider with Formal