The installation of Claude Code presents a certain barrier, especially for users who cannot afford the native Claude API. If you want to use other cheaper models or large model APIs other than Claude, you need a transfer or proxy.
I used OpenRouter as a relay station. But how do you connect the various large models in the relay station with Claude Code? I use cc-switch, a project on GitHub. After installing and running cc-switch, it will take over the process of Claude Code connecting to the API.
The role of cc-switch is to replace non-Claude native models with other cheaper models. Its core principle is to “deceive” Claude Code. If you are installing and running Claude Code for the first time, the most critical point of using cc-switch is to check the “Skip the first installation of Claude Code” option. Otherwise, even if you set the names of the large models and the relay station correctly in cc-switch, it will still ask you to fill in the Claude API after entering Claude Code, because this is a part of the first installation, so you have to skip it.