Other / Custom Clients

Any AI client that supports a custom base URL can route through ClawRouter. This page gives the generic connection details, ready-to-paste environment variable blocks, and a guide for Aider.

Version 1.0.18

Prerequisites

1. ClawRouter running -- clawrouter status (default: http://localhost:3030).
2. A provider created in the ClawRouter dashboard, with API keys added.
3. The proxy API key -- copy it from Settings > Proxy API Key in the dashboard.

Fastest setup: the "Prompt for AI" dialog on every provider page has a Custom / Other tab that emits all of the values below -- endpoint URLs, env export blocks, and a curl example -- pre-filled for that specific provider, with your real proxy API key embedded.

Endpoint Reference

ClawRouter accepts every endpoint style on every provider and translates into the provider's native format automatically. Replace {provider-id} with your provider's ID (shown in its Base URL on the dashboard):

Authentication: send the proxy API key as Authorization: Bearer cr_your_proxy_key (OpenAI style) or x-api-key: cr_your_proxy_key (Anthropic style). ClawRouter validates it, then injects the real upstream key itself.

Audio (ElevenLabs): elevenlabs providers expose the ElevenLabs Speech-to-Text / Text-to-Speech API at /proxy/{provider-id}/v1 -- see Providers > ElevenLabs (Audio) for curl examples.

Environment Variable Blocks

Many clients read their connection settings from environment variables. Paste the block matching your client's style into your shell:

# Claude Code / Anthropic-style clients
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="http://localhost:3030/proxy/{provider-id}"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="cr_your_proxy_key"
export ANTHROPIC_MODEL="model-id"

# OpenAI-style clients
export OPENAI_BASE_URL="http://localhost:3030/proxy/{provider-id}/v1"
export OPENAI_API_KEY="cr_your_proxy_key"

# Google Gemini-style clients
export GOOGLE_GEMINI_BASE_URL="http://localhost:3030/proxy/{provider-id}/v1beta"
export GEMINI_API_KEY="cr_your_proxy_key"

Note the Anthropic block has no /v1 suffix in the base URL -- Anthropic-style clients append /v1/messages themselves.

Aider

Aider is a terminal pair-programming agent. Route it through ClawRouter with its OpenAI-compatible mode:

export OPENAI_API_BASE="http://localhost:3030/proxy/{provider-id}/v1"
export OPENAI_API_KEY="cr_your_proxy_key"

aider --model openai/model-id

• The openai/ prefix tells aider to treat the model as a generic OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
• Aider does not support custom Anthropic base URLs reliably -- always use the OpenAI-compatible endpoint shown here.

Verify the Connection

Test any provider directly with curl before configuring your client:

curl -X POST http://localhost:3030/proxy/{provider-id}/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer cr_your_proxy_key" \
  -d '{ "model": "model-id", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}] }'

A successful JSON response means the provider, keys, and proxy auth are all working -- then check the Logs page in the dashboard to see the request details.

Troubleshooting

HTTP 401 "Invalid or missing API key"

• The credential is missing, wrong, or was regenerated. Copy the current key from Settings > Proxy API Key and resend. This 401 comes from ClawRouter itself, before any upstream request.

Connection refused

• Ensure ClawRouter is running: clawrouter status.
• Verify the host/port (default: localhost:3030) and the provider ID in the path.

"Model not found" errors

• The model ID must match exactly what the upstream provider expects. Use Fetch Models in the provider's Models tab for the current list.
• Enable Model Fallback with backup models so a stale ID fails over automatically.

Wrong Base URL suffix

• OpenAI-style clients need the base URL to end at /v1; Anthropic-style clients need the bare endpoint with no /v1; Google-style clients need /v1beta. When in doubt, copy the exact value from the Custom / Other tab of the "Prompt for AI" dialog.