Claude Code with Anthropic

Route Claude Code through Anthropic Direct API via Portkey for observability, governance, and reliability

Route Claude Code through Anthropic’s Direct API via Portkey. Get full observability, cost tracking, and budget controls. Also supports Max plan and Anthropic OAuth.

See Claude Code overview for why platform teams use Portkey.

Important: Always use the latest version of Claude Code. Older versions may not work with Portkey’s gateway.

Quick Start

1. Create a Virtual Key

   Go to Virtual Keys → Create → Select Anthropic.

   Enter your Anthropic API key and save. Copy the virtual key ID.

   
2. Get Your Portkey API Key

   Go to API Keys → Generate a new key.

3. Configure Claude Code

   Edit ~/.claude/settings.json (user-level) or .claude/settings.json (project-level):

   {
     "env": {
       "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.portkey.ai/v1",
       "ANTHROPIC_CUSTOM_HEADERS": "x-portkey-api-key: YOUR_PORTKEY_API_KEY\nx-portkey-provider: anthropic\nx-portkey-virtual-key: YOUR_VIRTUAL_KEY",
       "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "claude-sonnet-4-20250514"
     }
   }
   

   Replace:

   • YOUR_PORTKEY_API_KEY with your Portkey API key
   • YOUR_VIRTUAL_KEY with your virtual key ID

That’s it! All Claude Code requests now route through Anthropic via Portkey. Monitor usage in the Portkey Dashboard.

Max Plan / Anthropic OAuth (Enterprise)

For Max plan or Anthropic OAuth users:

{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.portkey.ai/v1",
    "ANTHROPIC_CUSTOM_HEADERS": "x-portkey-api-key: YOUR_PORTKEY_API_KEY\nx-portkey-provider: anthropic"
  }
}

Cost tracking: With Max plan, costs show as $0 in Portkey since Anthropic bills directly. Portkey still tracks request counts, latency, tokens, and traces.

Using a Config

For advanced features like fallbacks, caching, or retries, create a Portkey Config:

1. Create a Config

   Go to Configs → Create Config:

   {
     "virtual_key": "YOUR_VIRTUAL_KEY",
     "cache": { "mode": "simple" },
     "retry": { "attempts": 3, "on_status_codes": [429, 500, 502, 503] }
   }
   

   Save and copy the Config ID.

2. Update Claude Code Settings

   Add the config to your settings:

   {
     "env": {
       "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.portkey.ai/v1",
       "ANTHROPIC_CUSTOM_HEADERS": "x-portkey-api-key: YOUR_PORTKEY_API_KEY\nx-portkey-config: YOUR_CONFIG_ID",
       "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "claude-sonnet-4-20250514"
     }
   }
   

Adding Metadata

Track Claude Code usage by team, project, or user:

{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.portkey.ai/v1",
    "ANTHROPIC_CUSTOM_HEADERS": "x-portkey-api-key: YOUR_PORTKEY_API_KEY\nx-portkey-provider: anthropic\nx-portkey-virtual-key: YOUR_VIRTUAL_KEY\nx-portkey-metadata: {\"_user\": \"john.doe\", \"team\": \"engineering\"}",
    "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "claude-sonnet-4-20250514"
  }
}

Advanced Configuration

Fallbacks

Route to backup providers when Anthropic fails. Create a config with fallback targets:

{
  "strategy": { "mode": "fallback" },
  "targets": [
    { "virtual_key": "anthropic-virtual-key" },
    { "virtual_key": "bedrock-virtual-key" },
    { "virtual_key": "vertex-virtual-key" }
  ]
}

Load Balancing

Distribute requests across multiple API keys:

{
  "strategy": { "mode": "loadbalance" },
  "targets": [
    { "virtual_key": "anthropic-key-1", "weight": 0.5 },
    { "virtual_key": "anthropic-key-2", "weight": 0.5 }
  ]
}

Caching

Reduce costs and latency for repeated queries:

{
  "virtual_key": "YOUR_VIRTUAL_KEY",
  "cache": { "mode": "simple" }
}

Retries

Automatically retry failed requests:

{
  "virtual_key": "YOUR_VIRTUAL_KEY",
  "retry": { "attempts": 3, "on_status_codes": [429, 500, 502, 503] }
}

Budget Limits

Set spending controls on your virtual key:

1. Go to Virtual Keys → Select your Anthropic virtual key
2. Click Edit → Budget & Limits
3. Configure:
   • Cost limit: Maximum spend (e.g., $500/month)
   • Rate limit: Requests per minute/hour

Budget limits prevent runaway costs from agentic coding sessions.

Troubleshooting

Claude Code Version Issues

Cause: Older versions of Claude Code may not be compatible.

Fix: Update to the latest version:

claude update

Or reinstall:

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

Complete Example

Full configuration with all features enabled:

{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.portkey.ai/v1",
    "ANTHROPIC_CUSTOM_HEADERS": "x-portkey-api-key: YOUR_PORTKEY_API_KEY\nx-portkey-config: YOUR_CONFIG_ID\nx-portkey-metadata: {\"_user\": \"john.doe\", \"project\": \"backend-api\"}",
    "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "claude-sonnet-4-20250514"
  }
}

With Portkey Config:

{
  "strategy": { "mode": "fallback" },
  "targets": [
    { "virtual_key": "anthropic-virtual-key" },
    { "virtual_key": "bedrock-virtual-key" }
  ],
  "cache": { "mode": "simple" },
  "retry": { "attempts": 3, "on_status_codes": [429, 500, 502, 503] }
}

Next Steps

Access Controls

Set up fine-grained permissions and audit logging

Budget Management

Prevent overspending with hard budget limits