LiteLLM Claude Code Proxy

Canonical version: LiteLLM Claude Code Proxy.

Open-source LiteLLM configuration that lets Claude Code run against an Azure AI Foundry deployment instead of Anthropic's hosted API. Published by National Bank of Belgium. It's a thin wrapper: a litellm_config.yaml with a wildcard model route, a start_proxy.sh launcher, a Dockerfile, and a .env template. Any model name Claude Code sends is forwarded to one Azure deployment (for instance azure/responses/gpt-5.3-codex).

Why it exists

Claude Code speaks Anthropic's /v1/messages API. Enterprises often can't use Anthropic directly but have an Azure AI Foundry tenant with approved models. LiteLLM translates between Anthropic's format and Azure's responses / Chat Completions API, so Claude Code keeps working against a corporate-approved backend.

How it works

• model_name: "*" wildcard in litellm_config.yaml — every model name is routed to a single Azure deployment
• Claude Code points at the proxy via two env vars:
  • ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:4000
  • ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=<LITELLM_MASTER_KEY>
• LITELLM_LOCAL_MODEL_COST_MAP=true skips the remote cost map fetch, avoiding SSL errors behind corporate proxies
• start_proxy.sh uses uv run with UV_NATIVE_TLS=true to use the system certificate store — another corporate-proxy workaround

Three ways to configure Claude Code

• Env vars per session — export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=... before launching claude
• Persistent — add an env block to ~/.claude/settings.json
• VS Code — add a claude-code.env block to VS Code settings.json

Docker

Uses the official docker.litellm.ai/berriai/litellm:main-stable image. Two options: build the included Dockerfile, or mount litellm_config.yaml directly into the upstream image. Configuration stays in .env.

Takeaways

• Clean pattern for using Claude Code with enterprise-hosted non-Anthropic models (Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) inverted: bring your own model, keep the client)
• Same pattern works for any Anthropic-compatible client — not just Claude Code
• Practical reference for corporate SSL-proxy workarounds in LiteLLM Proxy Configuration
• Complements Claude Max API Proxy, which goes the other direction (Max subscription → OpenAI-compatible API)

References

• https://github.com/NationalBankBelgium/litellm-claude-code-proxy
• https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/tutorials/claude_non_anthropic_models
• https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/proxy/docker_quick_start

Related

• LiteLLM
• LiteLLM Proxy Configuration
• Claude Code
• Claude Code via GitHub Copilot
• Claude Max API Proxy
• AI Gateway
• Anthropic

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