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README

Clother

One CLI to switch between Claude Code providers instantly.

Why Clother?

Switching Claude Code providers usually means changing env vars, endpoints, models, and launcher scripts by hand. Clother gives you one install and one command pattern across Claude, Z.AI, Kimi, Alibaba, OpenRouter, local backends, China endpoints, and many other Anthropic-compatible providers.

Installation

Homebrew (macOS recommended)

# 1. Install Claude Code CLI
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
2. Install Clother via tap
brew tap jolehuit/tap
brew install clother
3. Start using it — all launchers are ready immediately
clother-native                          # Use your Claude Pro/Max/Team subscription
clother-zai                             # Z.AI (GLM-5)
clother-zai --yolo                      # Skip permission prompts
clother-kimi                            # Kimi (kimi-k2.5)
clother config                          # Configure providers

All clother-* provider launchers are installed directly into $(brew --prefix)/bin by the formula — no extra setup needed. brew upgrade clother keeps everything up to date.

Update:

clother update          # routes to brew upgrade under Homebrew or equivalently:
 brew upgrade clother

curl (macOS / Linux)

# 1. Install Claude Code CLI
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
2. Install Clother
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jolehuit/clother/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
3. Start using it
clother-native                          # Use your Claude Pro/Max/Team subscription
clother-zai                             # Z.AI (GLM-5)
clother-zai --yolo                      # Skip permission prompts
clother-kimi                            # Kimi (kimi-k2.5)
clother-ollama --model qwen3-coder      # Local with Ollama
clother config                          # Configure providers

Update:

clother update          # downloads and installs latest release

This installs:

clother
clother-* provider launchers
resume compatibility for claude --resume ...

Install Options

By default, Clother installs launchers to:

the same directory as your existing claude binary, when claude is already on PATH
otherwise macOS: ~/bin
otherwise Linux: ~/.local/bin (XDG standard)

If the chosen bin directory is not on PATH, clother install prints a warning with the exact directory to add.

You can override this with --bin-dir or the CLOTHER_BIN environment variable:

# Using --bin-dir flag
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jolehuit/clother/main/scripts/install.sh | bash -s -- --bin-dir ~/.local/bin
Using environment variable
export CLOTHER_BIN="$HOME/.local/bin"
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jolehuit/clother/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

Clother keeps claude --resume ... working with Clother features after install.

Core Usage

Commands

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | clother config [provider] | Configure provider | | clother list | List profiles | | clother info <provider> | Show provider details | | clother test | Test connectivity | | clother status | Installation status | | clother install | Install/update Clother (create/refresh symlinks) | | clother update | Update to latest version | | clother uninstall | Remove everything |

Update

clother update

Routes to brew upgrade clother under Homebrew, or downloads the latest release for curl installs. Also refreshes provider symlinks.

Changing the Default Model

Each provider launcher comes with a default model (for example glm-5 for Z.AI). You can override it in two ways:

# One-time: pass --model through to Claude CLI
clother-zai --model glm-4.7
Permanent: configure the provider and pick a different default
clother config zai

Use clother info <provider> to inspect the resolved model.

Resume

Clother keeps the resume command printed by Claude Code working across providers.

After a provider-launched session, Clother also prints a provider-aware reopen command such as:

clother-kimi --resume <session-id>

When resuming a non-Claude session into native Claude, Clother temporarily sanitizes incompatible non-Claude thinking blocks for the duration of that single launch, then restores the original session file afterwards.

Provider Reference

Cloud

| Command | Provider | Model | API Key | |---------|----------|-------|---------| | clother-native | Anthropic | Claude | Your subscription | | clother-zai | Z.AI | GLM-5 | z.ai | | clother-minimax | MiniMax | MiniMax-M2.7 | minimax.io | | clother-kimi | Kimi | kimi-k2.5 | kimi.com | | clother-moonshot | Moonshot AI | kimi-k2.5 | moonshot.ai | | clother-deepseek | DeepSeek | deepseek-chat | deepseek.com | | clother-mimo | Xiaomi MiMo | mimo-v2-pro | xiaomimimo.com | | clother-alibaba | Alibaba Coding Plan | qwen3.5-plus | modelstudio | | clother-alibaba-us | Alibaba Coding Plan (US) | qwen3.5-plus | modelstudio |

OpenRouter (100+ Models)

OpenRouter launchers follow the clother-or-<alias> naming pattern. For example, if you alias moonshotai/kimi-k2.5 to kimi-k25, the launcher becomes clother-or-kimi-k25.

clother config openrouter               # Set API key + add models
Example: alias moonshotai/kimi-k2.5 as kimi-k25
clother-or-kimi-k25                     # Use it

Tip: Find model IDs on openrouter.ai/models — click the copy icon next to any model name.

If a model doesn't work as expected, try the :exacto variant (e.g. moonshotai/kimi-k2-0905:exacto) which provides better tool calling support.

China Endpoints

| Command | Provider | Endpoint | |---------|----------|----------| | clother-zai-cn | Z.AI China | open.bigmodel.cn | | clother-minimax-cn | MiniMax China | api.minimaxi.com | | clother-ve | Volcengine | ark.cn-beijing.volces.com | | clother-alibaba-cn | Alibaba China | coding.dashscope.aliyuncs.com |

Local (No API Key)

| Command | Provider | Port | Setup | |---------|----------|------|-------| | clother-ollama | Ollama | 11434 | ollama.com | | clother-lmstudio | LM Studio | 1234 | lmstudio.ai | | clother-llamacpp | llama.cpp | 8000 | github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp |

# Ollama
ollama pull qwen3-coder && ollama serve
clother-ollama --model qwen3-coder
LM Studio
clother-lmstudio --model <model>
llama.cpp
./llama-server --model model.gguf --port 8000 --jinja
clother-llamacpp --model <model>

Custom

clother config custom
clother-myprovider                      # Ready

Alibaba Coding Plan Models

All Alibaba variants (alibaba, alibaba-us, alibaba-cn) share the same API key and support these models:

| Model | |-------| | qwen3.5-plus (default) | | kimi-k2.5 | | glm-5 | | MiniMax-M2.5 | | qwen3-coder-next | | qwen3-coder-plus | | qwen3-max-2026-01-23 | | glm-4.7 |

Switch models with --model:

clother-alibaba --model kimi-k2.5
clother-alibaba --model glm-5
clother-alibaba-cn --model qwen3-coder-next

Troubleshooting

| Problem | Solution | |---------|----------| | claude: command not found | Install Claude CLI first | | clother: command not found | Run clother status to see the installed bin dir, then add that directory to PATH and restart your shell | | claude --resume ... does not behave like Clother | Restart your shell, then run clother install again | | --yolo is not recognized | Restart your shell, then run clother install again | | API key not set | Run clother config |

VS Code Integration

Clother works with the official Claude Code extension. Use Claude Code extension 2.6+.

To configure it:

Open VS Code Settings (Cmd+, or Ctrl+,).
Search for "Claude Process Wrapper" (claudeProcessWrapper).
Set it to the full path of your chosen launcher:

- macOS: /Users/yourname/bin/clother-zai - Linux: /home/yourname/.local/bin/clother-zai

Reload VS Code.

Note: Requires Clother v2.6+ (which handles non-interactive shell output correctly).

Platform Support

macOS (zsh/bash) • Linux (zsh/bash) • Windows (WSL)

Under the Hood

How It Works

Clother is a single Go binary. The installer downloads the release artifact, installs clother into your bin directory, then creates:

clother-* symlinks for providers
a claude shim symlink for resume compatibility

At runtime, the binary resolves the selected profile from its own invocation name, loads config and secrets, sets the required Anthropic-compatible environment variables, then launches the real Claude binary outside the Clother bin directory.

Example for clother-zai:

export ANTHROPICBASEURL="https://api.z.ai/api/anthropic"
export ANTHROPICAUTHTOKEN="$ZAIAPIKEY"
exec /path/to/the/real/claude "$@"

API keys stored in ~/.local/share/clother/secrets.env (chmod 600).

--yolo is accepted by Clother launchers and by the Clother claude shim as shorthand for --dangerously-skip-permissions.

Local Release Testing

Test the binary installer locally against a local directory or server:

CLOTHERRELEASEBASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8000 \
  ./scripts/install.sh install

Contributors

@darkokoa — China endpoints
@RawToast — Kimi endpoint fix
@sammcj — Security hardening
@aprakasa — Linux compatibility fixes in loadsecrets()
@luciano-fiandesio — Install directory improvement (issue)

Star History

License

MIT © jolehuit

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