Claude Code — OpenRouter via y-router

How to run Claude Code with non-Anthropic models (via OpenRouter) using y-router as a protocol bridge.

Why / When to Use

Claude Code uses Anthropic API format; OpenRouter uses OpenAI format. y-router converts between them, enabling models like GLM-4.5, Gemini, or other OpenRouter-hosted models inside Claude Code — including GitHub Actions.

Core Concept / Commands

GitHub Actions setup

- name: Run Claude Code
  uses: anthropics/claude-code-action@v1
  env:
    ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL: "https://cc.yovy.app"   # y-router hosted
    ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}
    ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: ""                         # blank explicitly
    ANTHROPIC_MODEL: z-ai/glm-4.5
    ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL: z-ai/glm-4.5-air
  with:
    anthropic_api_key: ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}
    prompt: |
      Your prompt here

Local y-router

# Self-hosted via Docker
docker-compose up -d
# Repo: github.com/luohy15/y-router

Key Options / Variants

• Hosted (free): https://cc.yovy.app — zero setup, good for GitHub Actions
• Cloudflare Workers: Easy self-hosted alternative
• OpenRouter base URL: Use https://openrouter.ai/api (NOT /api/v1 — Claude Code needs Anthropic-compatible endpoint)

Gotchas

• Always blank ANTHROPIC_API_KEY when using ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN + OpenRouter base URL.
• OpenRouter only guarantees Claude Code compatibility with Anthropic first-party provider. Non-Anthropic routing is not reliable for production — tool calls, long context, and agent loops may break.
• GLM-4.5 via z-ai/glm-4.5 and z-ai/glm-4.5-air have a direct precedent from the author.

Source

Conversation: “CC-Autonomous” — 2026-05-30