Use Claude Code with abliteration.ai

Route Anthropic’s Claude Code CLI through abliteration.ai by setting two auth variables and picking how to surface abliterated-model.

To use Claude Code with abliteration.ai, set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL to https://api.abliteration.ai and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN to your ak_... key, then run claude. Same Claude Code binary, same workflow, routed through abliteration.

Setup is three short steps: set the auth variables, pick how Claude Code should surface abliterated-model, then persist your config so you don’t re-export it in every terminal.

Install

macOS / Linux

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

irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex

Step 1 — Set the auth variables

These two variables route Claude Code to abliteration.ai and authenticate the session. Every setup below needs them.

Variable	Value	What it does
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL	https://api.abliteration.ai	Routes Claude Code to abliteration.ai instead of api.anthropic.com.
ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN	ak_YOUR_API_KEY	Recommended. Sends your abliteration.ai key as the bearer Authorization header. ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=ak_... also works (sent as x-api-key); pick whichever your environment already has wired.

Step 2 — Surface abliterated-model in Claude Code

Claude Code’s model picker is built around Claude model IDs. Two variable sets let it surface abliterated-model — pick whichever fits your workflow.

Replace the default Opus / Sonnet / Haiku models

Override the model ID Claude Code sends for each default tier so the existing picker just works. Plain claude launches into abliterated-model.

export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL="abliterated-model"
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL="abliterated-model"
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL="abliterated-model"

claude

Add abliterated-model to the picker

Keep the default Claude tiers intact and add abliterated-model as an extra picker entry you switch to explicitly.

export ANTHROPIC_CUSTOM_MODEL_OPTION="abliterated-model"
export ANTHROPIC_CUSTOM_MODEL_OPTION_NAME="abliterated-model"

claude --model abliterated-model

You can also switch to it inside a session with /model.

Step 3 — Persist your config

Exporting variables in every new terminal gets old. Pick one place to save them so Claude Code always picks them up.

Location	Where	Use when
Claude Code settings	~/.claude/settings.json	You want the config scoped to Claude Code only.
Shell profile	~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc	You want the variables available to any Anthropic-compatible tool you run from the terminal.

Option A — ~/.claude/settings.json

Claude Code reads an env block from its own settings file. Values here apply whenever you start claude.

{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.abliteration.ai",
    "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "ak_YOUR_API_KEY",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "abliterated-model",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "abliterated-model",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "abliterated-model",
    "CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_COMPACT_WINDOW": "240000"
  }
}

Option B — Shell profile

Append the same values to your shell profile so they export on every terminal launch.

# Append to ~/.zshrc, ~/.bashrc, or ~/.profile
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.abliteration.ai"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="ak_YOUR_API_KEY"
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL="abliterated-model"
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL="abliterated-model"
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL="abliterated-model"
export CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_COMPACT_WINDOW="240000"

# Reload
source ~/.zshrc   # or source ~/.bashrc

Context compaction

Claude Code automatically compacts long sessions by summarizing earlier turns while keeping recent context. abliteration.ai does not expose a separate compaction endpoint; Claude Code sends the summarization request through the same ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL and model configuration.

Set CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_COMPACT_WINDOW from the model’s context length. abliterated-model has a 256K context window (context_length: 262144), so 240000 leaves room for Claude Code’s system prompt, tools, and the next response:

{
  "env": {
    "CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_COMPACT_WINDOW": "240000"
  }
}

Use the context length of the model you select. For example, use a larger value only when your selected model actually advertises a larger context window.

Headless mode

For CI/CD or scripts:

claude --model abliterated-model -p "summarize README.md"

Notes

• Policy rules attached to your API key apply to every Claude Code turn. See Policy Gateway.