Quickstart

Get from zero to a running Clother session in under five minutes.

1. Install Claude Code CLI

   Clother is a wrapper around the Claude Code CLI. Install it first:

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

   Verify it works:

   claude --version
   
2. Install Clother

   curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jolehuit/clother/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
   

   This installs:

   • The clother binary
   • All clother-* provider launcher symlinks
   • A claude shim for resume compatibility

   Verify the installation:

   clother status
   
3. Configure a provider

   Run the interactive config for a specific provider. For example, to configure Z.AI:

   clother config zai
   

   You’ll be prompted for your API key. Keys are stored in ~/.local/share/clother/secrets.env with chmod 600 permissions.

   To configure all providers at once:

   clother config
   

   If you just want to use your existing Claude Pro/Max/Team subscription without an API key, you can skip this step and use clother-native directly.

4. Start a session

   Launch Claude Code with your chosen provider:

   # Use Z.AI (GLM-5)
   clother-zai
   
   # Use Kimi
   clother-kimi
   
   # Use your native Claude subscription
   clother-native
   
   # Use a local model via Ollama
   clother-ollama --model qwen3-coder
   

   Add --yolo to any launcher as shorthand for --dangerously-skip-permissions, which skips interactive permission prompts during sessions.

   clother-zai --yolo
   

Useful commands

Once installed, use these commands to explore and manage Clother:

# List all available providers
clother list

# Check installation status and binary path
clother status

# Inspect resolved config for a provider (endpoint, model, key var)
clother info zai

# Test connectivity to a provider's endpoint
clother test zai

# Override the model for a single session
clother-zai --model glm-4.7

Next steps

Provider reference

Browse all 20+ built-in providers and their default models.

OpenRouter

Access 100+ models through OpenRouter with custom aliases.

Configuration

Learn about provider configuration, secrets management, and model selection.

VS Code integration

Use Clother with the official Claude Code VS Code extension.