⌁ Guides

Claude Code

Gondola serves an Anthropic-compatible endpoint, so Claude Code and the Anthropic SDK work with a base URL change: same tools, same streaming, paid per request in USDC on Base.

Create an API key

Sign in with your Base wallet at /keys and mint a Gondola API key. Keys start with gnd_ and work in both the x-api-key header (what Claude Code sends) and as a Bearer token. Top up USDC on Base at /wallet.

Point Claude Code at Gondola

Set four environment variables and start Claude Code:

bash / zsh

export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.gondola-ai.com
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=gnd_live_xxxx
export ANTHROPIC_MODEL=claude-sonnet-5
export ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL=zai-org-glm-4.7-flash
claude

PowerShell

$env:ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL = "https://api.gondola-ai.com"
$env:ANTHROPIC_API_KEY = "gnd_live_xxxx"
$env:ANTHROPIC_MODEL = "claude-sonnet-5"
$env:ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL = "zai-org-glm-4.7-flash"
claude

This base URL is different

Use api.gondola-ai.com with no path at all. The Anthropic SDK appends /v1/messages itself. This is the one Gondola integration where you do not add /v1 yourself.

Set the small, fast model

Claude Code uses a second, cheaper model for background tasks and defaults it to a Haiku model that Gondola does not serve. Always set ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL to a cheap model id from the catalog, or background calls will fail with model not found.

Pick your models

The catalog includes Claude models (for example claude-sonnet-5 and claude-opus-4-8) alongside open models, all priced by the marketplace. Ids must match exactly, so pull the live list:

shell

curl https://api.gondola-ai.com/v1/models

Anthropic-style dated ids like claude-sonnet-5-20260101 are accepted and resolve to the base id.

Notes and troubleshooting

Interrupts bill fairly

Pressing Esc mid-answer aborts the upstream request. You are billed only for the tokens generated before the stop, not the full answer.

What is not supported

PDF document blocks, Anthropic server tools (their hosted web search and code execution), and extended thinking output are not available through Gondola. Regular client-side tools (file edits, shell commands, the full Claude Code toolset) work, including images in tool results on vision models.

The endpoint also works with the Anthropic SDK directly:

TypeScript

import Anthropic from "@anthropic-ai/sdk";

const client = new Anthropic({
  baseURL: "https://api.gondola-ai.com",
  apiKey: "gnd_live_xxxx",
});

const msg = await client.messages.create({
  model: "claude-sonnet-5",
  max_tokens: 1024,
  messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Hello from Gondola" }],
});

If a request fails with a billing error, top up at /wallet. Model not found means the id is not in the live catalog: check /v1/models and remember the small, fast model override.

Keep going

All setup guides →Aider guide →OpenCode guide →Live prices →