Claude CLI Multi-Provider Loader (GLM, Vertex, Native)

This Gist documents a zsh wrapper function that allows running claude with provider-specific environment isolation, primarily for:

• GLM via Zhipu AI (Anthropic-compatible proxy)
• Vertex AI (Claude on GCP)
• Native Claude CLI defaults
• Future extensibility to other Anthropic-compatible providers

The goal is deterministic startup, no environment leakage, and explicit provider selection via a single CLI entrypoint.

---

Why This Exists

Claude Code relies heavily on environment variables. In practice:

• Variables persist across shells and commands
• Multiple providers reuse overlapping env keys
• Misconfigured state silently degrades behavior

This wrapper enforces:

1. Clean slate per invocation
2. Explicit provider modes
3. Anthropic-compatible proxy support
4. Zero persistent side effects

---

Installation

Add the following to ~/.zshrc (or source it from a dedicated file).

Required environment variables

export ZAI_API_KEY="YOUR_KEY"
export ENABLE_TOOL_SEARCH=true
export CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC=true

---

The Wrapper Function

claude() {
  local mode="$1"
  local bin="${CLAUDE_BIN:-$HOME/.local/bin/claude}"

  if [[ -n "$mode" ]]; then
    shift
  fi

  (
    # Hard reset all Claude related variables
    unset ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
    unset ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN
    unset ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL
    unset CLAUDE_CODE_USE_VERTEX
    unset ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL
    unset ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL
    unset ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL
    unset ANTHROPIC_MODEL
    unset ENABLE_TOOL_SEARCH
    unset CLOUD_ML_REGION
    unset ANTHROPIC_VERTEX_PROJECT_ID
    unset CLAUDE_CODE_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS

    case "$mode" in
      glmflash|flash)
        : "${ZAI_API_KEY:?ZAI_API_KEY is not set}"
        export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.z.ai/api/anthropic"
        export CLAUDE_CODE_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS=128000
        export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="$ZAI_API_KEY"
        export ANTHROPIC_MODEL="glm-4.7-flashx"
        export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL="$ANTHROPIC_MODEL"
        export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL="$ANTHROPIC_MODEL"
        export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL="$ANTHROPIC_MODEL"
        ;;
      glm|GLM)
        : "${ZAI_API_KEY:?ZAI_API_KEY is not set}"
        export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.z.ai/api/anthropic"
        export CLAUDE_CODE_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS=128000
        export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="$ZAI_API_KEY"
        export ANTHROPIC_MODEL="glm-4.7"
        export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL="$ANTHROPIC_MODEL"
        export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL="$ANTHROPIC_MODEL"
        export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL="$ANTHROPIC_MODEL"
        ;;
      vertex|google)
        export ENABLE_TOOL_SEARCH=true
        export CLAUDE_CODE_USE_VERTEX=1
        export CLOUD_ML_REGION=global
        export ANTHROPIC_VERTEX_PROJECT_ID="vertex-ai-project"
        export ANTHROPIC_MODEL="claude-sonnet-4.5-20250929[1m]"
        ;;
      ""|default)
        set -- "$mode" "$@"
        ;;
      *)
        set -- "$mode" "$@"
        ;;
    esac

    exec "$bin" "$@"
  )
}

---

Usage

claude glm
claude glmflash
claude vertex
claude

Behavior:

• First argument is interpreted as mode if recognized
• Unknown modes fall through as normal Claude arguments
• All configuration is scoped to a subshell, nothing leaks

---

Supported Modes

Mode	Provider	Notes
glm	GLM 4.7	Full model
glmflash	GLM 4.7 FlashX	Faster, cheaper
vertex	Vertex AI	Requires GCP project
default	Native Claude	No env overrides

---