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Claude API

Direct Anthropic API access with per-token billing.

Setup

  1. Run "Sidekick: Set API Key" from the Command Palette
  2. Enter your Anthropic API key
  3. Set sidekick.inferenceProvider to claude-api in settings

How It Works

  • Uses @anthropic-ai/sdk with your API key
  • Per-token billing — costs depend on usage
  • API key stored securely in VS Code's secret storage

Session Monitoring

Direct API requests do not create CLI session files. Session monitoring is independent of inference: you can use Claude API for completions while monitoring Claude Code, OpenCode, or Codex sessions through sidekick.sessionProvider.

Best For

  • Users without a Claude Max subscription
  • Low-volume usage where per-token cost is acceptable
  • CI/CD or automated workflows

Troubleshooting

API key issues

  • Run "Sidekick: Set API Key" to update your key
  • Ensure your API key has sufficient credits
  • Run "Sidekick: Test Connection" to verify connectivity. For the Claude API this sends a real authenticated request, and the result distinguishes a rejected key from a service or network failure rather than labeling every failure as bad credentials