Environment Variables

claude-multi runtime variables

These control claude-multi’s own behavior. Set them in your shell before launching.

Variable	Default	Description
`CLAUDE_MULTI_INK`	`true`	Set to `false` to use the simpler prompts-based UI instead of the Ink TUI
`CLAUDE_MULTI_HOME`	`~`	Override the base directory for config storage. claude-multi looks for `config.json` at `$CLAUDE_MULTI_HOME/.claude-multi/`
`CLAUDE_MULTI_UPDATE_CHECK`	`false`	Set to `true` to check for claude-multi and Claude Code updates on launch

Example:

# Use the simpler UI
CLAUDE_MULTI_INK=false claude-multi

# Store config in a custom location
CLAUDE_MULTI_HOME=/tmp/test-env claude-multi add test --provider deepseek --api-key sk-...

Claude Code instance variables

These are set inside each instance’s settings.json under the env key. Provider templates populate them automatically during instance creation.

Core API variables

Variable	Description	Example
`ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN`	API key for the provider	`sk-your-key-here`
`ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL`	Provider’s Anthropic-compatible API endpoint	`https://api.deepseek.com/anthropic`

Model mapping variables

Variable	Description	Maps to
`ANTHROPIC_MODEL`	Primary model	Claude Code’s internal opus slot
`ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL`	Fast/cheap model for quick tasks	Claude Code’s internal haiku slot
`ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL`	Sonnet-tier model	Used when Claude Code requests a “sonnet” class model
`ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL`	Opus-tier model	Used when Claude Code requests an “opus” class model
`ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL`	Haiku-tier model	Used when Claude Code requests a “haiku” class model

Sub-agent variables

Variable	Description	Example
`CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_MODEL`	Model used by sub-agents for background tasks, exploration, and code review	`deepseek-v4-flash`
`CLAUDE_CODE_EFFORT_LEVEL`	Reasoning effort level for the main model	`low`, `medium`, `high`, `max`

Timeout

Variable	Description	Example
`API_TIMEOUT_MS`	Request timeout in milliseconds	`600000`

Per-provider defaults

Each provider template sets these variables with provider-specific values. Here’s what each template configures:

GLM (`glm`)

{
  "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.z.ai/api/anthropic",
  "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "glm-5.1",
  "ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL": "glm-5-turbo",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "glm-5-turbo",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "glm-5.1",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "glm-5-turbo",
  "CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_MODEL": "glm-5-turbo",
  "CLAUDE_CODE_EFFORT_LEVEL": "high"
}

MiniMax (`minimax`)

{
  "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.minimax.io/anthropic",
  "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "MiniMax-M3",
  "ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL": "MiniMax-M3",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "MiniMax-M3",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "MiniMax-M3",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "MiniMax-M3",
  "CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_MODEL": "MiniMax-M3",
  "CLAUDE_CODE_EFFORT_LEVEL": "max"
}

DeepSeek (`deepseek`)

{
  "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.deepseek.com/anthropic",
  "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "deepseek-v4-pro[1m]",
  "ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL": "deepseek-v4-flash",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "deepseek-v4-flash",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "deepseek-v4-pro[1m]",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "deepseek-v4-flash",
  "CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_MODEL": "deepseek-v4-flash",
  "CLAUDE_CODE_EFFORT_LEVEL": "max",
  "API_TIMEOUT_MS": "600000"
}

Xiaomi MiMo (`mimo`)

{
  "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.xiaomimimo.com/anthropic",
  "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "mimo-v2.5-pro",
  "ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL": "mimo-v2.5",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "mimo-v2.5",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "mimo-v2.5-pro",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "mimo-v2.5",
  "API_TIMEOUT_MS": "600000"
}

The mimo-token template uses the same models but a different base URL (token-plan-cn.xiaomimimo.com). Replace with your regional endpoint from the subscription console.

Moonshot Kimi (`kimi`)

{
  "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.moonshot.ai/anthropic",
  "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "kimi-k2.6",
  "ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL": "kimi-k2.5",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "kimi-k2.5",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "kimi-k2.6",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "kimi-k2.5",
  "API_TIMEOUT_MS": "600000"
}

Alibaba Qwen (`qwen`)

{
  "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://dashscope-intl.aliyuncs.com/apps/anthropic",
  "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "qwen3-coder-next",
  "ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL": "qwen3-coder-flash",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "qwen3-coder-plus",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "qwen3-coder-next",
  "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "qwen3-coder-flash",
  "API_TIMEOUT_MS": "600000"
}

The qwen-coding template uses the same models but a different base URL (coding-intl.dashscope.aliyuncs.com).

Where to set variables

claude-multi variables: Set in your shell profile (.zshrc, .bashrc, .profile) or export them before running claude-multi.

Instance variables: Edit ~/.claude-<name>/settings.json directly, or let provider templates populate them during instance creation. These are set per-instance and don’t affect other instances or your default ~/.claude setup.