claude-multi
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Usage

How do I create a new instance for a provider?

Two ways: the interactive TUI or a single CLI command.

Interactive TUI

Terminal window
claude-multi

Pick Add new instance from the menu. You’ll walk through these steps:

  1. Instance Name, a short alias like deepseek or glm
  2. Provider Template, choose from the list, or skip for a manual setup
  3. API Key, paste your key (input is masked)
  4. Paths, confirm the config directory and wrapper script locations
  5. Copy Options, optionally copy settings from your primary ~/.claude install
  6. Select Plugins, pick which plugins to bring over
  7. Auto-Sync, turn on symlink-based plugin syncing from ~/.claude

The instance is created and you’re back at the menu.

CLI command

Terminal window
claude-multi add deepseek --provider deepseek --api-key sk-your-key

Available flags:

FlagWhat it does
--provider <name>Template to use (glm, minimax, deepseek, mimo, kimi, qwen, etc.)
--api-key <key>API key for the provider
--copy-settingsCopy settings from ~/.claude
--copy-pluginsCopy plugins from ~/.claude
--copy-mcpCopy MCP server configs from ~/.claude
--auto-syncEnable auto-sync for plugins and skills

What happens under the hood

Four things:

  1. A directory is created at ~/.claude-multi/<name>/ with its own settings.json and .claude.json
  2. Provider env vars (base URL, model mappings) are merged into the instance settings
  3. If auto-sync is on, plugins and skills get symlinked from ~/.claude
  4. A wrapper script is generated that sets CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR and execs the real claude binary

After that, run claude-<name> (e.g. claude-deepseek) to launch Claude Code with that provider.

More info