How to get a Claude API key (and use it in code and Claude Code)

An API key is what lets your code — or a tool like Claude Code — call Claude and pay per token, instead of using a Claude chat subscription. There are two ways to get one.

Option 1: from Anthropic

Anthropic issues API keys from its Claude Console, where you buy API usage credits; Anthropic's own help center points Claude Code users there for "intensive coding sprints" (Claude Code help). An Anthropic key calls Anthropic's models.

Option 2: an Inferray key

An Inferray key calls Claude at its list price — and GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, GLM and Kimi with the same key and the same balance:

1. Sign up. Seats, projects and API keys are free.
2. Create a key in the dashboard.
3. Add credit, or pick a Token Plan. Credit never expires, and there is no gateway fee on top.

Use it with the Anthropic SDK

import anthropic

client = anthropic.Anthropic(base_url="https://api.inferray.com", api_key="inferray_...")
message = client.messages.create(
    model="claude-sonnet-5-5",
    max_tokens=1024,
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "ship it"}],
)

Use it with the OpenAI SDK

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(base_url="https://api.inferray.com/v1", api_key="inferray_...")
reply = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="claude-sonnet-5-5",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "ship it"}],
)

Use it in Claude Code

export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.inferray.com"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="inferray_..."

The Claude Code guide covers the settings file and the VS Code extension. Keep the key out of source control: put it in an environment variable or a secrets manager.

Prices on this page come from the model catalog and were current on November 12, 2026.