According to leaks, you can now connect any model directly inside the Claude interface: GPT, Grok, Gemma, MinMax, local models via LiteLLM or OpenRouter — just point it at the URL and pass a key. No proxies needed; it all works natively.
What it means
If this feature actually ships broadly (I don't have it yet), it's the end of vendor lock-in for agentic tools. Instead of being stuck with Claude, you can pick whichever model is the best fit, cheapest, or fastest for the task at hand. A huge win for users and the first real step toward AI-agent interoperability.
Anthropic is still silent — nothing on official accounts. Could be a load-balancing play on their end, or an early release that slipped out before the announcement was ready.
How to enable it via Dev mode
1. Open Claude Desktop (update to the latest version if needed).
2. In the top menu: Help → Troubleshooting → Enable Developer mode. Works without logging in.
3. A Developer item appears in the menu bar.
4. Go to Developer → Configure Third-Party Inference.
5. Set Connection: Gateway and fill in:
- Base URL: `https://openrouter.ai/api`
- API key: your OpenRouter key
- Auth scheme: `x-api-key`
6. Hit Apply locally → Relaunch now.
After restart, Cowork and Code give you a model picker — Grok, GPT, Gemma, local models via LiteLLM, and so on.
If Developer still doesn't appear after toggling the mode, check your app version under Help → About. For some users this only landed in 1.3883+.