Maintainer-approved P2 restructure. Principle: what a new user needs in the first
10 minutes stays in README; the operations manual moves to docs/. Content MOVED,
not rewritten — an independent verifier swept all 20 original sections, 60+
distinctive facts, and all table rows against the new corpus: zero content loss.
New files (verbatim moves + two mandated dedup merges):
- docs/lan-mode.md (396) — LAN setup, key management, quotas, anonymous access,
deployment/security model + honest limits, client connect
- docs/tui-mode.md (196) — full TUI section + the four giant env-cell essays as
prose subsections; opens with the single-user SECURITY
warning + the PAUSED billing-split status banner
- docs/troubleshooting.md (136) — full troubleshooting; canonical 401/credential-
isolation explanation (union of the 4 prior copies)
- docs/upgrading.md (79) — upgrade paths, snapshots, rollback, auto-sync
README keeps: pitch (byte-identical), new TOC, 62-line Quickstart, How It Works
verbatim (incl. #171 billing-status note + workload fit), the three release_kit-
pinned tables (Available Models / API Endpoints / all 37 Environment Variables
rows — 4 giant TUI cells now one-line pointers), All Commands, slim Troubleshooting
(bootstrap quirks retained per release_kit bootstrap_quirk_policy), summary stubs
linking each moved doc, Repository Layout (+4 doc rows), Governance, Support.
Dedup (canonical copies): sdk-cli vs subscription-pool table → docs/tui-mode.md;
credential-isolated-home / permanent-401 → docs/troubleshooting.md#tui-401.
Link retargets: docs/runbooks/615-canary.md, docs/runbooks/tui-flip-rollback.md,
setup.mjs (one banner string; node --check clean). 126 links across the touched
files verified resolving; repo-wide grep shows no reference to a removed anchor.
npm test: 332 passed / 0 failed.
Co-Authored-By: Claude <claude-opus-4-8> <noreply@anthropic.com>
OCP — Open Claude Proxy
Already paying for Claude Pro/Max? Use your subscription as an OpenAI-compatible API — $0 extra cost.
Open source from day one, used daily by my family, maintained on nights and weekends. If OCP saves you money too, you can ☕ buy me a coffee — full story below.
If OCP saves you a setup, a ⭐ helps other folks discover it. Issue reports are even more useful — that's the highest-quality feedback this project gets.
OCP turns your Claude Pro/Max subscription into a standard OpenAI-compatible API on localhost. Any tool that speaks the OpenAI protocol can use it — no separate API key, no extra billing.
Cline ──┐
OpenCode ───┤
Aider ───┼──→ OCP :3456 ──→ Claude CLI ──→ Your subscription
Continue.dev ───┤
OpenClaw ───┘
One proxy. Multiple IDEs. All models. $0 API cost.
Contents
- Why OCP? · Supported Tools
- Quickstart
- How It Works
- Reference: Available Models · API Endpoints · Environment Variables
- Modes & operations: LAN & multi-user →
docs/lan-mode.md· Subscription-pool (TUI) mode →docs/tui-mode.md· Upgrading →docs/upgrading.md - Built-in Usage Monitoring · Response Cache · OpenClaw Integration
- Troubleshooting →
docs/troubleshooting.md - Repository Layout · Security · Governance · Support OCP · License
Why OCP?
There are several Claude proxy projects. OCP picks a specific lane: align tightly with what cli.js actually does, observe + multiplex what's already there, don't extend the protocol. What you get:
- LAN multi-user keys (v3.7.0) — reach one Claude Pro/Max subscription from your own devices across the LAN. Each device gets a per-key API token (no OAuth session leak), with independent usage tracking and one-line revocation. Pro/Max are per-user accounts — see Sharing with family / a team — honest limits before extending access to other people.
ocp-connectone-shot client setup — one command on the client machine auto-configures OpenClaw, and detects Cursor, Cline, Continue.dev, and opencode to print ready-to-paste setup hints for each. No hunting for where each tool keeps itsOPENAI_BASE_URL.- Response cache with per-key isolation + singleflight (v3.13.0). Optional SHA-256 prompt cache, isolated per API key (cross-user pollution is impossible by hash construction, not by application logic), with stampede protection on concurrent identical prompts. Off by default. (PR #65, PR #66)
- Per-key request quotas (v3.8.0). Daily / weekly / monthly limits per key — set a kid's iPad to 20/day, a partner's laptop to 100/week. (PR #18)
- SSE heartbeat for long reasoning (v3.12.0, opt-in). If you've ever watched your IDE die at the 60s idle mark during a long Claude tool-use pause — that's nginx/Cloudflare default behavior. OCP emits an SSE comment frame to keep the connection alive without polluting the response. (PR #49)
cli.jsalignment + CI guardrail. LLM-assisted code drifts easily — it's tempting to invent plausible-looking endpoints thatcli.jsdoesn't actually use.ALIGNMENT.mdis binding: every endpoint OCP exposes must cite acli.jsline. Thealignment.ymlCI workflow blocks PRs that introduce known-hallucinated tokens. The payoff is boring: your setup keeps working whencli.jsships its next minor.models.jsonsingle source of truth (v3.11.0). Adding a model is one file edit; both/v1/modelsand the OpenClaw bootstrap derive from it. (PR #30)- Drives the official CLI as-is, no binary patching. OCP spawns the official
claudeCLI (or hosts it in an interactive tmux pane for TUI mode) — it does not extract OAuth tokens from memory, patch the binary, or invent protocol extensions. Traffic therefore looks like genuine Claude Code to Anthropic's classifiers (cc_entrypoint=cli). SeeALIGNMENT.mdfor why this constraint is load-bearing.
Comparison
OCP and the alternatives serve adjacent but distinct needs. Pick the one that fits your use case:
| Feature | OCP | claude-code-router | anthropic-proxy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forwards Claude Code subscription as OpenAI API | yes | yes | yes |
| Routes to multiple model backends (OpenAI, Gemini, etc.) | no | yes | partial |
| SSE heartbeat for long reasoning | yes (opt-in) | no | no |
| Per-key quota + LAN multi-user keys | yes | no | no |
| Response cache | yes (opt-in) | no | no |
| OpenClaw / IDE auto-config | yes | no | no |
| Model-routing rules / model-switching | no | yes | no |
| GitHub stars / ecosystem size | small | large | mid |
| Governance discipline (CI-enforced alignment with cli.js) | yes | n/a | n/a |
Plain English: claude-code-router is the routing-and-switching power tool — pick it if you want to mix Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, and local models behind one endpoint. anthropic-proxy is the minimal forwarder. OCP focuses on disciplined cli.js-aligned forwarding plus subscription multiplexing — pick it if you want to reach one Claude Pro/Max subscription from your own IDEs and devices, with LAN auth, quotas, and a governance contract that prevents endpoint drift.
Related: OLP — Open LLM Proxy
OCP is Claude-only by design. If you want to spread across multiple LLM providers (not just Claude), see the sibling project OLP — Open LLM Proxy: the same spawn-the-provider-CLI approach, but across several provider CLIs behind one OpenAI-compatible endpoint, with intelligent fallback chains. It grew out of OCP in response to Anthropic's 2026-06-15 billing split — the idea being to spread subscription/quota risk across more than one provider. OCP remains the focused, Claude-only option; OLP is the multi-provider one.
OCP is single-maintainer + LLM-assisted, currently pre-1.0. It runs the maintainer's daily Claude Code workflow. If something breaks, open an issue.
Supported Tools
Any tool that accepts OPENAI_BASE_URL works with OCP:
| Tool | Configuration |
|---|---|
| Cline | Settings → OPENAI_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3456/v1 |
| OpenCode | OPENAI_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3456/v1 |
| Aider | aider --openai-api-base http://127.0.0.1:3456/v1 |
| Continue.dev | config.json → apiBase: "http://127.0.0.1:3456/v1" |
| OpenClaw 1 | setup.mjs auto-configures |
| Any OpenAI client | Set base URL to http://127.0.0.1:3456/v1 |
Quickstart
The simplest path: ask your AI.
Paste this prompt to Claude Code / Cursor / Copilot:
Install OCP for me. Read README §Quickstart and follow it.
Tell me when I need to run `claude auth login`.
The AI will run git clone, npm install, node setup.mjs, and tell you when to OAuth.
Prerequisites: macOS or Linux (Windows is not supported), Node.js 22.5+ (Node 23+ recommended), git, and the Claude CLI, authenticated:
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
claude auth login # prints a URL + code — open on any browser, sign in, paste code back
Install (Server role — runs the proxy):
git clone https://github.com/dtzp555-max/ocp.git
cd ocp
node setup.mjs
setup.mjs verifies the Claude CLI, starts the proxy on port 3456, and installs auto-start (launchd on macOS, systemd on Linux). The ocp CLI lands at ~/ocp/ocp — symlink it onto your PATH (sudo ln -sf ~/ocp/ocp /usr/local/bin/ocp, or ln -sf ~/ocp/ocp ~/.local/bin/ocp) or alias it (alias ocp=~/ocp/ocp); the rest of the docs assume ocp is on your PATH.
Verify — should list 6 models:
curl http://127.0.0.1:3456/v1/models
# claude-opus-4-8, claude-opus-4-7, claude-opus-4-6, claude-sonnet-5, claude-sonnet-4-6, claude-haiku-4-5-20251001
Connect one IDE — point any OpenAI-compatible tool at the proxy, then reload your shell and start a tool (Cline / Continue / Cursor / OpenCode):
export OPENAI_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3456/v1
See Supported Tools for per-tool config.
LAN / multi-user — reach OCP from your own devices, with per-key auth, quotas, and anonymous access:
node setup.mjs --bind 0.0.0.0 --auth-mode multi
The full LAN server + client handbook, headless (Pi / NAS / VPS) OAuth, key/quota/anonymous-access management, AI-assisted install prompts, and the deployment/security model live in docs/lan-mode.md. Claude Pro/Max are per-user accounts — read the honest limits of sharing before extending access to other people.
Uninstall
# From the cloned repo
node uninstall.mjs
Removes the launchd (macOS) or systemd (Linux) auto-start entry. Handles both legacy (ai.openclaw.proxy / openclaw-proxy) and current (dev.ocp.proxy / ocp-proxy) service names. Does not delete ~/.openclaw/, ~/.ocp/, or the cloned repo — remove those manually if desired.
How It Works
Your IDE → OCP (localhost:3456) → claude --output-format stream-json CLI → Anthropic (via subscription)
OCP translates OpenAI-compatible /v1/chat/completions requests into claude --output-format stream-json CLI calls. Anthropic sees normal Claude Code usage — no API billing, no separate key needed.
Billing-policy status (as of 2026-07). Anthropic announced (2026-05-14) that from 2026-06-15 the
claude -p/ Agent SDK path would move to a separate metered credit pool — then paused the change on its effective date: "For now, nothing has changed: Claude Agent SDK,claude -p, and third-party app usage still draw from your subscription's usage limits" (official help article). So the default path above currently bills your subscription. Anthropic has said it will give notice before any future change; if the split re-lands, OCP's opt-in subscription-pool (TUI) mode is the ready-made hedge — see the billing table there.
Client-tools boundary
OCP is a text-prompt bridge to the official claude CLI. It does not pass through OpenAI tools/functions payloads or Anthropic tool_use blocks to the client. Clients (Cline, Cursor, OpenClaw, etc.) pointed at OCP receive assistant TEXT only — they never get tool_calls to execute locally.
Any tool use happens server-side, under the --allowedTools set configured on the OCP host. In default mode (no CLAUDE_NO_CONTEXT), the claude CLI's own built-in tools are available to the model; in TUI mode, the operator controls the tool surface via OCP_TUI_FULL_TOOLS. Either way, the tools run under the operator's credentials on the server, and the client sees only the final text output.
Client-local tool execution is not supported by design. Supporting it would require bypassing the claude CLI to call the raw Anthropic API directly — that is a different product, and is out of scope per ALIGNMENT.md (every OCP endpoint must correspond to something cli.js actually does).
What this means for choosing OCP (workload fit). LAN/multi-device OCP is built for chat-class workloads — Q&A, translation, scripting against the API, chat frontends, home-automation backends — where text in/text out is the whole job. It is not the right tool for a coding agent running on a client machine that needs the AI to read and edit that machine's files: tools execute on the OCP host, so the model can never touch the client's filesystem. For that workload, run claude (or a local OCP) directly on the machine where the code lives.
Available Models
| Model ID | Notes |
|---|---|
claude-opus-4-8 |
Most capable (default for opus alias) |
claude-opus-4-7 |
Previous Opus, retained for pinning |
claude-opus-4-6 |
Older Opus, retained for pinning |
claude-sonnet-5 |
Latest Sonnet (default for sonnet alias) |
claude-sonnet-4-6 |
Previous Sonnet, retained for pinning |
claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 |
Fastest, lightweight (default for haiku alias) |
The canonical list lives in models.json — the single source of truth as of v3.11.0. Both server.mjs (the /v1/models endpoint) and setup.mjs (the OpenClaw registration) derive from it. Adding a new model is now a one-file edit:
# 1. Edit models.json — add an entry
# 2. Bump version, commit, tag, push
# 3. Users get it on next `ocp update`:
# - OpenClaw: auto-synced via scripts/sync-openclaw.mjs
# - Cline / Aider / Cursor / opencode: live /v1/models, picks up immediately
# - Continue.dev: user edits their own config.json
API Endpoints
| Endpoint | Method | Description |
|---|---|---|
/v1/models |
GET | List available models |
/v1/chat/completions |
POST | Chat completion (streaming + non-streaming) |
/health |
GET | Comprehensive health check (includes a tui block for TUI-mode drift/concurrency monitoring) |
/usage |
GET | Plan usage limits + per-model stats |
/status |
GET | Combined overview (usage + health) |
/settings |
GET/PATCH | View or update settings at runtime |
/logs |
GET | Recent log entries (?n=20&level=error) |
/sessions |
GET/DELETE | List or clear active sessions |
/dashboard |
GET | Web dashboard (always public) |
/api/keys |
GET/POST | List or create API keys (admin only) |
/api/keys/:id |
DELETE | Revoke an API key (admin only) |
/api/keys/:id/quota |
GET/PATCH | View or set per-key quota (admin only) |
/api/usage |
GET | Per-key usage stats (?since=&until=&hours=&limit=); returns self only by default — pass ?all=true (admin only) for all-keys data |
/cache/stats |
GET | Cache statistics (admin only) |
/cache |
DELETE | Clear response cache (admin only) |
Environment Variables
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
CLAUDE_PROXY_PORT |
3456 |
Listen port (server-side). Also consumed by the OpenClaw ocp-plugin to dial the local proxy. |
OCP_PROXY_URL |
(unset) | Plugin-side full URL override (e.g. http://10.0.0.5:3456). Wins over CLAUDE_PROXY_PORT when both are set. Read by ocp-plugin/index.js only — server ignores it. |
CLAUDE_BIND |
127.0.0.1 |
Bind address (0.0.0.0 for LAN access) |
CLAUDE_AUTH_MODE |
none |
Auth mode: none, shared, or multi |
OCP_ADMIN_KEY |
(unset) | Admin key for key management (multi mode) |
CLAUDE_BIN |
(auto-detect) | Path to claude binary |
CLAUDE_TIMEOUT |
600000 |
Request timeout (ms, default: 10 min) |
CLAUDE_HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL |
0 |
Streaming SSE keepalive interval (ms). 0 = disabled. See "Streaming heartbeat" below. |
CLAUDE_MAX_CONCURRENT |
8 |
Max concurrent claude processes (-p/stream-json path) |
CLAUDE_MAX_QUEUE |
16 |
Max requests waiting for a -p concurrency slot. Beyond CLAUDE_MAX_CONCURRENT, requests queue (up to this cap) instead of being rejected; when the queue is also full, the request gets HTTP 429 + Retry-After (not an opaque 500). Surfaced on /health.concurrency + /health.stats.queueRejections. |
CLAUDE_QUEUE_RETRY_AFTER |
5 |
Seconds advertised in the Retry-After header on a -p concurrency-overflow 429. |
CLAUDE_MAX_PROMPT_CHARS |
150000 |
Prompt truncation limit (chars) |
CLAUDE_SESSION_TTL |
3600000 |
Session expiry (ms, default: 1 hour) |
CLAUDE_CACHE_TTL |
0 |
Response cache TTL (ms, 0 = disabled). Set to e.g. 300000 for 5-min cache. See Response Cache. |
CLAUDE_ALLOWED_TOOLS |
Bash,Read,...,Agent |
Comma-separated tools to pre-approve |
CLAUDE_SKIP_PERMISSIONS |
false |
Bypass all permission checks |
CLAUDE_MCP_CONFIG |
(unset) | Path to an MCP server config JSON, passed to the spawned claude as --mcp-config (both the -p path and TUI OCP_TUI_FULL_TOOLS panes) |
CLAUDE_NO_CONTEXT |
false |
Suppress CLAUDE.md and auto-memory injection (pure API mode) |
PROXY_API_KEY |
(unset) | Bearer token for shared-mode authentication |
PROXY_ANONYMOUS_KEY |
(unset) | Well-known anonymous key (multi mode) — this exact string bypasses validateKey() and grants public access. Exposed via /health.anonymousKey only to localhost, or to all callers when PROXY_ADVERTISE_ANON_KEY=1. Full setup + security notes: docs/lan-mode.md § Anonymous Access. |
PROXY_ADVERTISE_ANON_KEY |
(unset) | When =1, advertise PROXY_ANONYMOUS_KEY in the public /health body for remote zero-config discovery. Default off — /health is unauthenticated, so this exposes the shared key to any LAN-reachable device (issue #109). Localhost always sees it regardless. |
CLAUDE_TUI_MODE |
false |
Opt-in, single-user only. Set to "true" to serve requests via interactive claude (cc_entrypoint=cli, subscription pool). Refuses to boot under AUTH_MODE=multi. See Subscription-pool (TUI) mode. |
CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN |
(unset) | OAuth bearer token — highest-precedence credential for the -p path, and the recommended credential for TUI-mode hosts (when set with OCP_TUI_HOME unset, OCP runs the TUI claude in a credential-isolated home). See docs/tui-mode.md and the permanent-401 fix. |
OCP_SPAWN_REAL_HOME |
(unset) | Kill-switch for the default -p/stream-json spawn-home isolation (latency fix). When unset and an OAuth token is resolvable, OCP runs the per-request claude spawn in a credential-free minimal scratch home ($HOME/.ocp/spawn-home, no .credentials.json/settings.json/plugins) with a neutral cwd and the env token — so it loads none of the operator's heavy global ~/.claude (plugins/skills/hooks) or the project CLAUDE.md, cutting per-request latency (measured ~10–28s → ~3–7s). Set to "1" to force the legacy real-HOME spawn (no cwd override) even when a token exists. With no resolvable token, OCP falls back to the real HOME automatically (zero regression). Active mode is shown at startup and on /health.spawn. |
CLAUDE_TUI_WALLCLOCK_MS |
120000 |
(TUI-mode) Maximum time in ms to wait for the native transcript to signal turn completion. Increase for long Opus thinking turns. |
OCP_TUI_CWD |
$HOME/.ocp-tui/work |
(TUI-mode) Scratch working directory where interactive claude sessions run. Transcripts land under <HOME>/.claude/projects/<encoded-cwd>/. Created automatically. |
OCP_TUI_HOME |
(auto) | (TUI-mode) HOME claude runs under. When unset, OCP auto-picks a credential-isolated scratch home (env token set) or the real home (no token). Full home/credential strategy: docs/tui-mode.md. |
OCP_TUI_ENTRYPOINT |
cli |
(TUI-mode) Billing-classifier labeling: cli pins cc_entrypoint=cli; auto self-classifies via TTY; off leaves inherited env untouched. See docs/tui-mode.md. |
OCP_TUI_EFFORT |
low |
(TUI-mode) --effort level for the interactive spawn (low/medium/high/xhigh/max/inherit). Explicit low cuts TTFT p50 ~40% vs an inherited xhigh; invalid values fall back to low. See docs/tui-mode.md. |
OCP_TUI_STREAM |
0 (off) |
(TUI-mode) =1 emits real SSE delta.content chunks (block-level) from claude's MessageDisplay hook instead of buffering; transcript stays authoritative and divergent turns are refused. Caveats (tool-using turns, zero-delta detection) in docs/tui-mode.md § OCP_TUI_STREAM. |
OCP_TUI_STREAM_HOLDBACK |
100 |
(TUI-mode, streaming) Characters withheld before the first chunk — keeps the auth-banner gate alive and is the knob for tool-using turns. See docs/tui-mode.md § OCP_TUI_STREAM_HOLDBACK. |
OCP_TUI_STREAM_DIR |
$HOME/.ocp-tui/stream |
(TUI-mode, streaming) Directory for the hook script/settings + per-session delta sink (one sink per session-id, so concurrent turns never interleave). See docs/tui-mode.md. |
OCP_TUI_STREAM_POLL_MS |
100 |
(TUI-mode, streaming) Interval at which OCP drains the delta sink; the hook fires at block granularity so a finer poll buys nothing. See docs/tui-mode.md. |
OCP_TUI_MAX_CONCURRENT |
2 |
(TUI-mode) Max concurrent interactive TUI turns, independent of CLAUDE_MAX_CONCURRENT. Excess turns queue (bounded); a full queue yields 503. See docs/tui-mode.md. |
OCP_TUI_POOL_SIZE |
0 (off) |
(TUI-mode) Number of pre-booted warm claude panes (max 4) so a request skips the cold boot — measured p50 10.17s → 6.00s. Each warm pane is a live idle process; panes are single-use. See docs/tui-mode.md § OCP_TUI_POOL_SIZE. |
OCP_SKIP_AUTH_TEST |
(unset) | When =1, skip the claude -p auth probe during setup.mjs. Under the announced (currently paused) 2026-06-15 billing split this probe would draw from the metered Agent SDK credit pool; set this to avoid burning a probe on re-installs or ocp update runs. Auth is validated at the first real request. |
OCP_TUI_FULL_TOOLS |
(unset) | (TUI-mode, single-user only) =1 grants the interactive session the same tool surface as the -p path (--allowedTools + optional --mcp-config) so a trusted single operator can run a tool-using / MCP agent on the subscription pool. Safe because TUI refuses to boot under AUTH_MODE=multi. See docs/tui-mode.md § OCP_TUI_FULL_TOOLS. |
Streaming heartbeat
When CLAUDE_HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL is set to a positive integer (milliseconds), OCP emits an SSE comment frame (: keepalive\n\n) on streaming responses whenever the stream has been idle for that duration. The timer resets on every real chunk, so heartbeats only fire during genuine silent windows (for example, Claude CLI tool-use pauses of 30s–5min, or a long "processing large contexts" delay before the first token).
Use cases: downstream HTTP clients or load balancers with idle-connection timeouts that would otherwise abort a slow-but-alive request. CLAUDE_HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL=30000 (30s) is a reasonable starting value if your downstream has a 60s idle timeout.
Heartbeats are inert SSE comment lines — conforming SSE clients ignore them. If your downstream client's SSE parser crashes on comment frames, leave this disabled (the default) and file an issue so we can consider an alternate frame format.
OCP also sends X-Accel-Buffering: no on SSE responses so nginx-default proxy buffering does not hold heartbeats in an upstream buffer.
Runtime settings (no restart needed)
Many tunables can be changed live via ocp settings <key> <value> (or PATCH /settings) without restarting:
$ ocp settings maxPromptChars 200000
✓ maxPromptChars = 200000
$ ocp settings maxConcurrent 4
✓ maxConcurrent = 4
LAN & multi-user
Run OCP as a server on an always-on device and reach your one Claude Pro/Max subscription from your own laptops, phones, and Pis across the LAN — with per-key API tokens, per-key usage tracking + quotas, response-cache isolation, and one-command client setup (ocp connect / ocp-connect). A shared anonymous key covers simple trusted-family sharing.
node setup.mjs --bind 0.0.0.0 --auth-mode multi
ocp keys add laptop # then: ocp lan → prints the LAN IP + connect command
⚠️ The per-key modes give usage tracking, quotas, and cache separation — not a security isolation boundary. The spawned claude runs with the operator's filesystem access and is not sandboxed per key, so only share with people you fully trust, on a trusted network. Pro/Max are per-user accounts; pooling across distinct people may violate Anthropic's ToS.
Full server + client handbook, headless OAuth, AI-assisted install prompts, key/quota/anonymous-access management, monitoring dashboard, and the deployment/security model & honest limits: docs/lan-mode.md.
Subscription-pool (TUI) mode
Opt-in, single-user only. CLAUDE_TUI_MODE=true serves requests through interactive claude (no -p, cc_entrypoint=cli) so they bill the Pro/Max subscription pool instead of the metered Agent SDK path. Because claude runs with the operator's filesystem access, it is single-operator only — never enable it on a multi-user OCP (it refuses to boot under AUTH_MODE=multi).
⚠️ Status (as of 2026-07): a hedge, not a necessity. The 2026-06-15 billing split that made this matter was announced, then paused on its effective date — the default
-ppath currently bills your subscription. TUI-mode is kept ready for if/when a reworked change lands (Anthropic has promised advance notice).
Setup, the ~6-second latency floor, real-SSE streaming (OCP_TUI_STREAM), the warm-pane pool (OCP_TUI_POOL_SIZE), full-tool mode (OCP_TUI_FULL_TOOLS), /health drift monitoring, and the flip/canary runbooks: docs/tui-mode.md.
Upgrading
Run ocp update — it smart-picks the path. A patch bump (e.g. v3.21.0 → v3.21.1) takes the light path (git pull + npm install + restart); a cross-minor jump (e.g. v3.18 → v3.22) takes the full path (pre-flight, snapshot, setup.mjs with plist env-merge, restart, post-flight /health + /v1/models verification). ocp update --check shows available updates without applying.
Manual flags, rollback (ocp update --rollback), snapshots, and the OpenClaw model auto-sync (v3.11.0+): docs/upgrading.md.
Built-in Usage Monitoring
Check your subscription usage from the terminal:
$ ocp usage
Plan Usage Limits
─────────────────────────────────────
Current session 21% used
Resets in 3h 12m (Tue, Mar 28, 10:00 PM)
Weekly (all models) 45% used
Resets in 4d 2h (Tue, Mar 31, 12:00 AM)
Extra usage off
Model Stats
Model Req OK Er AvgT MaxT AvgP MaxP
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
opus 5 5 0 32s 87s 42K 43K
sonnet 18 18 0 20s 45s 36K 56K
Total 23
Proxy: up 6h 32m | 23 reqs | 0 err | 0 timeout
Web Dashboard: open http://<host>:3456/dashboard in any browser for real-time per-key usage, request history, plan utilization, and system health (screenshot + details in docs/lan-mode.md § Monitoring).
All Commands
ocp usage Plan usage limits & model stats
ocp usage --by-key Per-key usage breakdown (LAN mode)
ocp status Quick overview
ocp health Proxy diagnostics
ocp keys List all API keys (multi mode)
ocp keys add <name> Create a new API key
ocp keys revoke <name> Revoke an API key
ocp connect <ip> One-command LAN client setup
ocp doctor Health & upgrade-readiness check; primary entry for AI-driven debugging. --json produces a next_action for AI agents.
ocp lan Show LAN connection info & IP
ocp settings View tunable settings
ocp settings <k> <v> Update a setting at runtime
ocp logs [N] [level] Recent logs (default: 20, error)
ocp models Available models
ocp sessions Active sessions
ocp clear Clear all sessions
ocp restart Restart proxy
ocp restart gateway Restart gateway
ocp update Update to latest version
ocp update --check Check for updates without applying
ocp --help Command reference
Note: Terminal CLI uses
ocp <command>; the OpenClaw gateway plugin exposes the same as/ocp <command>in Telegram/Discord (see OpenClaw Integration).
Response Cache
OCP can cache responses to avoid redundant Claude CLI calls for identical prompts — useful during development when the same prompt is sent repeatedly.
Enable by setting CLAUDE_CACHE_TTL (ms), or update at runtime with ocp settings cacheTTL 300000:
export CLAUDE_CACHE_TTL=300000 # cache responses for 5 minutes
How it works:
- Cache key = SHA-256 of
v2|<keyId or "anon">|model + messages + temperature + max_tokens + top_p - Per-key isolation — different API keys never share cache entries; anonymous callers share one
anonpool - Cache hits return instantly — no Claude CLI process spawned. Streaming hits are replayed as multiple SSE chunks (80 codepoints each), not one large delta, so incremental render is preserved
cache_controlbypass — a request carrying an Anthropiccache_controlannotation (top-level or nested incontent[]) skips OCP's cache entirely, so it doesn't interfere with Anthropic-side prompt caching- Singleflight stampede protection — concurrent identical cache-miss requests share one upstream
cli.jsspawn; followers receive byte-identical responses (non-streaming path only; streaming-path singleflight is a known TODO) - Multi-turn conversations (with
session_id) are never cached; expired entries are reaped automatically every 10 minutes
Management:
curl http://127.0.0.1:3456/cache/stats # { "entries": 42, "totalHits": 156, "sizeBytes": 284000, "inflight": 0, "requesters": 0 }
curl -X DELETE http://127.0.0.1:3456/cache # clear all cached responses
ocp settings cacheTTL 0 # disable at runtime
Cache is disabled by default (CLAUDE_CACHE_TTL=0). All data is stored locally in ~/.ocp/ocp.db. Hash format upgrade in v3.13.0: legacy v1 cache rows don't match new v2-format lookups; they orphan and are reaped by the TTL cleanup interval within one window — no migration script required.
OpenClaw Integration
OCP was originally built for OpenClaw and includes deep integration:
setup.mjsauto-configures theclaude-localprovider inopenclaw.jsonat install timeocp updateauto-syncs theclaude-localmodel registry frommodels.json(v3.11.0+) — no more stale model dropdowns after upgrades- Gateway plugin registers
/ocpas a native slash command in Telegram/Discord - Multi-agent — 8 concurrent requests sharing one subscription
- No conflicts — uses neutral service names (
dev.ocp.proxy/ocp-proxy) that don't trigger OpenClaw's gateway-like service detection
Install the gateway plugin:
cp -r ocp-plugin/ ~/.openclaw/extensions/ocp/
Add to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json, then openclaw gateway restart:
{
"plugins": {
"allow": ["ocp"],
"entries": { "ocp": { "enabled": true } }
}
}
After installing, use /ocp slash commands in your chat: /ocp status, /ocp usage, /ocp models, /ocp health, /ocp keys, /ocp keys add <name>, /ocp keys revoke <name>.
Troubleshooting
The simplest path: ask your AI — paste Run ocp doctorand follow itsnext_action. Tell me if you hit anything that needs human input. The doctor emits a JSON next_action with ai_executable[] (commands to run verbatim) and human_required[] (usually just OAuth).
Most common issues:
EADDRINUSE: port 3456 already in use— an old OCP instance is bound. Find it (lsof -nP -iTCP:3456 -sTCP:LISTEN) and stop it (launchctl bootout gui/$(id -u)/dev.ocp.proxyon macOS,systemctl --user stop ocp-proxyon Linux). There is noocp stop— the proxy is a service;ocp restartbounces it.node: command not found/ version error — OCP needs Node.js 22.5+ (node --version).claude: command not found— install the Claude CLI, runclaude auth login, then re-runnode setup.mjs.- Usage shows "unknown" / 401 — usually an expired Claude CLI session:
claude auth login && ocp restart. For the permanent TUI-modePlease run /login · API Error: 401that re-login can't fix, see docs/troubleshooting.md § permanent TUI-mode 401.
Bootstrap quirks (one-time migrations):
- A TUI session vanished right after upgrading OCP — if a pre-3.21.1 and a post-3.21.1 instance ran on the same host at the same time during an upgrade, the new instance's one-time boot reap can, once, kill an old-format (
ocp-tui-<8hex>) live TUI session belonging to the still-running old instance. Restart the affected session (ocp restartor re-run your TUI turn) and it returns under the new instance's port-scoped naming. - OpenClaw shows old models after
ocp update(v3.10→v3.11 only) — the running shell had the oldcmd_updatecached, so the sync hook doesn't fire on that single jump. Run once:node ~/ocp/scripts/sync-openclaw.mjs && openclaw gateway restart. Every future update syncs automatically.
Full manual — setup failures, env-var-not-taking-effect-after-restart (launchd bootout+bootstrap vs kickstart -k), stuck sessions, "OpenClaw registry out of sync", and the two-layer TUI-mode 401 root cause + fix: docs/troubleshooting.md.
Repository Layout
Top-level files a contributor or operator may need to know:
| Path | Role |
|---|---|
server.mjs |
The proxy itself; every request path lives here. Governed by ALIGNMENT.md. |
setup.mjs |
First-time installer — verifies Claude CLI, patches OpenClaw config, installs auto-start. |
uninstall.mjs |
Reverses the launchd / systemd auto-start install. |
keys.mjs |
API-key management module (multi-mode auth: create/list/revoke, quotas, usage tracking). |
models.json |
Single source of truth for model IDs, aliases, context windows. See ADR 0003. |
ocp / ocp-connect |
User-facing CLI wrappers (server-side / client-side respectively). |
dashboard.html |
Static dashboard served from /dashboard. |
scripts/sync-openclaw.mjs |
Idempotent OpenClaw registry sync invoked by ocp update. See ADR 0004. |
.claude/skills/ |
Project-specific Claude Code skills. |
ocp-plugin/ |
OpenClaw gateway plugin (optional installation). |
docs/lan-mode.md |
LAN & multi-user operations manual (server/client setup, keys, quotas, anonymous access, security model). |
docs/tui-mode.md |
Subscription-pool (TUI) mode: setup, latency, streaming, warm-pane pool, drift monitoring. |
docs/troubleshooting.md |
Full troubleshooting manual, including the permanent TUI-mode 401 root cause + fix. |
docs/upgrading.md |
Upgrade manual (ocp update paths, rollback, OpenClaw auto-sync). |
docs/adr/ |
Architecture Decision Records. Read these before proposing governance or SPOT changes — see docs/adr/README.md. |
ALIGNMENT.md |
The constitution. Binding for any server.mjs change. |
AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md |
Agent and Claude-Code-specific session instructions. |
Security
- Localhost by default — binds to
127.0.0.1; setCLAUDE_BIND=0.0.0.0to enable LAN access - 3-tier auth —
none(trusted network),shared(single key),multi(per-user keys with usage tracking) - Timing-safe key comparison — prevents timing attacks on API keys and admin keys
- Admin-only key management — creating, listing, and revoking keys requires the admin key
- Public endpoints —
/healthand/dashboardare always accessible without auth - No API keys needed — authentication goes through Claude CLI's OAuth session
- Keys stored locally —
~/.ocp/ocp.db(SQLite), never sent to external services - Auto-start — launchd (macOS) / systemd (Linux)
Governance
OCP runs under a small set of binding documents so contributions stay aligned with what cli.js actually does, not what an LLM thinks it does:
ALIGNMENT.md— the constitution. Every endpoint OCP exposes must correspond to somethingcli.jsactually does, with a line-number citation. Background in ADR 0002..github/workflows/alignment.yml— CI guardrail. Grepsserver.mjsfor known-hallucinated tokens and fails the build on any hit. Not suppressible without anALIGNMENT.mdamendment PR.AGENTS.md— guidelines any AI coding agent (Claude Code / Cursor / Copilot / Codex / Gemini) should read before touching this repo.models.json— single source of truth for the model registry. See ADR 0003.docs/adr/— architecture decision records explaining why current structure exists.
If you want to contribute: read ALIGNMENT.md first, search cli.js for the operation you're proposing, and cite the line number in your PR.
Support OCP
OCP has been open source from day one — not a freemium tool, not a commercial product turned open, just open. It will stay that way forever. No paid tiers, no premium features, no "Pro" version locked behind a paywall.
I built it because my family and I needed it. We use OCP every day across our own machines and IDEs — keeping one Claude Pro/Max subscription powering everything, saving the per-token API cost we'd otherwise pay. It's been quietly heartwarming to hear from users online who say OCP has saved them money the same way it saves ours. That's the whole point.
Behind every version are hundreds of hours that don't show up in commits: building it from scratch, adding new features as the Claude Code ecosystem evolves, debugging across Mac / Windows / Linux machines, validating against half a dozen IDEs (Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, OpenCode, Aider, Continue.dev, OpenClaw), tracking down cli.js drift, OAuth refresh edge cases, SSE streaming quirks, concurrency leaks, and the occasional incident that turns into a multi-day investigation (the 2026-04-11 alignment drift, the v3.11.1 concurrency leak, the v3.12 SSE replay regression).
The commitment: this project will keep being updated, keep getting new features, and will stay open source as long as I'm able to maintain it.
Please try it. If something breaks or could be better, open an issue — feedback is genuinely what keeps the project moving.
And if OCP saves you (or your team, or your family) real money and you'd like to chip in toward the next debugging session:
Donations directly fund the time it takes to keep OCP saving the community money.
License
MIT — see LICENSE.
-
OpenClaw is an IDE-agnostic AI coding agent (sibling project to OCP). When OCP runs on the same machine, OpenClaw can use it as a local provider — see
scripts/sync-openclaw.mjsand ADR 0004. ↩︎