Claude

VC uses Claude Code’s login and configuration. Start with the default provider for one account; provider setup covers installation and shared provider settings.

Separate accounts or configurations

Use a separate Claude config directory for each account. This also works for named presets that need different Claude settings or a router connection.

Add another Claude instance in Settings > Providers with the Add Claude account button in the Claude instance’s detail pane. The dialog suggests a matching config directory from the instance’s name; accept it or set the values yourself:

Then sign the account in from its detail pane: Sign in to Claude opens the OAuth link — sign in on the page, copy the shown code, and paste it back into the instance card. You can also sign in from a terminal on the environment’s machine instead:

mkdir -p ~/.claude_personal
CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude_personal claude auth login

An empty config-directory setting uses Claude Code’s normal configuration. The custom setting changes CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR, leaving HOME and the system keychain location intact. Use the same variable for the login command. Setting HOME instead can put credentials where this provider will not find them.

Check the account reported in provider settings after signing in. Instances with the same config directory can resume a native conversation. Switching to a separate directory starts a fresh agent with saved task context in the same VC thread. Older environments allow only compatible directories. See account recovery. Separate account directories stay isolated, including their local conversation state. An instance with its own config directory ignores Claude credentials such as ANTHROPIC_API_KEY inherited from the environment that started VC; set them in that instance’s Environment variables instead. Claude does not have Codex’s shared-home and shadow-home arrangement.

For presets that differ only in API keys or endpoints, use the instance’s Environment variables. Variable assignments do not belong in Launch arguments.

Claude Code’s verbose mode can stay enabled when you use Claude for text generation, including thread titles, branch names, commit messages, and pull request descriptions. On a remote connection, VC uses the Claude configuration on the connected server.

Compact long conversations

Set Auto-compact after in the Claude provider settings to an integer between 100000 and 1000000. For example, 300000 asks Claude to summarize at about 300,000 tokens. This changes when compaction happens, not the model’s context window. Leave it empty for Claude Code’s default.

You can also send /compact in an existing conversation. Web and desktop offer Compact context from the context meter and may suggest it when you return to a large older thread. See commands and skills for using composer commands.

Usage limits

VC displays limits reported by Claude Code, along with any limit resets Claude has granted the signed-in account, such as a Full reset. Choose Use on a reset to apply it. VC uses the Claude Code sign-in on the environment’s machine, so run a turn first if the sign-in has expired.

If your Claude subscription runs out of usage mid-turn, the thread shows which limit was reached and the remaining wait when Claude provides a reset time. On environments with account recovery, choose when to retry or switch accounts; VC stops the paused source session while recovery waits. Older environments can keep showing Claude Code as working until the window reopens. Wait for the reset, or stop the turn and continue later.

Skills

Claude skills come from the config directory’s skills folder and the project’s .claude/skills folder. If both define the same name, the config-directory copy wins. Skills disabled in Claude’s settings do not appear in the composer. Manage them from Settings → Skills, or edit Claude’s skillOverrides directly; see Skills.

Use $ in the composer to select a skill. Skills marked disable-model-invocation can still be started by you. Invoke those one per message: Claude directly runs only the last named skill and may try to start earlier ones through its Skill tool, which refuses skills reserved for manual invocation.

OpenRouter

Create a Claude instance with its own config directory, such as ~/.claude_openrouter, and keep Binary path set to claude. In that instance’s Environment variables, use:

If that Claude config directory has a cached Anthropic login, run /logout in a Claude Code session using that directory before starting the router setup. Cached login credentials can conflict with the router token.

Verify requests in OpenRouter’s activity dashboard. For model-role overrides and current compatibility requirements, use the OpenRouter Claude Code guide.

Other routers

A local router uses an ordinary Claude provider instance. Give it a separate config directory and put the router’s endpoint and credential variables in that instance’s Environment variables. The router must run where the environment can reach it. Follow the Claude Code Router instructions for its installation and routing configuration.