I built a $2/month Claude API proxy — here's the curl command

I got tired of paying $20/month for Claude Pro just to use Claude Code.

So I built a flat-rate Claude API proxy. Here's everything you need to use it.

The one-line setup

export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.simplylouie.com export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_key_here

export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.simplylouie.com export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_key_here

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That's it. Every tool that uses ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL now routes through the proxy.

Test it with curl

curl https://api.simplylouie.com/v1/messages \  -H "x-api-key: $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY" \  -H "anthropic-version: 2023-06-01" \  -H "content-type: application/json" \  -d '{  "model": "claude-opus-4-5",  "max_tokens": 1024,  "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]  }'

curl https://api.simplylouie.com/v1/messages \  -H "x-api-key: $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY" \  -H "anthropic-version: 2023-06-01" \  -H "content-type: application/json" \  -d '{  "model": "claude-opus-4-5",  "max_tokens": 1024,  "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]  }'

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You get a real Anthropic-format response. Your existing tools don't know the difference.

Use it with Claude Code

# In your shell profile export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.simplylouie.com export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sl_your_key_here

# In your shell profile export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.simplylouie.com export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sl_your_key_here

Now run Claude Code normally

claude`

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Claude Code reads ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL automatically. No config files needed.

Use it with Python

import anthropic

client = anthropic.Anthropic( api_key="sl_your_key_here", base_url="https://api.simplylouie.com" )

message = client.messages.create( model="claude-opus-4-5", max_tokens=1024, messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello, Claude"}] )

print(message.content)`

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Use it with the JS/TS SDK

import Anthropic from '@anthropic-ai/sdk';

const client = new Anthropic({ apiKey: 'sl_your_key_here', baseURL: 'https://api.simplylouie.com', });

const message = await client.messages.create({ model: 'claude-opus-4-5', max_tokens: 1024, messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Hello' }], });

console.log(message.content);`

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Use it with LangChain

from langchain_anthropic import ChatAnthropic

llm = ChatAnthropic( model="claude-opus-4-5", anthropic_api_key="sl_your_key_here", anthropic_api_url="https://api.simplylouie.com" )

response = llm.invoke("Explain async/await in one paragraph") print(response.content)`

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Use it with LlamaIndex

from llama_index.llms.anthropic import Anthropic

llm = Anthropic( model="claude-opus-4-5", api_key="sl_your_key_here", base_url="https://api.simplylouie.com" )

response = llm.complete("Write a haiku about programming") print(response.text)`

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What models are available?

All current Claude models:

• claude-opus-4-5 — most capable

• claude-sonnet-4-5 — balanced speed/quality

• claude-haiku-3-5 — fastest, cheapest

How much does it cost?

$2/month flat rate.

No per-token billing. No usage meters. No surprise invoices.

For comparison:

• Anthropic direct API: ~$15/million input tokens (Opus)

• Claude Pro subscription: $20/month (only for claude.ai, not API)

• SimplyLouie: $2/month for API access

If you're building something small, running experiments, or using Claude Code daily — flat rate saves you money.

The 7-day free trial

Get your API key at simplylouie.com/developers

Card required to start (standard SaaS), not charged for 7 days.

Why I built this

I was spending $20/month on Claude Pro just to get API access for Claude Code. Most of that quota sat unused.

Flat-rate makes more sense for developers who use Claude in bursts — heavy one week, light the next.

50% of revenue goes to animal rescue. That part wasn't required, it just felt right.

Drop your questions below — happy to help you get set up.