Free with GitHub Copilot · No credit card

Claude Code
completely free

Use Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Claude Opus 4.5 inside Claude Code CLI — models removed from VS Code Copilot but still fully accessible here. Students get everything free.

Get started → View on GitHub
$0 Cost
Sonnet 4.5 Available
Opus 4.5 Available
2 min Setup
Architecture

How it works

Four components that bridge Claude Code to GitHub Copilot.

01
🎓
GitHub Copilot
Free for students via Student Pack.
02
⚡
OpenCode CLI
Authenticates with GitHub and stores your token.
03
🔌
claude-code-proxy
Translates Anthropic API to Copilot format.
04
🤖
Claude Code
Full agentic coding — files, bash, tools.
Installation

Setup guide

Four steps. Takes about 2 minutes.

01
Get GitHub Copilot
Free for students via Student Developer Pack
Free ▾
Students: Visit education.github.com/pack and verify with your .edu email or student ID. Approval takes 1–3 days. GitHub Copilot is then completely free.
link 
https://education.github.com/pack
Not a student? GitHub Copilot is $10/month at github.com/features/copilot
02
Install & authenticate OpenCode
CLI that connects to GitHub Copilot models
Required ▾
bash · install 
curl -fsSL https://opencode.ai/install | bash && source ~/.bashrc
bash · verify 
opencode --version
bash · login 
opencode auth login github
A device code will appear — go to github.com/login/device, enter it, and authorize OpenCode.
03
Setup claude-code-proxy
Bridges Claude Code to GitHub Copilot's API
Core ▾
bash · clone 
git clone https://github.com/fuergaosi233/claude-code-proxy
cd claude-code-proxy
pip install -r requirements.txt
bash · get token 
cat ~/.local/share/opencode/auth.json
Copy the access value — that's your token. Paste it as OPENAI_API_KEY below.
# .env — create this inside the claude-code-proxy folder
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_token_here
OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://api.githubcopilot.com
 
# Models removed from VS Code but work here
BIG_MODEL=claude-sonnet-4.5
MIDDLE_MODEL=claude-sonnet-4.5
SMALL_MODEL=claude-haiku-4.5
 
MAX_TOKENS_LIMIT=8096
REQUEST_TIMEOUT=300
PORT=8082
⚠ Never commit your token to git. Add .env to your .gitignore.
04
Launch Claude Code
Point Claude Code to your local proxy
Final step ▾
bash · install claude code 
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Terminal 1 — keep this running:

bash · start proxy 
cd claude-code-proxy && python3 start_proxy.py

Terminal 2 — launch Claude Code:

bash · launch 
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="http://localhost:8082"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="anything"
claude --model claude-sonnet-4-5
🎉 You're in
Claude Code is running Claude Sonnet 4.5 free via GitHub Copilot. The model removed from VS Code Copilot — back and working.
Models

best models

Change BIG_MODEL in .env to switch. ★ = removed from VS Code.

Model Type Speed Cost
claude-sonnet-4.5 ★
Coding
⚡⚡⚡
Free
claude-opus-4.5 ★
Reasoning
⚡⚡
Free
claude-haiku-4.5
Fast
⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡
Free
codex-5.3
General
⚡⚡⚡⚡
Free
gemini-3.1-pro
General
⚡⚡⚡
Free
★ Removed from VS Code Copilot — Sonnet 4.5 and Opus 4.5 were pulled from the VS Code extension but remain fully accessible through the Copilot API used by this setup.
🌐 Complete GitHub Copilot Access
Yes, you can use ALL models available in GitHub Copilot! Just change the BIG_MODEL in your .env file to codex-5.3, o1-preview, gemini-3.1-pro, llama-3.3-70b, or any other model. Run opencode models in your terminal to easily see the full list of 100+ available models.
FAQ

Common questions

Quick answers.

Is this actually free?+
Yes. GitHub Copilot is free for students via the Student Developer Pack. For everyone else it's $10/month. No additional costs — claude-code-proxy and OpenCode are both open source.
Why were Claude models removed from VS Code?+
GitHub removed Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Opus 4.5 from the VS Code Copilot extension UI. However they're still accessible via the Copilot API — which is exactly what claude-code-proxy uses.
Does it work on Windows / Mac / Linux?+
Linux and Mac work natively. Windows users should use WSL. All commands in this guide are for bash/zsh.
My token expired — how do I refresh?+
Run opencode auth login github again, authorize in browser, then update OPENAI_API_KEY in your .env with the new token from ~/.local/share/opencode/auth.json.
How do I switch to Opus 4.5?+
Edit .env and set BIG_MODEL=claude-opus-4.5 and MIDDLE_MODEL=claude-opus-4.5. Restart the proxy. Opus is slower but significantly more capable for complex reasoning.
Why is it slow sometimes?+
Sonnet 4.5 and Opus 4.5 are large models — they take 20–30s for complex responses. For speed switch to claude-haiku-4.5 (~5s) or gpt-4.1 (~3–5s) in your .env.
Can I use this for large codebases?+
MAX_TOKENS_LIMIT=200000 removes practical limits. Claude Code's agentic mode handles large codebases — reading files, writing code, running tests — just like a paid Anthropic API key.