Claude instance routed through a proxy in settings.json shows as "Claude API Key" #26909

What happened

On a Claude thread, the Labs "Usage in thread details" card shows Limits: Unavailable, and the provider shows as "Claude API Key". The user asked why, and how to get limits from their CLIProxyAPI hub.

Diagnosis

• The Claude profile routes through a CLIProxyAPI hub the way the hub guide describes: env.ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL and env.ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN in the profile's settings.json. The claude CLI applies that env over the process environment. The live CLI reports tokenSource: "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN", apiProvider: "firstParty" and rate_limits_available: false.
• checkClaudeProviderStatus looks for ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL only in T3's own environment (apps/server/src/provider/ClaudeProvider.ts:605), so it never detects the proxy. It labels the instance from the token source instead, and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN maps to "Claude API Key".
• Limits are "unsupported" because the CLI reads no plan limits through a proxy. The hub's usage source has them, but the thread card reads only the instance's own limits (ThreadDetailsUsage.tsx:54-58). Using the hub there is a feature, proposed in Show CLIProxyAPI hub limits for Claude instances that route through the hub #26938.
• An earlier version of this issue blamed a setup-token wrapper. That was wrong: the settings.json env overrides the token.

Steps to reproduce

1. Point a Claude profile at a proxy in its settings: {"env": {"ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://<hub>:8317", "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "<key>"}} in ~/.claude/settings.json.
2. Use that profile for a Claude provider instance in T3.
3. The instance shows as "Claude API Key" instead of "Custom API endpoint".

Version

0.1.5-nightly.20261029.3867 (server; T3 Code Desktop 0.1.5-nightly.20261029.3867 on Linux connected to it). Still present on main.

Environment

Server: macOS 27.0 arm64, Node 26.12.1, claude CLI 2.1.312, self-hosted CLIProxyAPI over Tailscale HTTPS. Client: T3 Code Desktop on Linux.

Evidence

# live CLI account fields (SDK initialization)
{"tokenSource":"ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN","apiProvider":"firstParty"}  usage: {"rate_limits_available":false}
# cached provider snapshot (trimmed)
"auth": { "status": "authenticated", "type": "apiKey", "label": "Claude API Key" }
"usageLimits": { "windows": [], "unavailable": { "reason": "unsupported" } }

Related issues

Not #24114, which covers setup-token sessions; here the settings.json proxy overrides the token. Fix: #26937.

Fix applied or workaround

Nothing changed on the machine. /usage-limits in the composer shows the hub's numbers.

Filed by

t3 triage agent session