Developers Route Claude Code to Rival Models in Bid to Cut Coding-Agent Costs

Developers are experimenting with proxy setups that keep the Claude Code interface while sending model inference to cheaper non-Anthropic systems, including OpenAI models. One developer estimate says the workaround can preserve about 97% of output quality while reducing costs by roughly 60%, intensifying a debate over whether the value in AI coding tools lies in the agent interface, the underlying model, or the routing layer between them.