Support Anthropic-compatible base URL override

[octo-patch]

Summary

• Add CLAUDE_ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL configuration for custom Anthropic-compatible endpoints.
• Preserve environment-variable precedence over .ralphrc values.
• Document the setting in the README and generated .ralphrc template.

Test plan

• npm test

[coderabbitai]

Walkthrough

Adds a new CLAUDE_ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL configuration variable across ralph_loop.sh, .ralphrc template, and README, enabling an override of the Anthropic-compatible API base URL. Includes environment/.ralphrc precedence handling, conditional --anthropic-base-url CLI argument construction, and corresponding unit test coverage.

Changes

CLAUDE_ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL support

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Core script: env capture, default, load, and CLI arg wiring ralph_loop.sh	Captures env value before defaults, sets CLAUDE_ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL default (empty), restores env value in load_ralphrc() for precedence, and conditionally appends --anthropic-base-url in build_claude_command().
Documentation and template updates README.md, templates/ralphrc.template	Adds commented documentation and example configuration snippet for the new base URL override.
Unit tests for env precedence and CLI arg emission tests/unit/test_cli_modern.bats	Mirrors env capture/restore and argument-building logic, and adds tests for .ralphrc loading, env-var precedence, and inclusion/omission of --anthropic-base-url.

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• frankbria/ralph-claude-code#191: Both PRs extend ralph_loop.sh and tests/unit/test_cli_modern.bats for .ralphrc-driven Claude CLI command construction.
• frankbria/ralph-claude-code#231: Both PRs extend .ralphrc/environment precedence and build_claude_command flag construction in the same core loading/command-building code paths.

Poem

A rabbit typed a URL so neat,
Tucked into .ralphrc, tidy and sweet,
"--anthropic-base-url" hops into place,
Env vars win the precedence race,
Tests confirm it, snug and complete! 🐇🔗

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly summarizes the main change: adding an override for the Anthropic-compatible base URL.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests

---

Thanks for using CodeRabbit! It's free for OSS, and your support helps us grow. If you like it, consider giving us a shout-out.

❤️ Share

• X
• Mastodon
• Reddit
• LinkedIn

_{Comment @coderabbitai help to get the list of available commands.}

[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 1

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

Inline comments:
In `@ralph_loop.sh`:
- Around line 1565-1569: The Claude CLI base URL override is being passed as an
unsupported command-line flag, so update the custom-provider handling in the
shell logic around the CLAUDE_CMD_ARGS construction to use the
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL process environment variable instead. Keep the existing
CLAUDE_ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL input, but export/map it into the environment before
launching Claude rather than appending "--anthropic-base-url" to the argv array,
so startup works with custom endpoints.

🪄 Autofix (Beta)

Fix all unresolved CodeRabbit comments on this PR:

• Push a commit to this branch (recommended)
• Create a new PR with the fixes

---

ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 8d9254f4-02e2-4aee-be86-e97b4db97254

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 0c1d7bf and 2c07885.

📒 Files selected for processing (4)

• README.md
• ralph_loop.sh
• templates/ralphrc.template
• tests/unit/test_cli_modern.bats

[coderabbitai]

🎯 Functional Correctness | 🟠 Major | ⚡ Quick win

🧩 Analysis chain

🏁 Script executed:

#!/bin/bash
# Check if the Claude CLI supports --anthropic-base-url
claude --help 2>&1 | grep -i "base-url\|anthropic" || echo "Flag not found in --help output"

Repository: frankbria/ralph-claude-code

Length of output: 197

---

🏁 Script executed:

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

# Inspect the relevant code path and any references to the env var/flag name.
rg -n "CLAUDE_ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL|anthropic-base-url|api-base-url|base-url" .

# Check the local Claude CLI help more directly for base-url-related options.
claude --help 2>&1 | sed -n '1,220p'

Repository: frankbria/ralph-claude-code

Length of output: 3100

---

🌐 Web query:

Claude Code CLI --anthropic-base-url option supported flag base url documentation

💡 Result:

Claude Code CLI does not provide a command-line flag named --anthropic-base-url [1][2]. Instead, custom API endpoints are configured exclusively via the ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL environment variable [3][4][5]. You can set this variable in your shell for a single session, as a persistent environment variable, or within the Claude Code settings file [4][5][6]. Configuration Methods: 1. Shell Environment (Temporary): export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://your-gateway.example.com export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=your-gateway-key 2. Settings File (Persistent): You can define the variable in your ~/.claude/settings.json file using an env block: { "env": { "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://your-gateway.example.com", "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "your-gateway-key" } } Key Details: - Purpose: ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL is used to point the CLI toward LLM gateways, corporate proxies, or local mock servers [4][5][6]. - Authentication: When using a custom base URL, you typically use ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN to provide the necessary authorization credentials instead of the standard ANTHROPIC_API_KEY [4][7]. - Priority: If both a shell export and a settings-file entry are present, the settings-file value generally takes precedence [4]. You can verify which URL is being used by running the /status command within the Claude Code CLI [4].

Citations:

• 1: https://github.com/ytrofr/claude-code-guide/blob/main/docs/guide/part6-reference/02-cli-flags-and-env.md
• 2: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/cli-reference
• 3: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/env-vars
• 4: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/llm-gateway-connect
• 5: https://claude-codex.fr/en/reference/environment/
• 6: https://fazm.ai/blog/route-claude-api-through-custom-endpoint-anthropic-base-url
• 7: https://www.requesty.ai/blog/claude-code-environment-variables-anthropic-base-url-auth-token

---

Use ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL instead of --anthropic-base-url

Claude CLI doesn’t expose a --anthropic-base-url flag; custom endpoints need to be passed via ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL in the process environment (or settings file), otherwise custom-provider runs will fail at startup.

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

In `@ralph_loop.sh` around lines 1565 - 1569, The Claude CLI base URL override is
being passed as an unsupported command-line flag, so update the custom-provider
handling in the shell logic around the CLAUDE_CMD_ARGS construction to use the
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL process environment variable instead. Keep the existing
CLAUDE_ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL input, but export/map it into the environment before
launching Claude rather than appending "--anthropic-base-url" to the argv array,
so startup works with custom endpoints.

[octo-patch]

Closing this PR because the provider registry required for this work item has not been implemented yet; its command-construction foundation is still tracked in #312. The current patch also relies on an unsupported --anthropic-base-url CLI flag, so it is not safe to merge as-is.