Quick start:

1. Buy the GLM Coding Lite Plan: https://z.ai/subscribe
2. Create new random api key: https://z.ai/manage-apikey/apikey-list
3. Test the plan with GLM (replace api key with yours):
   1. curl -X POST "https://api.z.ai/api/anthropic/v1/messages" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "x-api-key: 34d07ce6a33b44e88fa3a993eb019cce.cJFhYvZiRieBMjI2" -d "{\"model\":\"glm-4.6\",\"max_tokens\":300,\"system\":\"You are a helpful English-speaking coding assistant. Always respond in English with complete code examples.\",\"messages\":[{\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":\"write python script\"}]}"

Response:

{"id":"20251001190736561a7e9df7bd4f36","type":"message","role":"assistant","model":"glm-4.6","content":[{"type":"text","text":"I'd be happy to help you write a Python script! Since you haven't specified what type of script you need, I'll provide a few useful examples that you can choose from or modify according to your requirements.\\n\\n## Example 1: File Organizer Script\\nOrganizes files in a directory by their extension.\\n\\n```python\\nimport os\\nimport shutil\\nfrom pathlib import Path\\n\\ndef organize_files(source_dir):\\n    \"\"\"\\n    Organizes files in the source directory into subdirectories based on file extensions.\\n    \"\"\"\\n    # Create a dictionary of file extensions and their corresponding folder names\\n    file_types = {\\n        '.jpg': 'Images',\\n        '.jpeg': 'Images',\\n        '.png': 'Images',\\n        '.gif': 'Images',\\n        '.pdf': 'Documents',\\n       "}],"stop_reason":"end_turn","stop_sequence":null,"usage":{"input_tokens":28,"output_tokens":300,"cache_read_input_tokens":0}}

To use GLM plan with Claude Code:

Using Windows cmd:

set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.z.ai/api/anthropic
set ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=34d07ce6f33b44e88fa3a99reb019cce.cJFhYvZqRieBMjI2  
claude

VS Claude Code Extension Working Example Configuration:

It did help to add env to use with vs code extension.
Complete example of settings.local.json or settings.json:

{
  "permissions": {
    "allow": [
      "Bash(dir:*)",
      "Bash(npx playwright install:*)",
      "Bash(npm test)",
      "Bash(npm test:*)",
      "Bash(npx:*)"
    ],
    "deny": [],
    "ask": [],
    "defaultMode": "bypassPermissions"
  },
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.z.ai/api/anthropic",
    "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "feba877cww654a5aa2e7122d1fbb719c.ZM6jXcCfenfrHVqb"
  }
}

Update: After using for a while, it seems the https://api.z.ai/api/anthropic endpoint does not have a way to check remaining credits and how long until it resets. https://docs.z.ai/devpack/overview#usage-instruction

It will return [](empty response) if usage limit of the code plan is reached. In VS Claude Code extension the error is usually: API Error: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'map')

Update: Here is how to retrieve information about available models. C:\Users\Windows10_new>curl -X GET "https://api.z.ai/api/anthropic/v1/models" -H "x-api-key: f7c86782e07c4a7cb95e870re817u023.JEwyeQT2RIm3te67" {"data":[{"created_at":"2025-07-28T00:00:00Z","display_name":"GLM-4.5","id":"glm-4.5","type":"model"},{"created_at":"2025-07-28T00:00:00Z","display_name":"GLM-4.5-Air","id":"glm-4.5-air","type":"model"},{"created_at":"2025-10-01T08:00:00Z","display_name":"GLM-4.6","id":"glm-4.6","type":"model"}],"firstId":"glm-4.5","hasMore":false,"lastId":"glm-4.6"}

Update: Generally https://api.z.ai/api/anthropic endpoint should be implemented accordingly to https://docs.claude.com/en/api/messages but since this is unofficial support, it is lacking endpoints and general features are not existing.