test-claude-locally

# Testing the router locally > For an **automated** pre-merge regression net (fixture-driven, asserts caching/streaming/decision-headers against real Anthropic), run `make smoke` — see [docs/SMOKE.md](../../../docs/SMOKE.md). This skill is the interactive counterpart: stand the stack up by hand and drive it with `claude -p` to reproduce or verify a one-off bug. Stand up the router in docker compose, point a one-off `claude -p` session at it via `--settings`, and read the local server logs to confirm behavior. Two upstream modes: the **real** provider API (needs a working key + credits) or a **mock** upstream that emits an exact SSE shape (deterministic, no credits). ## Critical gotchas (read first) - **`~/.claude/settings.json` `env` overrides inherited env vars.** Setting `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL` in the shell does NOT redirect `claude` — settings.json wins and the request silently goes to prod. Always redirect with `claude --settings <file>` (see `scripts/local-settings.json`). Never edit the user's global `~/.claude.json` or `~/.claude/settings.json` — that breaks their live session. - **`claude -p` is stateless across invocations.** A standalone `/force-model` call does not persist to the next `claude -p`. Put `/force-model <model>` as the first line of the SAME prompt that contains the task. - **The router ignores the request's `model` field** and routes via the cluster scorer. The ONLY way to pin a specific model is `/force-model` through a Claude Code session (raw curl ...