claude-tap

claude-tap is a local proxy and trace viewer for AI coding agents. Run your CLI through it, then inspect the real API traffic: system prompts, conversation history, tool schemas, tool calls, streaming responses, token usage, and request diffs.

It works with Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, Kimi CLI, OpenCode, Pi, Hermes Agent, Cursor CLI, and Qoder CLI.

_{Open a real agent run, inspect every request, and compare how context changes between turns.}

_{Light viewer overview}

_{Dark mode for long review sessions}

_{Structured diff across adjacent requests}

Why use it

👀 See the exact context: inspect prompts, messages, tool definitions, tool calls, tool results, streaming chunks, and token usage.
🔎 Debug behavior with evidence: compare adjacent requests and pinpoint which prompt, message, tool, or parameter changed.
📦 Share one portable artifact: each run writes a JSONL trace and a self-contained HTML viewer for review or archiving.
🔒 Keep traces on your machine: no hosted dashboard is required, and common auth headers are redacted before recording.
🧩 Use one workflow across clients: trace Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, Kimi CLI, OpenCode, Pi, Hermes Agent, Cursor CLI, and Qoder CLI.

Supported Clients

Client	Typical use
Claude Code	Anthropic API or Claude-compatible gateways such as DeepSeek / GLM
Codex CLI	OpenAI API key mode or ChatGPT subscription OAuth
Gemini CLI	Google OAuth / Code Assist traffic
Kimi CLI	Kimi Code or Moonshot Open Platform
OpenCode	Multi-provider OpenCode sessions
Pi	Pi sessions, including OpenAI Codex OAuth providers
Hermes Agent	Multi-provider Hermes TUI or gateway sessions
Cursor CLI	Cursor Agent sessions plus readable local transcript import
Qoder CLI	Qoder Agent sessions through forward proxy mode

Install

Requires Python 3.11+ and the client you want to trace.

# Recommended
uv tool install claude-tap

# Or with pip
pip install claude-tap

Upgrade: claude-tap update, uv tool upgrade claude-tap, or pip install --upgrade claude-tap

Quick Start

Run the client you want to inspect through claude-tap. Flags after -- are passed to the selected client.

# Claude Code
claude-tap

# Claude Code with live browser viewer
claude-tap --tap-live

# Codex CLI
claude-tap --tap-client codex

# Gemini CLI
claude-tap --tap-client gemini -- -p "hello"

# Kimi CLI
claude-tap --tap-client kimi

# Pi
claude-tap --tap-client pi -- --model openai-codex/gpt-5.3-codex-spark -p "hello"

# Cursor CLI
claude-tap --tap-client cursor -- -p --trust --model auto "hello"

# Qoder CLI
claude-tap --tap-client qoder -- -p "hello" --permission-mode dont_ask

Claude Code examples

# Pass flags through to Claude Code
claude-tap -- --model claude-opus-4-6
claude-tap -c    # continue last conversation

# Skip all permission prompts (auto-accept tool calls)
claude-tap -- --dangerously-skip-permissions

# Live viewer + skip permissions + specific model
claude-tap --tap-live -- --dangerously-skip-permissions --model claude-sonnet-4-6

claude-tap auto-detects custom Claude Code upstreams from ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL in your environment or Claude settings. Use --tap-target only when you want to override that detected target.

Claude Code with DeepSeek API

Full English guide: Claude Code with DeepSeek API. Simplified Chinese version: Claude Code 搭配 DeepSeek API.

export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="<your DeepSeek API key>"
unset ANTHROPIC_API_KEY

export ANTHROPIC_MODEL="deepseek-v4-pro[1m]"
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL="deepseek-v4-pro[1m]"
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL="deepseek-v4-pro[1m]"
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL="deepseek-v4-flash"
export CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_MODEL="deepseek-v4-flash"
export CLAUDE_CODE_EFFORT_LEVEL=max
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.deepseek.com/anthropic

claude-tap -- --permission-mode bypassPermissions

claude-tap reads the DeepSeek upstream from ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL, then launches Claude Code against the local proxy. Use --tap-target https://api.deepseek.com/anthropic only as a manual override.

Codex CLI auth modes and examples

Codex CLI supports two authentication modes with different upstream targets:

Auth Mode	How to authenticate	Upstream target	Notes
OAuth (ChatGPT subscription)	`codex login`	`https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/codex`	Default for ChatGPT Plus/Pro/Team users
API Key	Set `OPENAI_API_KEY`	`https://api.openai.com` (default)	Pay-per-use via OpenAI Platform

claude-tap auto-detects the Codex target from your auth state when possible.

# OAuth users (ChatGPT Plus/Pro/Team) — auto-detected after `codex login`
claude-tap --tap-client codex

# If auto-detection cannot read your Codex auth file, specify the target explicitly
claude-tap --tap-client codex --tap-target https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/codex

# API Key users — default OpenAI API target works out of the box
claude-tap --tap-client codex

# With specific model
claude-tap --tap-client codex -- --model codex-mini-latest

# Full auto-approval (skip all permission prompts)
claude-tap --tap-client codex -- --full-auto

# OAuth + full auto + live viewer
claude-tap --tap-client codex --tap-live -- --full-auto

Kimi CLI examples

Kimi CLI uses reverse proxy mode by default through KIMI_BASE_URL. Use your existing Kimi CLI auth/config; the default upstream target is the Kimi Code API.

claude-tap --tap-client kimi
claude-tap --tap-client kimi -- --thinking

# Use Moonshot Open Platform instead of Kimi Code
claude-tap --tap-client kimi --tap-target https://api.moonshot.ai/v1

Gemini CLI examples

Gemini CLI uses forward proxy mode by default. Google OAuth / Code Assist traffic goes to several Google endpoints, so forward proxy capture is the safest default. Reverse mode remains available for API-key or Vertex-style flows that honor GOOGLE_GEMINI_BASE_URL or GOOGLE_VERTEX_BASE_URL.

# Google OAuth / Code Assist
claude-tap --tap-client gemini -- -p "hello"

# Live viewer
claude-tap --tap-client gemini --tap-live -- -p "hello"

# Reverse mode for compatible API-key / Vertex flows
claude-tap --tap-client gemini --tap-proxy-mode reverse -- -p "hello"

OpenCode examples

OpenCode is a multi-provider terminal AI assistant. Because it can talk to many providers, claude-tap defaults to forward proxy mode for opencode: it injects HTTPS_PROXY plus the local CA into the child process so traffic to any provider is captured.

# Forward proxy mode — captures every provider opencode talks to (default)
claude-tap --tap-client opencode

# With live viewer
claude-tap --tap-client opencode --tap-live

# Reverse mode — only works when using Anthropic provider (single ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL)
claude-tap --tap-client opencode --tap-proxy-mode reverse

Pi examples

Pi is a multi-provider coding agent. claude-tap defaults to forward proxy mode for Pi because Pi can use subscription OAuth providers such as openai-codex and custom API-key providers from its model registry.

# OpenAI Codex OAuth via Pi's openai-codex provider
claude-tap --tap-client pi -- --model openai-codex/gpt-5.3-codex-spark -p "hello"

# With live viewer
claude-tap --tap-client pi --tap-live -- --model openai-codex/gpt-5.3-codex-spark -p "hello"

# Read-only tool capture
claude-tap --tap-client pi -- --model openai-codex/gpt-5.3-codex-spark --tools bash -p "Run pwd"

Pi stores OAuth credentials in ~/.pi/agent/auth.json after /login. If you keep Pi credentials in another directory, set PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR before launching claude-tap.

Hermes Agent examples

Hermes Agent is a multi-provider Python AI agent (Nous Portal, OpenRouter, NVIDIA NIM, Xiaomi MiMo, GLM, Kimi, MiniMax, Hugging Face, OpenAI, Anthropic, custom). Because it can talk to any of these providers — and httpx / requests both honor HTTPS_PROXY natively — claude-tap defaults to forward proxy mode for hermes: it injects HTTPS_PROXY plus the local CA into the child process so any provider is captured.

# Interactive TUI — the recommended way for local trace capture.
claude-tap --tap-client hermes --tap-live

# Gateway mode — captures LLM calls triggered by incoming platform messages (Slack, Telegram, etc.).
# Requires a messaging platform configured in ~/.hermes/.env.
# claude-tap auto-rewrites `gateway start` → `gateway run` so the gateway runs in the
# foreground and inherits HTTPS_PROXY; without this, the daemon spawned by systemd/launchd
# would not go through the proxy and no traces would be recorded.
claude-tap --tap-client hermes -- gateway start

# Reverse mode is opt-in and only useful when ~/.hermes is configured with an
# OpenAI-compatible provider that reads OPENAI_BASE_URL.
claude-tap --tap-client hermes --tap-proxy-mode reverse

Note: Gateway mode only produces traces when a configured messaging platform (Slack, Telegram, etc.) delivers a message to the bot. Without an active platform integration, the gateway makes no LLM calls and no traces are recorded.

Cursor CLI examples

Cursor CLI uses forward proxy mode by default. Use --model auto on free plans, and omit --mode ask when you want tool calls.

claude-tap --tap-client cursor -- -p --trust --model auto "hello"
claude-tap --tap-client cursor -- -p --trust --model auto --continue "continue"

Guides and Integrations

OpenClaw setup guide for integrating claude-tap with OpenClaw. Simplified Chinese version: OpenClaw 设置指南.
Claude Code with DeepSeek API for routing Claude Code through DeepSeek's Anthropic-compatible API. Simplified Chinese version: Claude Code 搭配 DeepSeek API.
Client support matrix for exact environment variables, proxy modes, and URL rewrite rules.

Qoder CLI examples

Qoder CLI talks to multiple Qoder endpoints, so claude-tap defaults to forward proxy mode for --tap-client qoder.

# Browser login, PAT, or job token must be configured before launch.
qodercli login

claude-tap --tap-client qoder -- -p "hello" --permission-mode dont_ask

Viewer, export, and advanced options

# Live viewer while a client runs
claude-tap --tap-live

# Browse saved traces without launching a client
claude-tap dashboard

# Regenerate a self-contained HTML viewer from JSONL
claude-tap export .traces/2026-02-28/trace_141557.jsonl -o trace.html

# Store traces in another directory, or keep fewer sessions
claude-tap --tap-output-dir ./my-traces
claude-tap --tap-max-traces 10

# Start only the proxy for custom setups
claude-tap --tap-no-launch --tap-port 8080

# Disable auto-open of the generated viewer after exit
claude-tap --tap-no-open

In proxy-only mode, start your client in another terminal and point its base URL or proxy settings at the local proxy. Use the client support matrix for exact wiring.

CLI Options

All flags are forwarded to the selected client, except these --tap-* ones:

--tap-client CLIENT      Client to launch: claude (default), codex, gemini, kimi, opencode, pi, hermes, cursor, or qoder
--tap-target URL         Upstream API URL (default: auto per client)
--tap-live               Start real-time viewer (auto-opens browser)
--tap-live-port PORT     Port for live viewer server (default: auto)
--tap-no-open            Don't auto-open HTML viewer after exit (on by default)
--tap-output-dir DIR     Trace output directory (default: ./.traces)
--tap-port PORT          Proxy port (default: auto)
--tap-host HOST          Bind address (default: 127.0.0.1, or 0.0.0.0 in --tap-no-launch mode)
--tap-no-launch          Only start the proxy, don't launch client
--tap-max-traces N       Max trace sessions to keep (default: 50, 0 = unlimited)
--tap-no-update-check    Disable PyPI update check on startup
--tap-no-auto-update     Check for updates but don't auto-download
--tap-proxy-mode MODE    Proxy mode: reverse or forward (default: reverse for claude/codex/kimi, forward for gemini/opencode/pi/hermes/cursor/qoder)

Viewer Features

Trace viewer capabilities

The viewer is a single self-contained HTML file (zero external dependencies):

Structural diff — compare consecutive requests to see exactly what changed: new/removed messages, system prompt diffs, character-level inline highlighting
Path filtering — filter by API endpoint (e.g., /v1/messages only)
Model grouping — sidebar groups requests by model, with Claude-family priority ordering
Token usage breakdown — input / output / cache read / cache creation
Tool inspector — expandable cards with tool name, description, and parameter schema
Search — full-text search across messages, tools, prompts, and responses
Dark mode — toggle light/dark themes (respects system preference)
Keyboard navigation — j/k or arrow keys
Copy helpers — one-click copy of request JSON or cURL command
i18n — English, 简体中文, 日本語, 한국어, Français, العربية, Deutsch, Русский

Architecture

How it works

How it works:

claude-tap starts a reverse or forward proxy and spawns the selected client
Base URL clients are pointed at the reverse proxy; clients without base URL support use proxy/CA environment variables
SSE and WebSocket streams are forwarded as chunks/messages arrive with low proxy overhead
Each request-response pair or WebSocket session is recorded to a dated trace_*.jsonl
On exit, a self-contained HTML viewer is generated
Live mode (optional) broadcasts updates to browser via SSE

Key features: 🔒 Common auth headers auto-redacted · ⚡ Low-overhead streaming · 📦 Self-contained viewer · 🔄 Real-time live mode

Community

Star History

Contributors

Thanks goes to these contributors:

_liaohch3 💻 📖 🚧 ⚠️	_BKK 💻	_{YoungCan-Wang} 💻	_0xkrypton 💻	_CYJiang 💻	_陈展鹏 📖	_devtalker 💻
_{Yaguang Ding} 💻	_Sephy 💻

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 221 Commits
.agents		.agents
.claude		.claude
.githooks		.githooks
.github		.github
claude_tap		claude_tap
docs		docs
scripts		scripts
tests		tests
.all-contributorsrc		.all-contributorsrc
.gitignore		.gitignore
.pre-commit-config.yaml		.pre-commit-config.yaml
.python-version		.python-version
AGENTS.md		AGENTS.md
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md		CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
README_zh.md		README_zh.md
SECURITY.md		SECURITY.md
pyproject.toml		pyproject.toml
uv.lock		uv.lock

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

Repository files navigation

claude-tap

Why use it

Supported Clients

Install

Quick Start

Guides and Integrations

CLI Options

Viewer Features

Trace viewer capabilities

Architecture

Community

Star History

Contributors

Contributing

License

About

Uh oh!

Releases 54

Packages

Uh oh!

Contributors

Uh oh!

Languages

Folders and files

Latest commit

History

Repository files navigation

claude-tap

Why use it

Supported Clients

Install

Quick Start

Guides and Integrations

CLI Options

Viewer Features

Trace viewer capabilities

Architecture

Community

Star History

Contributors

Contributing

License

About

Topics

Resources

License

Code of conduct

Contributing

Security policy

Uh oh!

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases 54

Packages 0

Uh oh!

Contributors

Uh oh!

Languages

Packages