Claude-Swarm consuming Credits

[SundayPowerEndre]

I guess this more of a question than an issue. Is it implemented such that this is expected to consume credits when using the multiple instance members, or is there a way to use the Claude subscription for the API calls done by the connections?

I could not find anything on it in the docs, and am not that proficient in Ruby 😅

I have ended up using it like this to get the instances to work

$ ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-xxxx claude-swarm

[parruda]

It calls claude in background for the main instance and the other instances, so however you have it setup, it will work with it.

And yes, passing ANTHROPIC_API_KEY will make it use that API key.

Can you paste the error message you are seeing?

[SundayPowerEndre]

Thank you so much for the reply 🙏🏽

So when i call

claude-swarm
$ /logout
$ /login
Select login method:

 ❯ 1. Claude account with subscription
    Starting at $20/mo for Pro, $100/mo for Max - Best value, predictable pricing

$ {MY_PROMPT}

I get something i believe is an API response in the session log, see attached file for full log dump.

---
Credit balance is too low
---

session.log

[parruda]

When you /login, it logs in to your subscription right? If it is saying the credits are too low, that must be a limitation of your account?

When I use it, I use API credits directly - I have ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL setup to a proxy we use at work.

Have you tried pointing that env var to the Anthropic API?

[SundayPowerEndre]

I am logged into my subscription now, but i thought with the Max x100 subscription, that claude-swarm should work the exactly same as using regular claude code. I have no limitations on my account when using the regular claude code.

It is only when using the connections that i get the the "Credit balance is too low" message, so that was why i was wondering if you always consume credits when calling the API, instead of using the subscription quota.

It made no difference, i called the service like this now :

$ ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.anthropic.com claude-swarm 

[parruda]

I am puzzled. Claude Swarm just calls claude anyways, so there's no reason for it to behave differently.
Unless being logged in with a claude subscription sets some env var that swarm is somehow now passing along to the other instances?

[SundayPowerEndre]

If claude swarm is just calling the claude code cli, I guess that there being something with the env that is the main cause of this.

I am assuming that if this is the case for me it is also the case for the other subscription users.

Do you have any suggestions or ideas on how i could debug this?

[parruda]

Hey, just doing some housekeeping - is this still a problem?

[SundayPowerEndre]

Hi,

No I was never able to get any progress here. The regular Claude Code CLI consumed my subscription quota, while the claude-swarm CLI ended up using my credits.

It seems like this is an uncommon problem, but I have only followed the guides from this repo, so I am very uncertain about the root cause of this behaviour.