Deploying Claude Code¶

Claude Code is Anthropic's agentic coding tool. The claude-code runtime is bundled with Language Operator and installed automatically with the Helm chart. It exposes a WebSocket terminal via ttyd, so you can connect directly to Claude Code's interactive CLI from any browser or WebSocket client.

Prerequisites¶

Language Operator installed
An Anthropic API key (get one here)

Instructions¶

Get an API Key¶

Go to console.anthropic.com/settings/keys
Click Create Key, give it a name, and copy the key (sk-ant-...)

Claude Code makes direct API calls to Anthropic, so you need an API key with access to the model you want to use (e.g. claude-sonnet-4-6).

Create a Cluster¶

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: langop.io/v1alpha1
kind: LanguageCluster
metadata:
  name: demo-cluster
spec:
  domain: demo-cluster.<your-domain>
EOF

kubectl wait languagecluster/demo-cluster --for=condition=Ready --timeout=60s
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=demo-cluster

Store Your API Key¶

kubectl create secret generic anthropic-credentials \
  --from-literal=api-key=sk-ant-your-key-here

Deploy Claude Code¶

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: langop.io/v1alpha1
kind: LanguageAgent
metadata:
  name: code-agent
spec:
  runtime: claude-code
  instructions: |
    You are an expert software engineer. Help with code review,
    debugging, and implementation tasks.
  claudeCode:
    apiKeyRef:
      name: anthropic-credentials
EOF

The apiKeyRef tells the operator to read the api-key key from your secret and inject it as ANTHROPIC_API_KEY into the pod — traffic goes straight to Anthropic, bypassing the shared gateway.

Verify¶

kubectl get languageagents
kubectl get pods -w

Wait for the pod to reach Running and the LanguageAgent to show Ready=True.

Connect to the Terminal¶

The agent exposes a WebSocket terminal on port 8080. Port-forward to access it locally:

kubectl port-forward svc/code-agent 8080:8080

Then open http://localhost:8080 in your browser. You'll see Claude Code's interactive CLI running inside the pod.

Using the Shared Gateway Instead¶

Not currently supported. Claude Code 2.x sends Authorization: Bearer (OAuth format) when ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL is set. Anthropic's API rejects OAuth authentication, so routing through the LiteLLM gateway fails at the model-call level. Use claudeCode.apiKeyRef (or spec.deployment.env) to supply a real API key and let Claude Code call Anthropic directly.

Configuration Reference¶

Field	Description
`spec.claudeCode.apiKeyRef.name`	Secret name containing the API key. The operator reads the key specified by `apiKeyRef.key` (default `api-key`) and injects it as `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`. Recommended for direct Anthropic access.
`spec.claudeCode.apiKeyRef.key`	Key within the secret (default: `api-key`). Override if your secret uses a different key name.
`spec.claudeCode.apiKey`	Inline API key (stored in a managed Secret). Use `apiKeyRef` instead if the key is already in a Secret.
`spec.claudeCode.enabled`	Set automatically by the `claude-code` runtime. No need to set this manually.

What the Operator Created¶

Resource	Name	Purpose
Deployment	`code-agent`	Runs the Claude Code ttyd terminal container
Service	`code-agent`	ClusterIP on port 8080 (ttyd WebSocket terminal)
NetworkPolicy	`code-agent`	Allows inbound from other agents in this namespace. Add `spec.networkPolicies.egress` with `cidr: 0.0.0.0/0` on port 443 to reach `api.anthropic.com` and other public APIs.
PVC	`code-agent-workspace`	10Gi persistent workspace at `/workspace`
ConfigMap	`code-agent-agent`	Injected at `/etc/agent/config.yaml`