Claude Code with Smarter: Adding Anthropic and Getting Started

Northern Aurora Power & Light (NAPL) — Custom Programming Area

This tutorial covers two things in one place: how to register Anthropic as an LLM provider in Smarter, and how NAPL programmers get up and running with Claude Code as a virtual CoPilot pair-programming partner.

Part 1 — Adding Anthropic as an LLM Provider

Goal

Register Anthropic and its claude-sonnet-4-6 model in the Smarter platform so that Claude Code is available as a managed LLM resource for all NAPL developers.

Note

Anthropic is one of the officially supported “legacy” providers in Smarter and is stable. The steps below apply equally to any new third-party provider you may want to onboard in the future.

Prerequisites

The Smarter platform is installed and reachable (see the Smarter Installation Guide).
The Smarter CLI (smarter) is installed and configured. Verify with:
```
smarter version
smarter whoami
```
You hold a Smarter Account with provider-management permissions.
You have an Anthropic API key (sk-ant-…). Obtain one at console.anthropic.com.

Overview

Adding a provider involves three Smarter resources, applied in order:

Secret — stores your Anthropic API key securely.
Provider — registers Anthropic as an LLM provider and links it to the Secret.
ProviderModel — registers claude-sonnet-4-6 as the default model.

All resources are declared as YAML manifest files and applied with smarter apply.

Step 1 — Create the API Key Secret

Create a file named anthropic-secret.yaml:

apiVersion: smarter.sh/v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: anthropic-api-key
  description: Anthropic API key for Claude models
  version: 1.0.0
  tags:
    - anthropic
    - llm
spec:
  config:
    description: "Production Anthropic API key.  Keep this value private."
    value: sk-ant-YOUR_API_KEY_HERE   # replace with your real key

Apply it:

smarter apply -f anthropic-secret.yaml

Warning

Never commit a manifest that contains a real API key to version control. Use an environment variable or a secrets-management tool to substitute the value at apply time.

Step 2 — Create the Provider Manifest

Create a file named anthropic-provider.yaml:

apiVersion: smarter.sh/v1
kind: Provider
metadata:
  name: Anthropic
  description: >
    Anthropic PBC — AI safety company and maker of the Claude family of
    large language models.
  version: 1.0.0
  tags:
    - anthropic
    - claude
    - llm
spec:
  base_url: https://api.anthropic.com
  connectivity_test_path: /v1/models
  website_url: https://www.anthropic.com
  docs_url: https://docs.anthropic.com
  contact_email: support@anthropic.com
  support_email: support@anthropic.com
  terms_of_service_url: https://www.anthropic.com/legal/terms
  privacy_policy_url: https://www.anthropic.com/legal/privacy
  api_key: anthropic-api-key          # references the Secret created above

Apply it:

smarter apply -f anthropic-provider.yaml

After applying, Smarter runs automated verification checks (API connectivity, contact email, ToS URL, etc.). Confirm the provider is verified:

smarter describe provider Anthropic

Step 3 — Register the Claude Code Model

Create a file named anthropic-claude-code-model.yaml:

apiVersion: smarter.sh/v1
kind: ProviderModel
metadata:
  name: claude-sonnet-4-6
  description: >
    Claude Sonnet 4.6 — the model powering Claude Code.
    Optimised for agentic coding tasks, tool use, and long-context
    reasoning.
  version: 1.0.0
spec:
  provider: Anthropic
  is_default: true
  max_completion_tokens: 8096
  temperature: 1.0
  top_p: 1.0
  supports_text_input: true
  supports_text_generation: true
  supports_streaming: true
  supports_tools: true
  supports_summarization: true
  supports_translation: true
  supports_image_input: false
  supports_audio_input: false
  supports_embedding: false
  supports_fine_tuning: false
  supports_search: false
  supports_code_interpreter: true
  supports_image_generation: false
  supports_audio_generation: false

Apply it:

smarter apply -f anthropic-claude-code-model.yaml

Step 4 — Verify the Full Provider Setup

List all registered providers to confirm Anthropic appears:

smarter get providers

Inspect the Anthropic provider in detail:

smarter describe provider Anthropic -o yaml

List models registered under Anthropic:

smarter get providers Anthropic models

The describe command should return a status block showing:

status:
  is_active: true
  is_verified: true
  status: verified

Troubleshooting (Provider)

Symptom	Resolution
`status: failed` after apply	Check that `base_url` is reachable from your cluster and that the Secret value is a valid Anthropic API key (starts with `sk-ant-`).
`Secret not found` error	Apply `anthropic-secret.yaml` before `anthropic-provider.yaml`. The Provider manifest references the Secret by name.
`Unauthorized` from Anthropic API	The API key may be inactive. Rotate the key in the Anthropic console and update the Secret: `smarter apply -f anthropic-secret.yaml`.
Provider stuck at `status: verifying`	Verification runs asynchronously. Wait 60 seconds, then re-run `smarter describe provider Anthropic`. For persistent issues: `smarter logs provider Anthropic`.

Part 2 — Getting Started: Claude Code for NAPL Programmers

Goal

Use Claude Code with the NAPL Smarter platform to create an AI-assisted coding environment in which every developer has a virtual CoPilot pair-programming partner powered by Anthropic’s Claude family of models.

By the end of this section you will:

Connect your local development environment to the NAPL Smarter instance.
Verify that Anthropic / Claude Code is available as a provider.
Deploy a personal LLMClient and chat with Claude Code from the terminal.

Prerequisites

You are assumed to be comfortable with:

The Unix/Windows command line and basic shell scripting.
A code editor — VS Code is recommended; install the Smarter Manifest Extension for YAML syntax highlighting.
git basics (clone, commit, push).
REST APIs — knowing what a base URL and API key are is sufficient.

You do not need prior Kubernetes or cloud infrastructure experience. The infrastructure team has already deployed Smarter; your job is to connect to it.

Setup

Obtain your Smarter account credentials

Your manager or the Smarter platform administrator will provide:
- The NAPL Smarter API endpoint URL (e.g., https://smarter.napl.internal).
- Your personal Smarter API key (a long alphanumeric string).
Install the Smarter CLI

Follow the instructions at smarter.sh/cli for your operating system (Windows, macOS, or Linux).

Confirm the install:
```
smarter version
```
Configure the CLI
```
smarter configure
```
When prompted, enter:
- API key — your personal Smarter API key.
- Environment — prod (default; only change if told otherwise by IT).
This writes ~/.smarter/config.yaml. Verify it works:
```
smarter whoami
```
You should see your NAPL user name and account details.
Install Claude Code (optional local client)

Claude Code is Anthropic’s AI coding assistant CLI. Install it globally via npm:
```
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
```
Point it at your Smarter instance so requests route through the corporate platform instead of directly to Anthropic:
```
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://smarter.napl.internal/api/v1/anthropic
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=<your-smarter-api-key>
```
Add these exports to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc to make them permanent.

Concept Overview

Smarter is an enterprise-grade, on-premise LLM hosting and orchestration platform. Before using Claude Code you should understand four core ideas:

Smarter API Manifests (SAM)

All Smarter resources — providers, llm_clients, plugins, secrets — are declared as human-readable YAML manifest files (think Kubernetes manifests). You apply them with the CLI:

smarter apply -f my-manifest.yaml

The kind field selects the resource type: Secret, Provider, ProviderModel, LLMClient, Plugin, etc.

Providers and Models

A Provider represents a third-party LLM API (e.g., Anthropic). A ProviderModel is a specific model offered by that provider (e.g., claude-sonnet-4-6). Smarter stores the API credentials in a Secret resource so they are never hard-coded in application code.

The Smarter CLI

The CLI uses a verb-noun pattern identical to kubectl:

smarter [command] [resource] [name] [flags]

Key commands you will use daily:

smarter apply -f <file> — create or update a resource.
smarter get providers — list available LLM providers.
smarter describe provider Anthropic — inspect a provider.
smarter chat <llm_client-name> — start an interactive chat session.

Claude Code and Smarter

Claude Code is Anthropic’s terminal-native AI coding assistant. When integrated with Smarter it routes all LLM requests through the corporate Smarter instance. This means:

API key management is centralised — you use your Smarter key, not a personal Anthropic key.
Cost tracking is automatic — token consumption is billed against NAPL’s cost codes, not individual employee accounts.
Access control is enforced — the platform team can grant, revoke, or rate-limit access without touching individual workstations.

Step-by-Step

Step 1 — Verify Anthropic is Available

Confirm the IT team has already registered Anthropic as a provider:

smarter get providers

Expected output (abbreviated):

NAME         STATUS     VERIFIED
Anthropic    active     true
OpenAI       active     true

If Anthropic is missing or not verified, contact the platform team and reference Part 1 of this tutorial.

Step 2 — Inspect the Claude Code Model

smarter describe provider Anthropic -o yaml

Look for claude-sonnet-4-6 in the models list. Note the is_default flag — this is the model used unless you specify another.

Step 3 — Generate a LLMClient Manifest

Use the CLI to scaffold a LLMClient manifest pre-filled with defaults:

smarter manifest llm_client -o yaml > my-claude-llm_client.yaml

Open my-claude-llm_client.yaml in your editor and update the key fields:

apiVersion: smarter.sh/v1
kind: LLMClient
metadata:
  name: my-claude-llm_client
  description: Personal Claude Code llm_client for NAPL dev work
  version: 1.0.0
spec:
  provider: Anthropic
  model: claude-sonnet-4-6
  system_prompt: >
    You are an expert software engineer helping NAPL developers write
    clean, secure, and well-documented code.  Prefer Python and follow
    PEP 8.  Always explain what changed and why.

Step 4 — Apply and Deploy the LLMClient

smarter apply -f my-claude-llm_client.yaml
smarter deploy llm_client my-claude-llm_client

Confirm it was created:

smarter get llm_clients

Step 5 — Chat with Claude Code

Start an interactive terminal session:

smarter chat my-claude-llm_client

Type a prompt to test:

> Write a Python function that reads a CSV file and returns a list of dicts.

You should receive a complete, working code snippet from Claude.

For day-to-day coding, start Claude Code directly in your project directory (after setting the environment variables from Setup step 4):

cd ~/my-project
claude

Proof of Concept

A successful integration produces output like this when you run smarter chat my-claude-llm_client and send a test prompt:

You: Write a one-line Python function that returns True if a number is even.

Claude: is_even = lambda n: n % 2 == 0

You can also verify platform health with:

smarter status

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Resolution
`smarter whoami` returns `Unauthorized`	Re-run `smarter configure` and double-check your API key. Keys are case-sensitive.
`Provider Anthropic not found`	The provider has not been registered. Contact the platform admin and reference Part 1 of this tutorial.
`Model claude-sonnet-4-6 not found`	The model manifest may not have been applied. Ask the admin to run `smarter get providers Anthropic models`.
LLMClient applies but `smarter chat` hangs	Check your network route to the Smarter endpoint. Run `smarter status` to confirm platform health. VPN may be required if working remotely.
Claude Code CLI says `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL not set`	Add the export lines from Setup step 4 to your shell profile and restart the terminal, or run `source ~/.bashrc`.
Responses are slow or time out	This is normal under heavy platform load. Contact the platform team if latency exceeds 30 seconds consistently.

Claude Code with Smarter: Adding Anthropic and Getting Started

Part 1 — Adding Anthropic as an LLM Provider

Goal

Prerequisites

Overview

Step 1 — Create the API Key Secret

Step 2 — Create the Provider Manifest

Step 3 — Register the Claude Code Model

Step 4 — Verify the Full Provider Setup

Troubleshooting (Provider)

Part 2 — Getting Started: Claude Code for NAPL Programmers

Goal

Prerequisites

Setup

Concept Overview

Smarter API Manifests (SAM)

Providers and Models

The Smarter CLI

Claude Code and Smarter

Step-by-Step

Step 1 — Verify Anthropic is Available

Step 2 — Inspect the Claude Code Model

Step 3 — Generate a LLMClient Manifest

Step 4 — Apply and Deploy the LLMClient

Step 5 — Chat with Claude Code

Proof of Concept

Troubleshooting

See Also