CLIBridge – OpenAI-Compatible API Gateway for Codex CLI & Claude Code

Use Codex or Claude Code through a familiar API

CLIBridge provides a simple HTTP gateway in front of the OpenAI Codex CLI or Anthropic Claude Code CLI.

Instead of building a separate integration for each CLI, your applications can connect through familiar OpenAI-style endpoints such as:

GET /v1/models

POST /v1/chat/completions

Simply configure your application with your CLIBridge Base URL, API token, and model.

Example:

Base URL: https://your-domain.com/v1
API Key: your CLIBridge token
Model: a model advertised by your CLIBridge server

 

Ideal for automation and custom software

CLIBridge is especially useful when you already use software that supports a custom OpenAI-compatible API URL.

Tested integration

• n8n – connect through the OpenAI Chat Model using a custom Base URL and Chat Completions mode.

Direct API integrations

• OpenAI Node.js SDK
• OpenAI Python SDK
• Custom Node.js / TypeScript applications
• Custom Python applications
• curl, REST clients and backend services

Integration guides are also provided for

• LibreChat
• Open WebUI
• Flowise
• Langflow
• Dify
• AnythingLLM

Some third-party applications send optional OpenAI parameters or require endpoints beyond Chat Completions, so advanced feature compatibility varies by application and version. The included guides clearly identify tested, recommended, and experimental integrations.

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Key features

• OpenAI-compatible Chat Completions API
• Model discovery through /v1/models
• Codex CLI backend
• Claude Code CLI backend
• Streaming responses using OpenAI-style SSE
• Image input support
• Docker-based self-hosted deployment
• Browser-based activation
• Browser-based CLI authentication workflow
• Health monitoring and diagnostics
• Request and token metrics
• Operational logs
• CLI version/update monitoring
• Configurable model fallback when switching backends
• Optional emergency OpenRouter failover
• Optional local Whisper transcription
• Persistent authentication and configuration through Docker volumes

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Local Whisper audio transcription

CLIBridge can also provide an OpenAI-compatible audio transcription endpoint:

POST /v1/audio/transcriptions

Transcription is performed locally inside the CLIBridge container using whisper.cpp.

Your audio is not sent to OpenAI, Anthropic, or another external transcription service.

Whisper availability depends on the CLIBridge plan purchased.

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One deployment, familiar connection settings

Applications normally need only three values:

Base URL
API token
Model

For example:

https://your-domain.com/v1

This makes CLIBridge convenient for labs, developers, automation servers, internal tools, AI workflows, and self-hosted applications that already understand the OpenAI Chat Completions format.

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Choose Codex or Claude

CLIBridge is available with Docker images for:

• Codex only
• Claude only
• Combined Codex + Claude image

The combined image contains both CLIs and lets you choose the active backend through configuration.

Only one CLI backend handles chat traffic at a time.

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Built for self-hosting

CLIBridge runs in Docker and can be deployed on:

• a local development computer
• a home lab server
• an office server
• a VPS
• an internal Docker host

For remote/public access, place CLIBridge behind HTTPS and protect the API token as you would any other API credential.

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Current API compatibility

CLIBridge focuses on the OpenAI Chat Completions API.

The current documented chat request fields include:

model
messages
stream
response_format

with supported image content parts.

CLIBridge does not currently claim full compatibility with every OpenAI API feature.

Features such as the following may not be available:

• OpenAI Responses API
• embeddings
• native OpenAI tool/function calling
• image generation
• text-to-speech
• every OpenAI sampling/token parameter

This is why compatibility with third-party OpenAI-compatible clients can vary depending on which API features that client requires.

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Requirements

You will need:

• Docker / Docker Compose
• a valid CLIBridge license/subscription
• an account that can authenticate the selected CLI backend
• a supported Codex/ChatGPT account for the Codex backend, or
• a supported Claude/Claude Code account for the Claude backend

CLIBridge does not include OpenAI or Anthropic API credits.

The connected provider’s own terms, usage limits, rate limits, and availability still apply.

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Great for

• n8n AI workflows
• internal AI APIs
• backend development
• Node.js and TypeScript applications
• Python applications
• AI experimentation
• self-hosted labs
• automation servers
• OpenAI-compatible client testing
• custom integrations

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Important note

CLIBridge is an independent product and is not an official OpenAI or Anthropic product.

OpenAI, ChatGPT, Codex, Anthropic, Claude, and Claude Code are product names or trademarks of their respective owners.