Claude Code Now Free: Complete Guide to Using Local and Cloud Models with Ollama

Claude Code's Free Access Expands Developer Ecosystem

The AI-powered coding assistant Claude Code has become freely available following Ollama platform's compatibility with Anthropic API. This significant development democratizes access to this tool, which operates in terminal environments and assists developers with routine tasks by understanding codebases.

Claude Code stands out with advanced features including complex code explanations, Git workflow management, and code execution. The tool excels in long text processing and complex logical inference, with the 3.7 Sonnet version's coding capabilities generating substantial interest within the developer community.

Ollama Integration Provides Local and Cloud Flexibility

Thanks to API compatibility provided by Ollama, users can now run Claude Code with both local models and cloud-based solutions. This flexibility offers significant advantages to developers with different needs and infrastructure requirements.

The everything-claude-code repository published on GitHub enables users to access battle-tested configurations from Anthropic hackathon winners. This repository contains comprehensive configuration collections including agents, skills, hooks, commands, rules, and MCPs.

Local Model Integration: Qwen2.5-Coder Experience

Users can run Claude Code with local models like Qwen2.5-Coder through Ollama to develop custom coding solutions. This approach is particularly preferred in corporate environments with data privacy and security concerns.

The skill pool published by Anthropic allows users to access sample skills already available in Claude.ai's paid plans. Developers who want to upload custom skills or use skills from this pool can follow the relevant usage instructions.

Installation and Usage Guide

To install Claude Code with Ollama, developers need to ensure they have the latest version of Ollama installed on their system. The integration process involves configuring the Anthropic API compatibility settings within Ollama's interface, after which Claude Code becomes accessible through terminal commands. The setup supports both CPU and GPU configurations, with optimized performance for various hardware setups. Users can switch between local and cloud models seamlessly depending on their project requirements and computational resources.

The tool's architecture supports multiple programming languages and frameworks, with particular strength in Python, JavaScript, and Go development environments. Real-time collaboration features and version control integration make Claude Code particularly valuable for team-based development projects where code consistency and quality assurance are priorities.