Run Kimi K3 With Claude Code on Windows or WSL

Kimi K3 is Moonshot AI’s current flagship model. It supports native vision, a 1-million-token context window, and long coding or reasoning sessions. Moonshot also provides an Anthropic-compatible endpoint, so Claude Code can connect without a translation proxy.

Install Claude Code and create a key#

Follow the current Claude Code Windows and WSL setup, then create a key in the Moonshot API platform.

Before changing providers, close existing Claude Code sessions. An older provider variable in the launching terminal can override the settings you add next.

Configure Kimi K3#

Open ~/.claude/settings.json in WSL or your user-level Claude settings file on Windows. Merge this env object with the settings already there:

{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.moonshot.ai/anthropic",
    "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "YOUR_MOONSHOT_API_KEY",
    "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "kimi-k3",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "kimi-k3",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "kimi-k3",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "kimi-k3"
  }
}

Verify the model#

Open a new terminal, enter a project, and start Claude Code:

cd /path/to/project
claude

Inside Claude Code, run:

/status
/model

The status should display Moonshot’s Anthropic endpoint, and the active model should be kimi-k3. Test one small repository task before allowing a broad edit.

Reasoning and multimodal input#

Moonshot exposes low, high, and max reasoning effort for K3. Use lower effort for routine requests and higher effort when a task needs deeper investigation. Claude Code or the provider integration may decide which controls are available in the interface.

K3 is natively multimodal, but client support still matters. If Claude Code or an extension strips an attached image before sending the request, the model cannot inspect it. Test a simple screenshot and verify that the response refers to visible details.

Troubleshooting#

An authentication error usually means the key is missing, malformed, or overridden by a shell variable. A model error usually means the old K2 ID is still present somewhere. Search the settings file and current environment for older kimi-k2 values.

If /status shows Anthropic rather than Moonshot, close Claude Code, open a clean terminal, and start it again. If a multi-turn session behaves strangely after changing models, begin a new session instead of switching to K3 midway through an existing conversation. Moonshot recommends preserving the complete assistant message in multi-turn API histories.

Kimi K3 replaces the old K2 Thinking setup as the current flagship path. Keep the exact model ID and endpoint together, and start a fresh session when moving an existing Claude Code configuration to K3.

For other clients, see Kimi K3 with OpenCode and Kimi with Codex CLI.