Claude Code

Claude Code is GROOVE's primary and default provider. It ships with the richest integration -- hot-swap model switching, headless mode for the Journalist and PM, and stream-json output parsing.

Installation

npm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Verify it's available:

claude --version

Authentication

Claude Code authenticates through your Anthropic subscription. No API key is needed in GROOVE -- each claude process manages its own OAuth session directly with Anthropic.

No key required

When you select Claude Code as a provider in the GUI, there is no API key field. Just make sure you've logged into claude at least once in your terminal.

Models

Model	Tier	Context Window	Best For
claude-opus-4-6	Heavy	1M tokens	Complex architecture, large refactors, multi-file reasoning
claude-sonnet-4-6	Medium	200K tokens	General development, feature work, code review
claude-haiku-4-5	Light	200K tokens	Quick fixes, linting, simple tasks

GROOVE's adaptive router selects the appropriate model based on task complexity when routing is set to Auto mode. You can also lock an agent to a specific model at spawn time.

GROOVE Integration

When GROOVE spawns a Claude Code agent, it runs:

claude --output-format stream-json --verbose --dangerously-skip-permissions

• --output-format stream-json -- enables structured output parsing for token tracking and status monitoring
• --verbose -- surfaces internal reasoning for the Journalist's synthesis engine
• --dangerously-skip-permissions -- allows the agent to operate in Full Send mode without manual approval prompts

Hot-Swap

Claude Code supports live model switching. You can change an agent's model from the Agent Detail panel without killing the session -- useful for escalating a Haiku agent to Sonnet when a task turns out to be more complex than expected.

Headless Mode

GROOVE uses Claude Code's headless mode (claude -p) for background operations:

• Journalist -- synthesizes agent activity into GROOVE_PROJECT_MAP.md and GROOVE_DECISIONS.md
• PM / Supervisor -- reviews risky changes and generates approval summaries

These headless calls use your Anthropic API key (set via groove set-key claude <key> or the GUI) and do not consume your interactive subscription quota.