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Connect Claude Desktop to DIAL

In this tutorial you point the Claude desktop app at DIAL through its third-party inference setting and watch a DIAL-hosted model reply. The app's Chat, Cowork, and Code sessions speak the Anthropic Messages API, and DIAL exposes that API at /anthropic. You turn on Developer Mode, configure a gateway connection, add your DIAL deployments, and send a message. This tutorial is for developers who already have a DIAL host.

Prerequisites​

  • A DIAL host and API key. See Before you begin.
  • DIAL Core 0.46.0 or later, the release that adds the /anthropic endpoint. To check, POST to https://<YOUR_DIAL_HOST>/anthropic/v1/messages: a host with the endpoint returns 200, one without it returns 404.
  • The Claude desktop app. See Step 1.

What you'll build​

The Claude desktop app sending every turn through DIAL. By the end, you pick a DIAL deployment in the app and get a reply answered by your DIAL host, with DIAL's roles, quotas, and cost tracking applied.

Step 1: Install the Claude desktop app​

Download the installer for your platform from claude.com/download, run it, and launch the app. If the app is already installed, update it to the latest version first.

Step 2: Enable Developer Mode​

The third-party inference settings are behind Developer Mode. Where the menu is depends on your operating system:

  • macOS: the menu is in the system menu bar at the very top of the screen, not inside the app window. Click the Claude window first, so the menu bar shows Claude's menus, then select Help → Troubleshooting → Enable Developer Mode.
  • Windows: there is no menu bar at the top of the screen. Click the ☰ menu in the top-left corner of the app window, then select Help → Troubleshooting → Enable Developer Mode.

The app restarts to apply the change.

Verify:

After the restart, a Developer menu appears in the same place as Help: in the menu bar on macOS, or in the ☰ menu on Windows.

Step 3: Open the third-party inference settings​

In the same menu, select Developer → Configure Third-Party Inference…. The Configure third-party inference window opens.

Step 4: Configure the connection to DIAL​

Under Connection, choose Gateway, then fill in Gateway credentials:

SettingValue
Credential kindStatic API key
Gateway base URLhttps://<YOUR_DIAL_HOST>/anthropic
Gateway API key<DIAL_API_KEY>
Gateway auth schemex-api-key

Leave Custom inference headers empty. With the x-api-key scheme, the app sends your key in the x-api-key header, and DIAL authenticates on it.

Step 5: Add your DIAL models​

Under Models, add each deployment to the Model list. The first entry is the default. Use the exact DIAL deployment id for each: the app sends it to DIAL unchanged.

Model IDTier alias
anthropic.claude-opus-4-8opus
anthropic.claude-sonnet-4-6sonnet
anthropic.claude-haiku-4-5-20251001-v1:0haiku

Set a Tier alias on each entry so the app maps its Opus, Sonnet, and Haiku tiers to your deployments, and mark the first entry as Default for tier. Leave the 1M-context toggles off unless the deployment serves a 1M-token context window. Keep Model discovery off: when every entry is a full deployment id, the app doesn't need it.

Step 6: Save and test​

Select Test connection in the Gateway credentials section. A valid setup reports success. Then select Apply Changes, and relaunch the app when it asks.

Open a new conversation, pick a DIAL deployment, and send a message, for example "What model are you?"

Verify:

You get a reply answered by your DIAL deployment.

Good to know​

  • A separate mode. In third-party mode the app does not use your claude.ai account. Your claude.ai chats don't appear, new conversations are stored on your computer, and your Claude subscription isn't used: requests go through DIAL, under its quotas and cost tracking. You can switch back to standard Claude Desktop, where you sign in to claude.ai.
  • The Developer menu after Apply Changes. If you turned on Developer Mode before applying the configuration, the Developer menu is gone after the app relaunches. To change the settings, select Help → Troubleshooting → Enable Developer Mode again; from then on it stays on.
  • Missing menu or settings. If the Developer menu or the third-party inference settings don't appear, update the app to the latest version. On a device your organization manages, its configuration can also hide the Developer menu.
  • Exact deployment ids, all three tiers. The app routes small background tasks to the Haiku tier, so a missing or wrong Haiku deployment fails those turns. Haiku's full id is anthropic.claude-haiku-4-5-20251001-v1:0; a shortened form is rejected as an unknown deployment.
  • Model list. DIAL Core 0.48.0 and later also serve GET /anthropic/v1/models. This tutorial lists the deployments by hand, which works on every release with /anthropic and sets the tier mapping explicitly.
  • Capabilities follow the deployment. Tool calling and vision work only when the chosen DIAL deployment advertises those capabilities.

Further reading​