Claude Code China Complete Guide

Can you use Claude in China? Anthropic's supported-regions list

As of 2026-10-15, Anthropic's Supported Regions Policy (effective 2026-05-12) lists the countries and regions where its products and services are offered, and mainland China is not on that list.

The Supported Regions Policy is published by Anthropic; the version cited above took effect on 2026-05-12, and where Anthropic's own products and services are offered is governed by the latest version of that page.

Claude Pro/Max/Ultra subscription or a QCode key?

QCode.cc is an independent API access service, not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic. Developers in China use a QCode cr_ key: point Claude Code's ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL at QCode, put the key in ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN, and top up with Alipay or WeChat Pay. QCode gives you claude-sonnet-5 through a single API with no separate Anthropic account to manage. The same key also calls other Claude models such as claude-opus-5-5 and claude-sonnet-5-5; /models lists every model you can call.

Claude Code can run in two ways: signed in with a Claude subscription, or connected to a gateway with an API credential. The official docs say that while a gateway credential variable is active, requests carry that credential in place of the claude.ai subscription login and the subscription's usage limits do not apply. If you set only ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL without a credential variable, the saved claude.ai login stays the active credential. That is why a QCode setup needs both ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN.

The QCode docs state that an Anthropic or OpenAI subscription cannot be used on QCode and is never drawn down by it; the two are parallel systems. QCode's own plans are prepaid: you top up first, then buy a plan that is paid from your balance. Usage is billed per token; per-model rates are listed on /models. Personal plans have no 4-hour window, and the daily limit resets at 00:00 Beijing time.

• Claude subscription (Pro / Max / Ultra): membership for Anthropic's own apps, billed monthly. On 2026-10-30 Anthropic renamed Max 5x to Max and Max 20x to Ultra; prices did not change.
• Official API key: a developer key from the Anthropic Console, billed per token and topped up on Anthropic's platform.
• QCode key (starts with cr_): one key for Claude, GPT and leading Chinese models, topped up with Alipay or WeChat Pay.

Paying from China: from top-up to your first key

The QCode dashboard lays out three steps: top up, buy a Personal Plan or a Pay-as-you-go Pack, start using it. In CNY you can pay with Alipay or WeChat Pay (no fee on either), CNY top-ups start at ¥30, Pay-as-you-go Packs start at $4, and the balance left after buying can be used to renew a pack or to buy a Personal Plan. In USD you can pay with Visa / Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay or crypto across many coins and networks. CNY and USD balances are kept separately, and each top-up goes to the balance in its own currency.

Once the balance arrives, open qcode.cc/subscribe and pick a recommended plan or a custom configuration; this step is paid from your balance, not charged to a card again. The confirmation page reads 'Subscription Activated — Your API Key is created and ready to use', and your cr_ key is ready to copy. If you are unsure which tier to buy, start small and upgrade any time without losing value: buy the higher plan, email hi@qcode.cc, and the unused time on the old plan is credited back to your QCode balance pro rata.

• Alipay and WeChat Pay: credited to your CNY balance.
• Cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay: the balance is credited as soon as payment completes.
• Crypto: 0% platform fee, manual review in about a day.
• Ran out of today's allowance: buy a booster pack in the dashboard; it resets separately at 02:00 Beijing time the next day.

Setup details for China: install, persistent config and common errors

Install: the official npm package needs Node.js 22 or later, and the QCode docs give a mirror for mainland networks: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code --registry=https://registry.npmmirror.com. You can also run the one-line setup script from the docs, curl -fsSL https://qcode.cc/install/claude-code.sh | bash (on Windows: irm https://qcode.cc/install/claude-code.ps1 | iex), which does the whole configuration in one command.

Persistence: the official docs recommend putting ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN in the env block of ~/.claude/settings.json so background sessions pick them up too; when a shell export and the settings file set the same variable, the settings file wins. Do not put the key in a project's .claude/settings.json, because that file is committed with the repository. Then run /status in Claude Code: if the Anthropic base URL line shows your QCode address and the Auth token line names ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN, the setup is active.

• 401: the key is invalid or was not passed correctly; check that the full cr_ prefix is there. A key starting with sk-ant- is an official Anthropic key, not a QCode key.
• 404: usually a wrong path prefix or an extra trailing slash. Set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL to https://asia.qcode.cc/api or https://api.qcode.cc/api, without /v1/messages.
• model_not_available_on_endpoint: a Claude model was sent to an OpenAI-protocol address; Claude models only work over the Anthropic protocol.
• Daily cost limit reached: the daily limit resets at 00:00 Beijing time, and a booster pack covers the rest of the day.
• ETIMEDOUT during install: switch to the mirror shown above.