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CVM - Claude Code Version Manager

Manage multiple versions of Claude Code with ease. Install, switch, and patch — like nvm for Claude Code.

Why CVM?

Claude Code releases frequently — sometimes multiple times a day. You might need to:

• Pin a known-good version while a new release is validated
• Test across versions to verify behavior changes
• Patch the CLI to route API traffic through a reverse proxy (for restricted network environments)

CVM makes all of this a single command.

Uninstall Official Claude Code First

CVM manages its own claude binary via shim. To avoid conflicts, you must uninstall the official Claude Code before using CVM.

npm (global install)

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

macOS (Homebrew)

brew uninstall claude-code

Linux (native binary / standalone install)

# If installed via the official install script
rm -f /usr/local/bin/claude

# If installed to ~/.local/bin
rm -f ~/.local/bin/claude

If you're unsure where claude is installed:

which claude

After uninstalling, verify that claude is no longer available:

which claude  # should return nothing or "not found"

Quick Start

# Install CVM
npm install -g @wei-shaw/cvm

# Initialize
cvm setup

# Add to your shell profile (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc)
export PATH="$HOME/.cvm/bin:$PATH"

# Install and use Claude Code
cvm install latest
cvm use latest
claude --version

Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18.0.0
• npm (comes with Node.js)

From npm (recommended)

npm install -g @wei-shaw/cvm

From Source

git clone https://github.com/Wei-Shaw/cvm.git && cd cvm
pnpm install
pnpm build
npm link        # makes `cvm` available globally

Verify

cvm --version
cvm setup

After running setup, add the PATH line it prints to your shell profile and restart your shell (or source ~/.bashrc).

Commands

cvm setup

Initialize the CVM directory structure and install the claude shim.

cvm setup

Creates ~/.cvm/ with the required directory layout and generates platform-specific shim scripts that intercept the claude command.

---

cvm install <version>

Install a Claude Code version.

cvm install latest          # latest release
cvm install stable          # stable release
cvm install 2.1.87          # exact version
cvm install 2.1.87 --force  # reinstall even if exists

The first version installed is automatically activated. Each version is isolated in its own directory under ~/.cvm/versions/.

---

cvm uninstall <version>

Remove an installed version.

cvm uninstall 2.1.81
cvm uninstall 2.1.81 --force  # remove even if active or patched

---

cvm use <version>

Switch the active Claude Code version.

cvm use 2.1.87

This updates the ~/.cvm/active symlink and regenerates the claude shim with the correct entry point for that version.

---

cvm current

Print the active version. Useful in scripts.

$ cvm current
2.1.87

---

cvm list

List installed versions. The active version is marked with *.

$ cvm list
 * 2.1.81
   2.1.87 [patched]

List available versions from the npm registry:

$ cvm list --remote
$ cvm list --remote --last 50   # show last 50 versions (default: 20)

---

cvm patch proxy <url>

Replace all Anthropic API domains in the active version's CLI bundle with a custom proxy URL. This is the core feature for environments that cannot reach Anthropic's API directly.

cvm patch proxy https://your-proxy.example.com

What gets replaced:

Original Domain	Description
https://api.anthropic.com	Main API endpoint
https://api-staging.anthropic.com	Staging API endpoint
https://platform.claude.com	OAuth / platform endpoint
https://mcp-proxy.anthropic.com	MCP proxy endpoint

Additionally, an internal domain validation check is bypassed so the SDK treats the proxy URL as a first-party endpoint.

Options:

cvm patch proxy <url> -V 2.1.81    # patch a specific version (default: active)

Key behaviors:

• Idempotent — re-running always patches from the original backup, so you can change the URL freely
• Safe — a .bak file is created before the first patch; the original is never lost
• Version-specific — patches are tracked per version; switching versions does not carry patches over

---

cvm patch revert

Restore the original, unpatched CLI.

cvm patch revert
cvm patch revert -V 2.1.81

---

cvm patch status

Check patch state and verify effectiveness.

$ cvm patch status
v2.1.81: patched → https://your-proxy.example.com (2026-03-31T06:44:48.141Z)

  Remaining original domains:
    api-staging.anthropic.com        0 (clean)
    api.anthropic.com                0 (clean)
    platform.claude.com              0 (clean)
    mcp-proxy.anthropic.com          0 (clean)

How It Works

Directory Layout

~/.cvm/
├── versions/                  # isolated version installs
│   ├── 2.1.81/
│   │   └── node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/
│   └── 2.1.87/
│       └── node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/
├── active → versions/2.1.87/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code
├── bin/
│   ├── claude                 # bash shim (Linux/macOS)
│   ├── claude.cmd             # CMD shim (Windows)
│   └── claude.ps1             # PowerShell shim (Windows)
└── config.json

Shim Mechanism

When you run claude, the shim script in ~/.cvm/bin/ resolves the active symlink and executes node <active-version>/cli.js with all arguments forwarded. This adds zero overhead — no config parsing or version resolution at runtime.

The entry point (cli.js vs start.js) is read from each version's package.json at cvm use time and baked into the shim, so it adapts to structural changes across Claude Code versions.

Reverse Proxy Strategy

In certain restricted network environments (e.g., corporate firewalls, regional network policies), direct access to Anthropic's API endpoints may be unavailable. The proxy patching feature provides a reverse proxy strategy to address this — it redirects API traffic through a user-controlled reverse proxy server so that Claude Code can function normally under these constraints.

The patch works by performing literal string replacement on the bundled CLI file (cli.js, ~7 MB), swapping hardcoded Anthropic domain strings with your reverse proxy URL. This approach is:

• Version-stable — URL strings don't change with minification; they're the same across all versions
• Non-destructive — the original file is backed up before any modification and can be restored at any time via cvm patch revert
• Idempotent — patches are always applied from the pristine backup, never stacked

Platform Support

Platform	Status	Notes
Linux	Fully supported	Bash shim, symlinks
macOS	Fully supported	Bash shim, symlinks
Windows	Supported	CMD + PowerShell shims, NTFS junctions (no admin required)
WSL/WSL2	Fully supported	Treated as Linux

Configuration

CVM respects the following environment variable:

Variable	Default	Description
CVM_DIR	~/.cvm	Override the CVM home directory

Registry

CVM auto-detects your npm registry from npm config get registry. To override:

# In ~/.cvm/config.json
{
  "registry": "https://registry.npmmirror.com"
}

Development

git clone https://github.com/Wei-Shaw/cvm.git && cd cvm
pnpm install
pnpm build          # one-time build
pnpm dev            # watch mode

Project Structure

src/
├── bin.ts           # entry point
├── cli.ts           # command definitions (commander)
├── types.ts         # shared interfaces
├── util.ts          # spawn, semver, colors, spinner
└── core/
    ├── config.ts    # config.json read/write
    ├── paths.ts     # directory constants
    ├── patcher.ts   # proxy patch engine
    ├── registry.ts  # npm registry client
    ├── shim.ts      # cross-platform shim generation
    └── versions.ts  # install/uninstall/switch logic

Design principles:

• Single runtime dependency (commander)
• 20 KB compiled output
• Cross-platform from day one (POSIX + Windows)
• No abstractions beyond what the feature set requires

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue first to discuss what you'd like to change.

License

MIT