Magpie vs cc-switch

Both let you change which model Claude Code, Codex or Gemini CLI runs on. The difference is what happens after the config change: cc-switch points your agent straight at a provider, while magpie points it at a local gateway that translates the API. That one difference decides which providers each tool can actually reach.

The short version

cc-switch is a mature desktop switcher: presets, one-click switching, per-project snapshots, about ten agents, a large community and over a year of releases.
magpie is a switcher plus a gateway: it runs on 127.0.0.1:3425, speaks the OpenAI Chat Completions, OpenAI Responses and Anthropic Messages APIs, and translates between them — so an agent can use a provider that does not speak its native protocol. 29 agents, 26+ provider presets, plus a TUI and CLI.
If you only ever point Claude Code at Anthropic-compatible providers, cc-switch does the job and is more battle-tested. If you want Codex on DeepSeek, or Claude Code on a provider with only an OpenAI-style endpoint, that is what the gateway is for.

The difference that matters

cc-switchAgent → provider endpoint
It writes the endpoint URL and key into each tool's config, so the provider must speak that tool's protocol. There is an API Format setting to match it.

magpieAgent → magpie → provider
Every agent points at one local endpoint on 127.0.0.1:3425 and picks from one model catalog. magpie translates the request on the way out, streaming and tool calls included.

This is why the two diverge on provider coverage rather than on user interface: a switcher's reach is limited by each agent's own API support, a gateway's is limited only by the providers it can talk to.

Side by side

Feature	magpie	cc-switch
What it is	Menu bar app + local API gateway + TUI/CLI	Cross-platform desktop switcher
How switching works	Writes the agent's provider/model key, then serves requests through its gateway	Writes the endpoint and key into each tool's config file
API translation	Yes — OpenAI Chat Completions, OpenAI Responses, Anthropic Messages	No gateway; provider must match the agent's protocol (API Format setting)
Agents supported	29 (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Cursor CLI, Copilot CLI, Crush, Goose, Cline, Qoder, Kimi Code, Devin, Grok Build…)	Around ten tools (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, OpenClaw, Grok Build, Hermes Agent…)
Providers	26+ presets (DeepSeek, Kimi, GLM, Qwen, MiniMax, OpenRouter, Ollama, LM Studio…) + custom base URLs + plugins	Presets (Kimi, GLM, Claude, OpenRouter…) plus custom providers
Subscription reuse	Sign in to Claude Code, Codex/ChatGPT or Copilot and that login becomes a provider every agent can use; OpenCode plugins cover other plans	Codex OAuth reverse proxy (v3.13.0+) to use a ChatGPT account from Claude Code
Profiles / snapshots	Save a profile and switch every agent back in one move	Per-tool project and snapshot slots, with auto-save before each switch
Config safety	Single-key surgical edits; comments, ordering and indentation preserved; atomic writes	Writes the tool's own config file; pre-switch snapshot
Interface	Menu bar panel, normal window, `magpie tui`, plain CLI	Desktop GUI
Size	Under 15 MB desktop, ~7 MB terminal-only	Desktop app
Cost tracking	Effective price per provider/model + usage ledger per agent	Not documented
Maturity	Released September 2026 — very new	v3.20, in development since August 2025
License	MIT, free	Open source, free

Agent and provider lists from each project's public documentation; features are compared as of September 2026 and both projects ship often.

Which should you pick?

Pick cc-switch if…

You switch between Anthropic-compatible endpoints (official Claude, Kimi, GLM) and want a GUI
You want per-project snapshots so each repo keeps its own setup
You value a project with a year of releases and a large community
You read Chinese docs — its documentation is Chinese-first

Pick magpie if…

You want Codex on DeepSeek, or Claude Code on a provider with only an OpenAI-style API
You already pay for Claude or ChatGPT and want every agent to use those models
You live in the terminal and want the TUI or CLI
You want to see what each agent costs you, per model

How to set each one up

Whichever you choose, the steps are short. For magpie, the whole setup is one install and one provider:

# 1. install magpie
curl -fsSL https://usemagpie.ai/install.sh | sh

# 2. add a provider (a preset needs only its key)
magpie provider add deepseek sk-…

# 3. point Claude Code at it
magpie claude deepseek/deepseek-chat

Then pick models per agent from the menu bar, or open a specific model on an agent with magpie provider add / the Agents screen. Full walkthrough: install and setup guide.

Use Claude Code with KimiProvider setup, base URL and models
Use Codex with DeepSeekPreset key, model list, effort
magpie and Claude CodeWhat gets written into settings.json
All comparisonsEvery Magpie alternative, side by side

Can you run both?

You can install both, but not really use both at once: they edit the same files — ~/.claude/settings.json, ~/.codex/config.toml — so whichever app wrote last is the setting your agent uses. That is fine for trying them side by side; it is a bad idea as a permanent arrangement, because a switch in one tool silently overrides the other.

If you do want to keep cc-switch around for its per-project snapshots while magpie serves the gateway, decide which one owns the config file and let the other one stay closed.

Frequently asked

Is magpie a cc-switch alternative?

Partly. Both switch which model a coding agent uses, so they overlap on config switching. Magpie adds a local gateway on 127.0.0.1:3425 that translates between the OpenAI Chat Completions, OpenAI Responses and Anthropic Messages APIs, so an agent can use providers that do not speak its native protocol.

Which one supports more coding agents?

Magpie lists 29 agents, including Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Cursor CLI, Copilot CLI, Crush, Goose, Cline, Qoder, Kimi Code, Devin and Grok Build. CC Switch describes itself as one app for around ten tools. Only agents that are actually installed are shown by magpie, so the count you see depends on your machine.

Does cc-switch work with Kimi or GLM in Claude Code?

Yes for vendors that expose an Anthropic-compatible endpoint, which Kimi and GLM both do — CC Switch writes the endpoint and key into Claude Code's config. Magpie instead routes the request through its own gateway, which is what lets a provider with only an OpenAI-compatible API be used by Claude Code too.

Is magpie free like cc-switch?

Both are free and open source. Magpie is MIT licensed; CC Switch is also an open-source desktop app. Neither charges for switching models — you pay the model provider.

Can I use magpie and cc-switch at the same time?

They both write the same config files, so running both means two apps editing ~/.claude/settings.json and ~/.codex/config.toml. Pick one as the thing you switch models with; installing both to evaluate them one at a time is fine.

Keep reading

Install magpieDownload, first run, add your first provider
All providersEvery preset magpie ships with
All agentsConfig file and fields for each of the 29
TutorialsStep-by-step setups, in English and Chinese

Unofficial guide. usemagpie.co is a third-party guide to Magpie, an open-source project by yetone. Download builds from the official repository, and read cc-switch's own documentation at its project page. We are not affiliated with either project.