How do I use MiniMax M3 in Claude Code?
Set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL to https://api.stdcmpt.com, a Standard Compute key in ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN, and minimax/minimax-m3 in ANTHROPIC_MODEL and the other model slots: Claude Code then runs on MiniMax M3 with no MiniMax account, on a plan from $19 a month that returns HTTP 402 to new requests once its compute budget is used.
# Every Claude Code request on MiniMax M3
# No /v1 here: Claude Code adds /v1/messages itself.
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.stdcmpt.com
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=YOUR_API_KEY
export ANTHROPIC_MODEL=minimax/minimax-m3
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL=minimax/minimax-m3
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL=minimax/minimax-m3
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL=minimax/minimax-m3
export CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_MODEL=minimax/minimax-m3
claude
Replace YOUR_API_KEY with a key from the dashboard. M3 is cheap enough to cover the background slot too.
Two limits to know before you start
| Limit | What you see | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| M3 is text-only here | A pasted screenshot fails that turn with HTTP 400 | Use /model with a vision model, such as z-ai/glm-5.3-flash, for that turn |
| Thinking always runs | Every reply reasons first; no setting turns it off | Nothing; the cost tables include it |
Some listings advertise image input for M3. When we probed it in August 2026, it ignored images or described something else on every provider we reached, so it is served as text-only.
What a day of MiniMax M3 costs
At $0.30 input and $1.20 output per million tokens, M3 is cheap enough to take every slot, background calls included.
| Per day | MiniMax API list price |
|---|---|
| Typical day | $0.82 |
| Busy day | $8.37 |
| 20 typical days | $16 |
| Typical days in the $20 Starter budget | 24 |
MiniMax pay-as-you-go standard tier per million tokens, prompts up to 512K: $0.30 input, $0.06 cache read, $1.20 output, shown by MiniMax as a permanent 50% discount. Source. A typical day is 8.5M tokens and a busy one 86.7M, 87.2% of input as cache reads: the median and 90th-percentile coding-agent day in our Agent Burn Index, measured on OpenCode, Cline, Kilo and similar agents, September 13 to October 12, 2026. Priced at the list rates above; your own days will differ.
What else works
- Tools and MCP servers work; MiniMax describes M3 as built for tool use.
- The WebSearch tool is not available on this endpoint.
- Claude Code assumes a 200K window for this ID; set
CLAUDE_CODE_MAX_CONTEXT_TOKENSto keep more before compacting.
The catch
At MiniMax's own rates, an M3-only month rarely needs a plan. MiniMax runs an Anthropic endpoint at https://api.minimax.io/anthropic; its Claude Code guide uses a plan key and the newer M3.1 Flash Preview, which is not served here. Choose Standard Compute when M3 shares the month with stronger models for the hard steps.
Where Standard Compute fits
M3 for volume and a frontier model one /model away, both on one key and one monthly bill.
FAQ
Is MiniMax M3.1 available here?
No. minimax/minimax-m3 is the MiniMax model served; GET https://api.stdcmpt.com/v1/models lists every ID.
Is MiniMax M3 good enough for Claude Code?
Routine edits, tool calls and boilerplate are the work it is priced for. For hard multi-file reasoning, switch to a frontier model with /model for that step.