Fixing CCR Code Service Startup Issues

Fixing CCR Code Service Startup Issues | Generated by AI

Home 2026.03

Question: Why does ccr code not work recently, showing “Service not running, starting service…” and then stopping?

Answer:

This is a known and common issue with Claude Code Router (CCR). Based on the GitHub issues, there are several root causes:

Root Causes

1. `claude` command not found in PATH (most common)

When ccr code tries to auto-start the service and launch Claude Code, it runs claude in a /bin/sh subprocess — which may not inherit your shell aliases or PATH. The error /bin/sh: claude: command not found appears because the claude command is set up as a shell alias (e.g., claude: aliased to /Users/.../.claude/local/claude) but /bin/sh doesn’t load shell aliases.

Fix: Run ccr start separately first in your terminal, then use ccr code. Or add the full Claude binary path to /etc/paths or your shell’s PATH in a way that /bin/sh can find it.

2. Service startup timeout

ccr code times out waiting for the background service to start and shows “Service startup timeout, please manually run ccr start.”

Fix: Run ccr start manually first, wait for it to confirm it’s running, then run ccr code.

3. `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL` not being set (routing failure)

The ccr code command starts the router service but fails to set the ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL environment variable before launching the Claude Code subprocess, causing Claude Code to connect directly to the Anthropic API instead of the configured CCR proxy.

Fix: Start and export manually:

ccr start
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="http://127.0.0.1:3456"
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="routing-key"
claude

Or use ccr activate:

eval "$(ccr activate)"
claude

4. Permission denied on the `claude` binary

On some systems (e.g., WSL2 on Windows), the error is /bin/sh: claude: Permission denied, meaning the claude binary exists but is not executable.

Fix:

chmod +x ~/.claude/local/claude

General Debugging Steps

Check service status:
```
ccr status
```
Start the service manually:
```
ccr start
```
Check logs for detailed error messages:
```
tail -f ~/.claude-code-router.log
```
Verify claude is accessible from a non-interactive shell:
```
/bin/sh -c "which claude"
```
If this returns nothing, the PATH is the problem.
Use ccr activate as a workaround:
```
eval "$(ccr activate)"
claude
```
The activate command sets the ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN, ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL, and NO_PROXY environment variables so the claude command automatically routes requests through the router.
Update CCR — this has been a recurring bug with fixes released over time:
```
npm update -g @musistudio/claude-code-router
```

Summary

The root problem is almost always that the background service fails to start cleanly, or the claude binary isn’t found/accessible in the subprocess shell that ccr code uses. The most reliable workaround is to run ccr start explicitly, then use claude directly after activating the environment variables.

References:

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