Janus user guide
Janus sits between Claude Code and the Anthropic API on your machine. It keeps a record of every request and what it cost, and can send some of the work to a local model, keep secrets and private files from leaving, and keep a session going when Claude is down.
Read these in order the first time:
- Before you start. What to have in place first, by feature: Claude Code, LM Studio and a model, and the settings in each that differ from their defaults; one machine or two.
- Installing. Getting the binary on macOS, Linux, or Windows; pointing Claude Code at Janus for good; setting up LM Studio; running Janus in the background; updating and removing it.
- Configuring. Where the config file is and how it is laid out, how to change it safely, and complete configs for the common setups: just the books, subagents on a local model, keeping working through an outage, keeping secrets in.
- Using. Reading the console, and what
janus stats,audit,route,replay, andmcptell you. What an outage looks like. - Troubleshooting. First steps when something is wrong, then problems by symptom.
In a hurry? The quick start gets you running in ten minutes.
Going further
| To | Read |
|---|---|
| Look up any setting | Configuration reference |
| Run subagents on a local model, in detail | Recipe: subagents |
| Try the local model first, with Claude as the net | Recipe: local first |
| Keep working when Claude is down | Recipe: outages |
| Move work local before a usage limit runs out | Recipe: pacing |
| Keep secrets and files from leaving | Recipe: privacy, the guard |
| Hand file reading to the local model | Recipe: workers |
| Understand every figure Janus records | The ledger |
| Know exactly what Janus changes in a request | What Janus changes |
| Know what Janus protects against, and what it doesn't | Threat model |