nginclaude 🧠🚈

Why pay for cloud credits when you already are paying for Claude?

What Fresh Hell Is This?

nginclaude is what happens when I'm feeling thoroughly optimistic. It's a reverse proxy server that replaces nginx's boring, reliable configuration files with the same exact thing but it takes a hell of a lot longer. Using Claude 3 Haiku, this abomination decides where to route your precious production traffic based on vibes and whatever hallucinations it's having that millisecond.

"Features" (AKA Ways This Will Destroy Your Weekend)

• LLM Russian Roulette: Watch as Claude sometimes routes correctly and other times sends your sensitive customer data to /dev/null
• Fallback Mechanism: When Claude inevitably breaks, falls back to actual working code that you should have just used in the first place
• Cloud Bill Maximizer: Ensures your Anthropic API costs exceed your entire infrastructure budget
• Vercel Compatibility: Because nothing says "I make poor life choices" like running this on serverless
• Multiple Backends: Route requests to multiple backend services simultaneously for maximum chaos

Installation (At Your Own Risk)

# Install dependencies (and approximately 87,000 subdependencies of questionable origin)
npm install

# Build TypeScript (and pray the types aren't as made-up as Claude's responses)
npm run build

Setup (AKA Digital Self-Flagellation)

1. Copy .env.example to .env and add your Anthropic API key:

cp .env.example .env
# Insert your life savings here

2. Edit the .env file to specify how quickly you want to bankrupt your startup:

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-anthropic-api-key-that-definitely-wont-get-leaked
PORT=3000
DIGNITY_LEVEL=0

3. Configure your routes in nginclaude-proxy.conf (that Claude will promptly ignore):

http {
    server {
        listen 3000;
        server_name localhost;

        # API Service - Where Claude will occasionally send cat pictures
        location /api {
            proxy_pass http://localhost:8001;
        }

        # Admin Service - Secured with the digital equivalent of a "KEEP OUT" sign
        location /admin {
            proxy_pass http://localhost:8003;
        }

        # Static Files Service - Where your JavaScript goes to die
        location /static {
            proxy_pass http://localhost:8004;
        }

        # Default Web Service - Claude's favorite dumping ground
        location / {
            proxy_pass http://localhost:8002;
        }
    }
}

Usage (Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Unemployment)

Start the "proxy" "server"

# Start with npm (and a prayer)
npm start

# Or if you prefer more explicit error messages
node dist/vercel-proxy.js 2>&1 | tee evidence-for-your-firing.log

Debug Mode (For Masochists)

npm run dev
# Then watch as your terminal fills with Claude's stream-of-consciousness routing decisions

Test with mock backends (Because real backends deserve better)

1. Start the mock backend services:

npx ts-node tests/mock-backends.ts
# These actually work, which is the best joke in this entire project

2. In another terminal, summon the eldritch horror:

npm run dev

3. In a third terminal, witness the carnage:

npx ts-node tests/test-requests.ts
# Keep refreshing until it works or your AWS bill exceeds your mortgage

Implementation (Welcome to Vercel Hell)

This project exclusively uses Vercel's AI SDK, because why have options when you can be locked into a single ecosystem?

# Start the proxy server locally
npm run dev

# Build for Vercel deployment
npm run build

# Watch as Vercel's free tier throttles your requests to oblivion
vercel deploy

IMPORTANT: This project is designed to be deployed to Vercel, so just do that. It's cool because now there's a way top deploy a reverse proxy for cheap/free on a stable (sometimes) host.

Benchmarking

Want to measure exactly how much this monstrosity will slow down your application? We've included a handy benchmark script that will quantify your suffering!

# First, start the mock backend services
npm run mock-backends

# In another terminal, start nginclaude
npm run dev

# In yet another terminal, start the comparison proxies
npm run setup-proxies

# Finally, run the benchmark (10 iterations against /api/users endpoint)
npm run benchmark -- 10 /api/users

The benchmark will compare nginclaude against:

• nginx (if you've set it up with the generated config)
• a basic http-proxy implementation
• a fastify-proxy implementation

And here are the unsurprising results:

Proxy	Description	Avg (msg)	Min (msg)	Max (msg)	Status
http-proxy	Simple node proxy	5.06	3.53	9.37	200
fastify-proxy	Fastify proxy	6.51	2.78	10.10	200
nginclaude	AI-powered magical routing	659.38	455.87	1037.71	200

FAQ

Q: Is this production-ready?
A: Only if you hate your users, your infrastructure, and yourself.

Q: How much will this cost to run?
A: Less than therapy, but more than a sensible nginx config.

Q: Why not just use regular nginx?
A: And miss the opportunity to put "AI Engineer" on your LinkedIn? Please.

License

MIT