Skip to main content

Connecting in Claude Desktop

VPN required during setup

The initial setup and connection of the platform in Claude Desktop require an active VPN. Once the setup is complete, the VPN is no longer needed — requests to the models go directly through the Explyt gateway. The VPN requirement at the start comes from the Claude Desktop app itself, not from Explyt Enterprise Platform.

  1. Open the Claude Desktop settings: Help → Troubleshooting → Enable developer settings

  2. Restart Claude Desktop, then open: Burger Menu → Developer → Configure Third Party Inference

  3. In the window that opens, fill in the connection settings:

    • In the Connection block, choose Gateway in the drop-down list
    • In the Credential kind field, choose Static API key
    • In the Gateway base URL field, paste the OpenAI-compatible URL issued to you
      • If you see these instructions but do not have an OpenAI-compatible URL, contact your organization's administrator
    • In the Gateway API key field, paste the API key issued to you
      • If you see these instructions but do not have an API key, contact your organization's administrator
    • In the Gateway auth scheme field, choose x-api-key

  4. Click Test connection — the connection should succeed

  5. In the Models block, click Test model discovery — the list of available models appears

  6. Click Apply Changes

For errors, see Error messages.