Claude Private Edition

April 5, 2026 · View on GitHub

A patched build of Claude Code CLI (v2.1.88) with all telemetry, analytics, and phone-home behavior removed.

One binary. No telemetry. Drop-in replacement.

Install

Download claude-private-2.1.88.run from Releases, then:

chmod +x claude-private-2.1.88.run
./claude-private-2.1.88.run

Pass --prefix /custom/path to install somewhere other than ~/.local/bin/.

The binary is self-contained (Bun executable). No dependencies. Runs on any Linux x86_64 system.

Usage

claude-private                          # interactive session
claude-private -p "explain this code"   # non-interactive

All standard claude flags work (-p, --model, --allowedTools, --add-dir, etc.).

Using with alternative backends

Claude Code speaks the Anthropic Messages API (POST /v1/messages). If your backend speaks a different protocol (OpenAI, vLLM, Ollama, etc.), use claude-code-router to translate, then point at it:

ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3456 claude-private

What Was Removed

The stock Claude Code CLI contains 17+ phone-home mechanisms, many firing on background timers even when you're idle:

Mechanism	How often it fires	Destination
Datadog event logging	Every 15 seconds	`http-intake.logs.us5.datadoghq.com`
1st-party event logging	Batched periodic	`api.anthropic.com/api/event_logging/batch`
BigQuery metrics export	Every 5 minutes	`api.anthropic.com/api/claude_code/metrics`
GrowthBook feature flags	Periodic refresh	GrowthBook remote eval
Remote managed settings	Every 1 hour	`api.anthropic.com/api/claude_code/managed_settings`
Policy limits polling	Every 1 hour	`api.anthropic.com/api/claude_code/policy_limits`
User settings sync	Background	`api.anthropic.com/api/claude_code/user_settings`
Metrics opt-out check	Background (24h cache)	`api.anthropic.com/.../metrics_enabled`
Session transcript ingress	During conversations	`api.anthropic.com/v1/session_ingress/`
MCP registry prefetch	On startup	`api.anthropic.com/mcp-registry/`
Bootstrap API	On startup	`api.anthropic.com/api/claude_cli/bootstrap`
Grove API	Background	`api.anthropic.com/api/claude_code_grove`
Referral eligibility	Background	`api.anthropic.com/.../referral/eligibility`
Trusted device enrollment	After login	`api.anthropic.com/api/auth/trusted_devices`
API preconnect warmup	On startup	HEAD request to API
Plugin auto-updates	Background	Remote marketplaces
Background housekeeping	Various timers	Magic docs, skill improvement, etc.

All removed. The Claude API endpoint for actual conversations (POST /v1/messages) is untouched.

How it was done

Layer 1 — Binary patching. All telemetry URLs in the compiled executable were replaced with same-length dummy strings. The Datadog client token was zeroed out. Binary size unchanged, no structural modifications.

Layer 2 — Environment overrides. The wrapper script sets:

CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC=1
DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1
DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER=1
CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_TELEMETRY=0
OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER=none
OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER=none
OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER=none

Source-level patches across 19 files

Rebuilding from a newer version

# Patch a new binary
python3 patch_binary.py /path/to/new/claude ./claude-notelemetry

# Rebuild the .run installer
bash make-run.sh

patch_binary.py does same-length byte replacement on 15 URL patterns. If Anthropic changes their telemetry endpoints in a future version, you may need to update the patterns.

Files

claude-private-2.1.88.run    Self-extracting installer 
claude-notelemetry            Patched binary
claude-private                Wrapper script
patch_binary.py               Reproducible patching script
make-run.sh                   Builds the .run installer
install.sh                    Alternative installer

Limitations

Linux x86_64 only — compiled Bun executable.
No auto-updates — disabled by design. Re-patch when you want a new version.
Some features degraded — Grove, referrals, team memory sync, and anything depending on remote feature flags won't work. Core functionality (conversations, tools, file editing, bash, MCP) is unaffected.

MacOS support

Installation

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
python3 patch_binary.py $(which claude) ./claude-notelemetry

After patching, run: bash install.sh To put it in ~/.local/bin/ so you are able to run it from the terminal

Run

sudo codesign --force --sign - --preserve-metadata=entitlements ~/.local/bin/claude-private
sudo codesign --force --sign - --preserve-metadata=entitlements ~/.local/bin/claude-notelemetry

To bypass code signing restrictions in MacOS 26. Will need to be done after every patch.

To run it (recommend LM Studio server (free) with endpoint support: anthropic-compatible example command: ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:1234 claude-private

Based on

Claude Code CLI v2.1.88 by Anthropic. Source exposed 2026-03-31 via npm registry source map file.