Does this use claude login oauth or API key costs?

[ariel-frischer]

Github copilot says: OAuth (e.g., standard Claude OAuth login) is NOT the primary authentication method. I also received an API bill when I was running the swarm so I do believe it overrides my normal oauth flow? Do i need to set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="" before running it to have claude default to oauth login?

The command I used was:

npx claude-flow@alpha swarm "build REST API with authentication" --claude

[DevrMichael]

If your ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is defined in the environment, claude-flow prioritizes that over OAuth, which is why you got billed. Just remove or unset the key (e.g. unset ANTHROPIC_API_KEY on macOS/Linux or set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY= on Windows) before running the swarm, and it’ll use OAuth login instead.

[roman-rr]

@DevrMichael's answer about the API key is correct, but there's a deeper cost issue worth knowing about.

We audited ruflo's token consumption and found it increases your token usage significantly, despite the README claiming '30-50% token reduction':

Source of Token Bloat	Tokens Added	Frequency
300+ MCP tool definitions in context	~5,000-10,000	Every session
[INTELLIGENCE] patterns injected per message	~150-200	Every message
Router ASCII table with fake latency metrics	~100-150	Every message
91 agent type definitions	~2,000-3,000	Every Agent invocation
Estimated per-session overhead	~15,000-25,000 tokens

The '30-50% savings' claim is fabricated in the source code:

• 'Cache savings' = this.stats.totalTokensSaved += 100 (hardcoded, not measured)
• '352x faster' benchmark = await this.sleep(352) as the baseline (literal sleep, not an LLM call)
• 'Compact context' baseline = const baseline = 1000 (hardcoded)

So if you're seeing unexpected API bills: ruflo's MCP server loads 300+ tool definitions (most are non-functional stubs) and injects noise into every message. That's where your tokens are going — not just the OAuth vs API key question.

Full cost analysis in our audit: Independent Audit (GitHub Gist)