External Model Delegation Pattern
A UserPromptSubmit hook classifies every user prompt into one of six cost/performance tiers. The hook injects additionalContext instructing Claude to run a specific delegation script and return the output.
Tier routing table
| Tier | Delegation command | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| QWEN | qwen3 "prompt" | $0 (local Ollama) |
| DEEPSEEK_FLASH | deepseek --flash "prompt" | $0.14 / $0.28 per M tokens |
| DEEPSEEK_PRO | deepseek --pro "prompt" | $0.44 / $0.87 per M tokens |
| KIMI | kimi --quiet -p "prompt" | $0.60 / $2.50 per M tokens |
| CODEX | codex exec | varies |
| CLAUDE | handle natively | $3-5 / $15-25 per M tokens |
Delegation script pattern
Each script is a self-contained executable in ~/bin/ that accepts a prompt and writes the response to stdout:
~/bin/ ├── qwen3 # Shell: curl to local Ollama API ├── kimi # Shell: execs Kimi CLI binary ├── deepseek # Python: httpx to DeepSeek Anthropic-compat API └── route-task # Shell + qwen3: classifies prompt into tier
Script contract
- Accept prompt as first argument:
qwen3 "what is 2+2" - Support
--flash/--promodel flags (deepseek) - Support
--quietmode flag (kimi) - Write response to stdout, errors to stderr
- Exit 0 on success, non-zero on error
Writing a new delegation script
bash#!/bin/bash # Minimal delegator template PROMPT="$1" API_KEY="${EXTERNAL_API_KEY:-}" # Call external API, write result to stdout curl -s https://api.example.com/chat \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \ -d "$(jq -n --arg p "$PROMPT" '{prompt: $p}')" \ | jq -r '.response'
Routing hook flow
User types prompt ↓ UserPromptSubmit hook fires ↓ qwen3 classifies into tier (QWEN|DEEPSEEK_FLASH|DEEPSEEK_PRO|KIMI|CODEX|CLAUDE) ↓ Hook injects additionalContext: "Run: <delegation-command>" ↓ Claude reads context, spawns delegation script, returns output ↓ User sees response from the delegated model
Classification tiers
| Tier | Task types |
|---|---|
| QWEN | grep, find, regex, shell, syntax lookups, log reading, short summaries |
| DEEPSEEK_FLASH | Simple code, boilerplate, CRUD, test writing, small fixes, config |
| DEEPSEEK_PRO | Multi-file features, refactors, debugging, medium coding, docs |
| KIMI | Single-file review, medium reasoning, commit messages, diff summaries |
| CODEX | Bulk generation, mechanical changes across many files |
| CLAUDE | Architecture, security, complex debugging, system design, quality-critical |
Environment
bash# Required env vars (set in ~/.zshrc) export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="sk-..." # For deepseek delegator export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..." # For codex CLI # Ollama must be running locally for qwen3 classification + delegation
