Getting Started

Sandgrouse is an open source proxy that sits between your AI coding tools and the cloud API. It compresses response traffic, coalesces duplicate requests, and shows you exactly where your bandwidth goes.

Install

npm install -g sandgrouse

Or use Homebrew:

brew install sandgrouse

Or run directly without installing:

npx sandgrouse

Start the proxy

sg start

This starts the proxy on localhost:8080 and the dashboard on localhost:8585. The proxy runs as a background daemon by default.

Point your AI tools at it

Set the base URL environment variable for your tool before launching it:

# Claude Code
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080

# Cursor / OpenAI-compatible tools
export OPENAI_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080

Then use your AI tool as normal. All traffic flows through sandgrouse transparently.

Check your savings

Open the dashboard in your browser:

http://localhost:8585

Or check from the terminal:

sg stats

You'll see per-request sizes, response compression ratios, and cumulative bandwidth savings across sessions.

Stop the proxy

sg stop

Stats are saved automatically and persist across restarts.