Claude MAX via PHP

claude.php

<?php
/**
 * Run a prompt through the Claude Code CLI on Windows and return its text output.
 *
 * @param string $prompt          The prompt text to send to Claude.
 * @param string $claudeExePath   Full path to claude.exe.
 * @return string                 Claude's response (stdout + stderr combined).
 */
function runClaudePrompt(string $prompt, string $claudeExePath): string {
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------
    // 1. Write the prompt to a temporary file.
    //    tempnam() creates a uniquely-named file in the system temp dir
    //    (e.g. C:\Users\you\AppData\Local\Temp\claude_A1B2.tmp) and returns
    //    its path. The 'claude_' prefix just makes the file easy to spot.
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------
    $tmpFile = tempnam(sys_get_temp_dir(), 'claude_');
    file_put_contents($tmpFile, $prompt);

    // ------------------------------------------------------------------
    // 2. Clear Claude's "I'm running inside a session" environment variables.
    //    When Claude Code launches a child process it sets these. If they're
    //    present, the CLI thinks it's nested inside an existing session and
    //    behaves differently. Setting them to empty (Windows `set VAR=`)
    //    forces a clean, top-level CLI run.
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------
    $clearEnv = [
        'set CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION=',
        'set CLAUDE_CODE=',
        'set CLAUDECODE=',
    ];

    // ------------------------------------------------------------------
    // 3. Move into the temp directory.
    //    `cd /d %TEMP%` changes both the drive and the directory (the /d flag
    //    is what allows switching drives, e.g. from D: back to C:).
    //    %TEMP% is expanded by cmd.exe at runtime, not by PHP.
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------
    $changeDir = 'cd /d %TEMP%';

    // ------------------------------------------------------------------
    // 4. Build the claude.exe invocation with its flags.
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------
    $claudeCommand = implode(' ', [
        '"' . $claudeExePath . '"',        // quoted so spaces in the path are safe
        '-p',                              // print mode: run once, print result, exit
        '--output-format text',            // plain text out (not JSON / streaming)
        '--no-session-persistence',        // don't save this run to session history
        '--allowedTools ""',               // empty allow-list = no tools may run
        '--dangerously-skip-permissions',  // don't prompt for permission on actions
    ]);

    // ------------------------------------------------------------------
    // 5. Feed the prompt file in on stdin and merge stderr into stdout.
    //    `< file`  -> sends the file's contents to the program's stdin
    //    `2>&1`    -> redirects stderr (2) into stdout (1) so errors are
    //                 captured in $output too, not lost.
    //    escapeshellarg() safely quotes the filename for the shell.
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------
    $redirects = '< ' . escapeshellarg($tmpFile) . ' 2>&1';

    // ------------------------------------------------------------------
    // 6. Stitch the whole command line together.
    //    The parts are joined with ` && ` so each step only runs if the
    //    previous one succeeded:
    //
    //    set ... && set ... && set ... && cd /d %TEMP% && "claude.exe" <flags> < tmpFile 2>&1
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------
    $fullCommand = implode(' && ', array_merge(
        $clearEnv,
        [$changeDir, $claudeCommand . ' ' . $redirects]
    ));

    // ------------------------------------------------------------------
    // 7. Run it and capture everything it prints.
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------
    $output = shell_exec($fullCommand);

    // ------------------------------------------------------------------
    // 8. Clean up the temp file (the original snippet left these behind).
    // ------------------------------------------------------------------
    @unlink($tmpFile);

    return $output ?? '';
}


$response = runClaudePrompt('whassup claude', 'C:\\Users\\you\\.local\\bin\\claude.exe');

// Hey Andy! Not much on my end — what's up with you?