How to Use Z.ai (GLM): Sign-Up, Plan and First Prompt

Table of Contents

• What you're activating, in one sentence
• Step by step

  • 1. Create your Z.ai account
  • 2. Choose the GLM Coding Plan
  • 3. Create an API key
  • 4. Connect your tool
  • 5. Send the first prompt
• Three things that are not onboarding (and that's why they're not here)
• Frequently asked questions

  • Is Z.ai the same as the glm.ai chat?
  • Is the 10% discount applied every time?
  • Which plan should I start with?
  • Do I have to use Claude Code?
• In short

What you're activating, in one sentence

The GLM Coding Plan is a Z.ai subscription that gives you quota to use GLM models inside coding tools. It's not a chat with a pretty face. It's an API key you plug into Claude Code, Cline, OpenCode, Roo, Kilo and similar tools.

All tiers (Lite, Pro, Max) use the same models. What changes is how much quota you get. That's why the correct onboarding is: account → Lite monthly → key → one single tool → one real prompt. Scaling the plan is a month-2 problem.

Step by step

1. Create your Z.ai account

Go to z.ai/subscribe with the invitation code and sign up. Complete the login. The first-order discount is tied to that account: don't create one, browse prices with another and pay with a third.

If the site asks for a region, use the international one (z.ai), not the mainland China portal, unless that's your case.

2. Choose the GLM Coding Plan

On the plans screen you'll see Lite / Pro / Max, and monthly / quarterly / annual cycles.

Practical rule, the same one I wrote in the review:

• Start on Lite monthly.
• Subscriptions are non-refundable once purchased.
• Don't marry Max annual on day one. The big number feels like "savings"; it's a commitment.

The link's 10% applies to the first payment, not for the life of the plan. Confirm the total at checkout before paying: Pro and Max have varied in amount between promotions.

3. Create an API key

Once the payment goes through, enter the dashboard (API Keys / Billing — the tab's exact name changes with redesigns, the concept doesn't):

1. Create a key for the Coding Plan, not a loose pay-as-you-go key if what you paid for is the subscription. Z.ai warns that the wrong endpoint doesn't draw down the plan's quota.
2. Copy it once. Treat it like a password.
3. Don't push it to a repo, don't paste it into a Discord, don't leave it in a Twitter screenshot.

If you rotate the key later, you update the tool; there's no need to pay for the plan again.

4. Connect your tool

You have three paths. Pick one, not all three on the same day.

Official shortcut: in the terminal,

npx @z_ai/coding-helper

Z.ai's helper walks you through installing/configuring the tool and the plan.

If you already use Claude Code: Z.ai documents the Anthropic-compatible endpoint. The idea is to point Claude Code at Z.ai (base URL https://api.z.ai/api/anthropic) and use your API key as the token. The current details are in Z.ai's Claude Code doc; if you copy a 2024 tutorial with a different URL, you'll burn quota in the wrong place or burn nothing at all.

If you live in VS Code / Cline: API Provider → OpenAI Compatible (or the "Z AI" provider if it shows up), Base URL https://api.z.ai/api/coding/paas/v4, your API key, a GLM model (for example the flagship active on your plan). Again: the Cline doc beats any old screenshot.

OpenCode, Roo and the rest follow the same pattern: coding endpoint + plan key. If you pick the generic chat endpoint by mistake, the symptom is "it works but it doesn't draw down my Lite" or "it doesn't work and I don't know why".

5. Send the first prompt

Open a real repository (even a small one). Ask for something you can verify in a minute: "explain this file", "write the missing test for this function". If the tool responds with the GLM model, the wiring is right.

Don't start with a 40-file refactor. The first prompt is a ping, not a migration.

Once that works, only then is it worth going back to the daily-use review and deciding whether Lite is enough for you or the 5-hour ceiling feels tight.

Three things that are not onboarding (and that's why they're not here)

• Price and token tables: they're already in the two previous posts.
• "Does GLM beat Claude?": that's opinion, not a step.
• Configuring 20 tools at once: the plan is one; the bottleneck is you.

Frequently asked questions

Is Z.ai the same as the glm.ai chat?

The Coding Plan is the subscription for coding tools. That's what this post covers.

Is the 10% discount applied every time?

First order only, and only if you've never paid for a subscription on the platform.

Which plan should I start with?

Lite monthly. Same models, less quota, less regret.

Do I have to use Claude Code?

No. npx @z_ai/coding-helper, Cline or OpenCode work. One well-connected tool beats five half-set-up ones.

In short

• Account on z.ai with the invitation link.
• Lite monthly. Not Max annual on day one.
• API key for the Coding Plan, coding endpoint.
• One prompt in a real repo.
• The prices and the "who it's for" live in the opinion posts.

👉 Activate the GLM Coding Plan with 10% off your first order

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If you already pay for a coding agent and want to try GLM without rewriting your workflow, the job isn't "learning another chat". It's pasting a key into the tool you already open every day.

— Leandro Valencia