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summary-damian-malliaros-minimax-m27

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Summary: Damian Malliaros — Cut Claude Code Costs 95% with MiniMax M2.7

Damian Malliaros demonstrates building a full ClickUp clone using Claude Code with MiniMax M2.7 as the model — achieving roughly 20x cost reduction and 3x speed improvement over Opus 4.6 while claiming superior benchmark performance.

Why MiniMax M2.7

  • Benchmarks: Outperforms Opus 4.6 on SWE benchmarks (coding/logic tasks)
  • Cost: ~$1 per hour of use; ~20x cheaper than Opus 4.6
  • Speed: ~3x faster than Opus 4.6 in practice
  • Built for: Logic and coding tasks specifically

Damian’s claim: MiniMax M2.7 is better than Opus 4.6 for coding, not just cheaper.

Setup: Connecting MiniMax to Claude Code

Unlike Ollama or OpenRouter, Damian uses a different approach — he tells Claude Code directly to configure the integration:

  1. Get API key from platform.minimax.io → API Platform → Create Key
  2. Tell Claude Code: “I want to use MiniMax M2.7 as my model. Here’s my API key: [key]. Go configure this for me.”
  3. Claude Code reads the MiniMax docs, writes the config files, and sets it up automatically
  4. Restart Claude Code session — MiniMax M2.7 appears in /models

This is a notable workflow: using Claude Code itself to set up its own alternative model configuration.

Build Demo: ClickUp Clone

Full app built from prompt to deployed MVP:

  1. Research phase: Ask Claude Code to research ClickUp features and suggest differentiators
  2. Design inspiration: Screenshot from Dribbble → upload to Claude Code for UI direction
  3. Plan mode (high effort): Generates detailed plan with phases, features, design system — human reviews and gives feedback before execution
  4. Build: Claude executes phases, checking off tasks. Noticeably faster than with Opus/Sonnet.
  5. Parallel instances: Two simultaneous Claude Code sessions — one fixing the AI assistant integration, one improving the UI. No waiting for sequential completion.
  6. Supabase MCP: Claude Code connects to Supabase MCP server via token, creates project, generates all 12 tables, sets up auth — fully automated.
  7. Result: Dark/light mode toggle, AI task assistant (using MiniMax API directly), fully functional CRUD with Supabase backend.

Speed Observation

The build was “at least 2x faster” than Damian’s normal experience with Sonnet or Opus 4.6. He attributes this to MiniMax’s response speed, not just the model architecture.

MiniMax Pricing Plans

Subscription-based (not pure pay-per-token):

  • Starter: $10 — used in this demo, had usage remaining after full app build
  • Plus / Max / Plus High Speed: mid-range tiers
  • Max High Speed: $80 — 15,000 model requests per 5 hours (~unlimited for coding)
  • Ultra High Speed: $150 — 30,000 requests per 5 hours

Compared to Claude Code Max plan (80 tier offers effectively unlimited throughput at lower cost.

Other MiniMax Products Mentioned

  • MaxClaw: MiniMax’s own OpenClaw clone — same idea but runs against MiniMax models. Accessible via web interface.
  • MiniMax Agent: Web-based agent interface for creating Chrome jobs, automations.

See Also

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