🎢 FreeRide
Stop paying for AI. Start riding free.
🚀 FreeRide v3 is out — works with any OpenAI-compatible agent
The version on this repo (v2) is OpenClaw-specific and OpenRouter-only. FreeRide v3 is a local OpenAI-compatible gateway that routes across 5 free-tier providers (OpenRouter, Groq, NVIDIA NIM, Cloudflare Workers AI, HuggingFace) with automatic failover, and works with Aider, Continue, Hermes, OpenClaw, the OpenAI Python SDK, and any other OpenAI-shaped client.
curl -sSL https://api.free-ride.xyz/install.sh | sh export OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-... freeride serveThen point any agent at
http://localhost:11343/v1— or use a binder:freeride bind aider # writes ~/.aider.conf.yml freeride bind continue # writes ~/.continue/config.yaml freeride bind hermes # writes ~/.hermes/config.yaml freeride bind openclaw # writes ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json👉 Repo: https://github.com/Shaivpidadi/FreeRideV3 · Site: https://free-ride.xyz · PyPI:
pip install freeride-gatewayThe v2 surface below still works for existing OpenClaw users — v3 ships v2 backwards-compat shims (
freeride auto/list/switch/...), so an in-place upgrade preserves your existing setup.
FreeRide gives you unlimited free AI in OpenClaw by automatically managing OpenRouter's free models.
You: *hits rate limit*
FreeRide: "I got you." *switches to next best model*
You: *keeps coding*
The Problem
You're using OpenClaw. You love it. But:
- 💸 API costs add up fast
- 🚫 Free models have rate limits
- 😤 Manually switching models is annoying
- 🤷 You don't know which free model is actually good
The Solution
One command. Free AI. Forever.
freeride auto
That's it. FreeRide:
- Finds the 30+ free models on OpenRouter
- Ranks them by quality (context length, capabilities, speed)
- Sets the best one as your primary
- Configures smart fallbacks for when you hit rate limits
- Preserves your existing OpenClaw config
Installation
npx clawhub@latest install free-ride
cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/free-ride
pip install -e .
That's it. freeride and freeride-watcher are now available as global commands.
Quick Start
1. Get a Free OpenRouter Key
Go to openrouter.ai/keys → Create account → Generate key
No credit card. No trial. Actually free.
2. Set Your Key
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or-v1-..."
# Or, multiple keys (shown in `freeride status`):
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY='["sk-or-v1-key1","sk-or-v1-key2"]'
Or add it to your OpenClaw config:
openclaw config set env.OPENROUTER_API_KEY "sk-or-v1-..."
3. Run FreeRide
freeride auto
4. Restart OpenClaw
openclaw gateway restart
5. Verify It Works
Message your agent on WhatsApp/Telegram/Discord or the dashboard:
You: /status
Agent: (shows the free model name + token count)
Done. You're now running on free AI with automatic fallbacks.
What You Get
Primary Model: openrouter/nvidia/nemotron-3-nano-30b-a3b:free (256K context)
Fallbacks:
1. openrouter/free ← Smart router (auto-picks best available)
2. qwen/qwen3-coder:free ← Great for coding
3. stepfun/step-3.5:free ← Fast responses
4. deepseek/deepseek:free ← Strong reasoning
5. mistral/mistral:free ← Reliable fallback
When you hit a rate limit, OpenClaw automatically tries the next model. You keep working. No interruptions.
Commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
freeride auto |
Auto-configure best model + fallbacks |
freeride list |
See all 30+ free models ranked |
freeride switch <model> |
Use a specific model |
freeride status |
Check your current setup |
freeride fallbacks |
Update fallbacks only |
freeride refresh |
Force refresh model cache |
freeride rotate |
Live-test primary; swap to a working model if it's failing |
Pro Tips
# Already have a model you like? Just add fallbacks:
freeride auto -f
# Want more fallbacks for maximum uptime?
freeride auto -c 10
# Coding? Switch to the best coding model:
freeride switch qwen3-coder
# See what's available:
freeride list -n 30
# Always restart OpenClaw after changes:
openclaw gateway restart
How It Ranks Models
FreeRide scores each model (0-1) based on:
| Factor | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Context Length | 40% | Longer = handle bigger codebases |
| Capabilities | 30% | Vision, tools, structured output |
| Recency | 20% | Newer models = better performance |
| Provider Trust | 10% | Google, Meta, NVIDIA, etc. |
The smart fallback openrouter/free is always first - it auto-selects based on what your request needs.
Testing with Your OpenClaw Agent
After running freeride auto and openclaw gateway restart:
# Check OpenClaw sees the models
openclaw models list
# Validate config
openclaw doctor --fix
# Open the dashboard and chat
openclaw dashboard
# Or message your agent on WhatsApp/Telegram/Discord
Useful agent commands to verify:
| Command | What it tells you |
|---|---|
/status |
Current model + token usage |
/model |
Available models (your free models should be listed) |
/new |
Start fresh session with the new model |
Watcher (Background Daemon)
The watcher is a long-running process that probes your current primary model
every minute and rotates the config the moment it starts failing. Because it
runs outside the agent's inference loop, it can recover from a "everything
is 429" deadlock that the agent itself can't escape (the agent would need
inference to call freeride rotate, but inference is exactly what's broken).
# Foreground (good for trying it out)
freeride-watcher
# Background, persistent across logout
nohup freeride-watcher > ~/.openclaw/freeride-watcher.log 2>&1 &
# One-off check (no loop)
freeride-watcher --once
# See state (rotation count, last reason)
freeride-watcher --status
# Custom interval (seconds)
freeride-watcher --interval 120
For an actual service, point your favorite supervisor (launchd, systemd,
tmux, pm2) at freeride-watcher. There is no PID file — stop it with
Ctrl-C or kill <pid>.
FAQ
Is this actually free?
Yes. OpenRouter provides free tiers for many models. You just need an account (no credit card).
What about rate limits?
Three layers of defense:
- OpenClaw's runtime fallback chain — when the primary returns 429, the gateway transparently tries fallback 1, 2, 3 at routing time. The agent never sees the 429.
openrouter/freesmart router is always fallback #1 — server-side smart routing onto whatever free model is actually available.freeride-watcherdaemon — runs in the background, probes the primary every 60s, rotates the config the moment it starts failing. This is what saves you when the entire fallback chain is dead and the agent has nothing left to route to.
If you've set multiple keys via OPENROUTER_API_KEY='["key1","key2"]', every layer above also rotates through them on 429.
Will it mess up my OpenClaw config?
No. FreeRide only touches agents.defaults.model and agents.defaults.models. Your gateway, channels, plugins, workspace, customInstructions - all preserved.
Which models are free?
Run freeride list to see current availability. It changes, which is why FreeRide exists.
Do I need to restart OpenClaw after changes?
Yes. Run openclaw gateway restart after any FreeRide command that changes your config.
The Math
| Scenario | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|
| GPT-4 API | $50-200+ |
| Claude API | $50-200+ |
| OpenClaw + FreeRide | $0 |
You're welcome.
Requirements
Architecture
┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐
│ You │ ──→ │ FreeRide │ ──→ │ OpenRouter API │
│ "freeride │ │ │ │ (30+ free │
│ auto" │ │ • Fetch │ │ models) │
└──────────────┘ │ • Rank │ └──────────────────┘
│ • Configure │
└──────┬───────┘
│
▼
┌──────────────┐
│ ~/.openclaw/ │
│ openclaw.json│
└──────┬───────┘
│
openclaw gateway restart
│
▼
┌──────────────┐
│ OpenClaw │
│ (free AI!) │
└──────────────┘
Contributing
Found a bug? Want a feature? PRs welcome.
cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/free-ride
# Test commands
freeride list
freeride status
freeride auto --help