Skip to content
Agentmart
Submit a tool

freeride

Manages free AI models from OpenRouter for OpenClaw.

Skill by CraftOS-dev

IndexedMIT★ 400
Write a review

Install

Works with Claude Code, Claude apps, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, VS Code, OpenCode, Goose, Windsurf. Read the repository before you give any tool access to your data.

npx agentmarket install skill/craftos-dev-freeride

Asks which of your tools to add it to (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Gemini CLI, Claude Desktop) and shows the change first. See https://agentmart.dev/cli.

Get the weekly diff

The weekly diff: one email a week with new agent tools, notable updates and grade changes, plus security alerts for tools you follow. Double opt-in, one-click unsubscribe.

We use your email only for this newsletter. Privacy

About

Manages free AI models from OpenRouter for OpenClaw. Automatically ranks models by quality, configures fallbacks for rate-limit handling, and updates openclaw.json. Use when the user mentions free AI, OpenRouter, model switching, rate limits, or wants to reduce AI costs.

No reviews yet. Installed it? Reviews come from verified installers only. How reviews work

Permissions

What this skill can do and what it asks for, from its SKILL.md and code. Checked Oct 25, 2026.

Tools
No tools found
Secrets
None asked for
Install scripts
None found
Runs as
Python package

Network hosts it talks to 4

  • clawhub.ai · found in code
  • codeload.github.com · found in install command
  • github.com · found in code
  • openrouter.ai · found in code

Files it touches

  • ~/.claude/skills/freeride
  • Your home directory (~)
  • ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

What's inside

Skill name
freeride
Description
Manages free AI models from OpenRouter for OpenClaw. Automatically ranks models by quality, configures fallbacks for rate-limit handling, and updates openclaw.json. Use when the user mentions free AI, OpenRouter, model switching, rate limits, or wants to reduce AI costs.
License
MIT
Instructions
87 lines in SKILL.md · view on GitHub

Before installing

  • Ships executable scripts

Agent Skills spec issues

  • name: "freeride" does not match folder "free-ride"

Files (9)

  • origin.json · .clawhub/
  • README.md
  • SKILL.md
  • _meta.json
  • main.py
  • requirements.txt
  • setup.py
  • skill.json
  • watcher.py

SKILL.md (first lines)

# FreeRide - Free AI for OpenClaw

## What This Skill Does

Configures OpenClaw to use **free** AI models from OpenRouter. Sets the best free model as primary, adds ranked fallbacks so rate limits don't interrupt the user, and preserves existing config.

## Prerequisites

Before running any FreeRide command, ensure:

1. **OPENROUTER_API_KEY is set.** Check with `echo $OPENROUTER_API_KEY`. If empty, the user must get a free key at https://openrouter.ai/keys and set it:
   ```bash
   export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or-v1-..."
   # Or persist it:
   openclaw config set env.OPENROUTER_API_KEY "sk-or-v1-..."
   ```

2. **The `freeride` CLI is installed.** Check with `which freeride`. If not found:
   ```bash
   cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/free-ride
   pip install -e .
   ```

## Primary Workflow

When the user wants free AI, run these steps in order:

```bash
# Step 1: Configure best free model + fallbacks
freeride auto

# Step 2: Restart gateway so OpenClaw picks up the changes
openclaw gateway restart
```

That's it. The user now has free AI with automatic fallback switching.

Verify by telling the user to send `/status` to check the active model.

## Commands Reference

| Command | When to use it |
|---------|----------------|
| `freeride auto` | User wants free AI set up (most common) |
| `freeride auto -f` | User wants fallbacks but wants to keep their current primary model |
| `freeride auto -c 10` | User wants more fallbacks (default is 5) |
| `freeride list` | User wants to see available free models |
| `freeride list -n 30` | User wants to see all free models |
| `freeride switch <model>` | User wants a specific model (e.g. `freeride switch qwen3-coder`) |
| `freeride switch <model> -f` | Add specific model as fallback only |
| `freeride status` | Check current FreeRide configuration |
| `freeride fallbacks` | Update only the fallback models |
| `freeride refresh` | Force refresh the cached model list |

**After any command that changes config, always run `openclaw gateway restart`.**

## What It Writes to Config

FreeRide updates only these keys in `~/.openclaw/openclaw.json`:

- `agents.defaults.model.primary` — e.g. `openrouter/qwen/qwen3-coder:free`
- `agents.defaults.model.fallbacks` — e.g. `["openrouter/free", "nvidia/nemotron:free", ...]`
- `agents.defaults.models` — allowlist so `/model` command shows the free models

Everything else (gateway, channels, plugins, env, customInstructions, named agents) is preserved.

The first fallback is always `openrouter/free` — OpenRouter's smart router that auto-picks the best available model based on the request.

## Watcher (Optional)

For auto-rotation when rate limited, the user can run:

```bash
freeride-watcher --daemon    # Continuous monitoring
freeride-watcher --rotate    # Force rotate now
freeride-watcher --status    # Check rotation history
```

## Troubleshooting

| Problem | Fix |
|---------|-----|
| `freeride: command not found` | `cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/free-ride && pip install -e .` |
| `OPENROUTER_API_KEY not set` | User needs a key from https://openrouter.ai/keys |
| Changes not taking effect | `openclaw gateway restart` then `/new` for fresh session |
| Agent shows 0 tokens | Check `freeride status` — primary should be `openrouter/<provider>/<model>:free` |

From CraftOS-dev/CraftBot, MIT.

More from CraftOS-dev/CraftBot

Compare and alternatives

    Featured in

    Signals

    Stars
    400
    Forks
    49
    Open issues
    12
    Last commit (this folder)
    May 28, 2026 (5 months ago)
    Last release
    Oct 23, 2026 (6 days ago)

    From GitHub (fetched Oct 24, 2026).

    Details

    License
    MIT
    First seen
    Oct 24, 2026
    Last checked
    Oct 24, 2026

    Same skill elsewhere

    Copies of this SKILL.md published by others; search shows only one of them.

    More from CraftOS-dev

    Cite this page

    freeride skill. Agent Mart. https://agentmart.dev/skills/craftos-dev-freeride (last updated 2026-10-24)