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FreeRide — Free AI Model Manager for OpenClaw

Automatically ranks OpenRouter's free models and wires them into OpenClaw as primary plus a rate-limit-proof fallback chain.

UtilitiesIntermediate★ 231⑂ 39AI score 8/10Last updated: May 7, 2026

What it does

  • Fetches OpenRouter's free (:free) model catalog and ranks it by quality.
  • Sets the best free model as primary and builds a fallback chain so rate limits don't interrupt your session (the first fallback is always OpenRouter's smart router openrouter/free).
  • Touches only agents.defaults.model and agents.defaults.models in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json; gateway, channels, plugins, env and custom instructions stay intact.
  • Ships a slim background daemon (freeride-watcher) that probes the primary every 60s and rebuilds the chain with live-verified models when everything is throttled.
  • Includes a command reference table and a troubleshooting table for missing keys, missing CLI, and config not taking effect.

Who it's for

  • OpenClaw users who want to drive inference cost to near zero.
  • Anyone tired of free-tier rate limits killing a session mid-task.
  • Operators running unattended OpenClaw instances that need self-healing model selection.
  • Note: without OpenClaw and an OpenRouter API key this skill has essentially no use.

Usage examples

  1. "Set me up with free AI" → run freeride auto, then openclaw gateway restart, and confirm with /status.
  2. "Switch me to a coding model" → freeride switch qwen3-coder, or add -f to register it as fallback only.
  3. "I keep hitting rate limits" → freeride rotate to live-test and rebuild the chain; for unattended boxes launch nohup freeride-watcher &.

· · · Install guide · · ·

Try it now, no install

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Read the instructions in this file and follow them to help me:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Shaivpidadi/FreeRide/HEAD/SKILL.md

What I want: (describe your task here)

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↓ If it works for you, download the ZIP below and install it. Then it runs on its own — no pasting each time.

Install in the Claude app (no terminal)
  1. Download the ZIP with the button below.
  2. In Claude, open Settings → Capabilities and turn on 'Code execution and file creation'. (one time)
  3. Go to Customize → Skills → + → 'Upload a skill' and upload the ZIP.
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Install in Claude Code

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Install the skill I found on Claude Skill Mart.
Copy the SKILL.m folder from the GitHub repo Shaivpidadi/FreeRide into my ~/.claude/skills/freeride/.
When it's done, tell me in one line what this skill can do.

Install with a command instead

git clone https://github.com/Shaivpidadi/FreeRide.git ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/free-ride && cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/free-ride && pip install -e .

⚠ This is a third-party skill. Check the source repository before installing.

  1. Get an API key — create a free key at https://openrouter.ai/keys.
  2. Export it — export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or-v1-...", or persist it with openclaw config set env.OPENROUTER_API_KEY "sk-or-v1-...".
  3. Clone the skill — git clone https://github.com/Shaivpidadi/FreeRide.git ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/free-ride
  4. Install the CLI — cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/free-ride && pip install -e .
  5. Verify — which freeride should print a path.
  6. Apply config — run freeride auto, then openclaw gateway restart.
  7. Confirm — send /status in a chat and check the primary looks like openrouter/<provider>/<model>:free.
View source on GitHub ↗