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. env:
- name: OPENROUTER_API_KEY description: OpenRouter API key — get a free one at openrouter.ai/keys required: true secret: true network:
- openrouter.ai writes:
- ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (keys: agents.defaults.model, agents.defaults.models only)
- ~/.openclaw/.freeride-cache.json
- ~/.openclaw/.freeride-watcher-state.json install: pip install -e .
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:
-
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:export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or-v1-..." # Or persist it: openclaw config set env.OPENROUTER_API_KEY "sk-or-v1-..." -
The
freerideCLI is installed. Check withwhich freeride. If not found:cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/free-ride pip install -e .
Primary Workflow
When the user wants free AI, run these steps in order:
# 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:freeagents.defaults.model.fallbacks— e.g.["openrouter/free", "nvidia/nemotron:free", ...]agents.defaults.models— allowlist so/modelcommand 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:
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 |