You are paying 20 to 200 dollars a month for Claude Code. The agent itself is free. What you are actually paying for is the engine behind it, and you can swap that engine out.
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In this video I install Claude Code from scratch and point it at OpenRouter’s free models, three different ways, so you can pick the one that fits how you work. No proxy, no cracked account, no workaround. It is one config file, documented by both companies.
What You Will Learn
– How to set up project level config so Claude Code always uses free models
– How to fix the onboarding wizard getting stuck in a loop
– Three different methods: project level, exported variables, and terminal only, so you can pick what fits your workflow
– How to read a 429 error and know it just means the free model is busy right now
– The real difference between openrouter slash free and the auto routing option
Two Mistakes Most Tutorials Make
A few tutorials on this exact topic point you toward Amazon Bedrock, Microsoft Foundry or Google Vertex AI as the third party option. Those are enterprise cloud billing accounts, and they will charge you the moment real traffic hits them. The second mistake is skipping what happens when your terminal already has a cached Anthropic session sitting in the background. That cached session fights the free API key you just configured, and Claude Code falls back to trying to reach Anthropic’s own servers instead.
One Thing To Be Clear About
This is not free Opus. You get the real Claude Code agent, the same agent loop, the same file editing across the repo, the same terminal control, the same MCP servers and skills, running on free open weight models instead of Anthropic’s paid ones. Where that matters and where it does not is covered in the video.
Cost Comparison
Running Claude Code through OpenRouter’s free models costs nothing for the models themselves. The limits are what to understand. A brand new account with no payment method gets 20 requests a minute and 50 a day, enough to learn on but not enough to work on. A one time 10 dollar top up, not a subscription, lifts that to 1,000 a day while the free models still cost nothing per token. Speeds are slower than Anthropic’s paid Sonnet or Opus. For learning, small projects and side scripts, it works well.
Prerequisites
– A Mac or Windows machine with terminal access
– A free OpenRouter account, no card needed to start on the 50 requests a day tier
– Basic comfort editing a JSON file
– No Node.js needed, the video uses Claude Code’s native installer
📺 CHAPTERS:
0: 00 Introduction: Why Claude Code Isn’t Free
1: 03 Two Mistakes Other Tutorials Make
2: 04 Installing Claude Code From Scratch
3: 05 Getting Your Free OpenRouter API Key
6: 11 Three Ways to Run Claude Code Free
7: 13 Method 1: Project-Level Config Setup
9: 19 Configuring the Settings JSON File
13: 30 Fixing the Stuck Onboarding Screen
17: 37 Testing the Free Models in Action
23: 41 Method 3 and Troubleshooting
🔗 RESOURCES
OpenRouter → https://openrouter.ai
Official OpenRouter x Claude Code setup docs → https://openrouter.ai/docs/cookbook/coding-agents/claude-code-integration
Browse only the free models → https://openrouter.ai/models?max_price=0
OpenRouter rate limits → https://openrouter.ai/docs/api-reference/limits
Claude Code docs → https://code.claude.com/docs
📥 Helpful Links:
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🤝 Let’s connect on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/dheerajsharma14/
📚 Browse all my courses → https://genaiunplugged.com/
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⚠️ DISCLAIMER
This video is educational. Every setup I show uses the provider’s own documented features. Nothing here bypasses billing, cracks licensing, or works around anyone’s terms of service.
I am not affiliated with any of the tools or providers shown, and there are no affiliate links in this description. Free tiers, model availability and rate limits change often, so check the official docs before you follow along.
Your API keys are yours to protect. Never commit one to a repo or leave one on screen. Do not send confidential or client data through a third party model provider. Follow at your own risk. I accept no liability for any cost or issue that comes out of this tutorial.
#ClaudeCode #OpenRouter #AICoding