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#

CommandWhen to use itfreeride autoUser wants free AI set up (most common)freeride auto -fUser wants fallbacks but wants to keep their current primary modelfreeride auto -c 10User wants more fallbacks (default is 5)freeride listUser wants to see available free modelsfreeride list -n 30User wants to see all free modelsfreeride switch <model>User wants a specific model (e.g. freeride switch qwen3-coder)freeride switch <model> -fAdd specific model as fallback onlyfreeride statusCheck current FreeRide configurationfreeride fallbacksUpdate only the fallback modelsfreeride refreshForce 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#

ProblemFixfreeride: command not found``cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/free-ride && pip install -e .``OPENROUTER_API_KEY not setUser needs a key from https://openrouter.ai/keysChanges not taking effectopenclaw gateway restart then /new for fresh sessionAgent shows 0 tokensCheck freeride status — primary should be openrouter/<provider>/<model>:free