Setup & Installation
Or with the ClawHub CLI, for registry-managed skill folders outside a full OpenClaw workspace:
Version History
- No code or documentation changes detected in this version. - This release maintains all previous functionality and instructions.
What This Skill Does
FreeRide configures OpenClaw to use free AI models from OpenRouter. It ranks available free models by quality, sets the best as primary, and adds ranked fallbacks so rate limits don't interrupt work. Config changes are written to openclaw.json while preserving all other settings.
Automates free model selection and fallback configuration so rate limits don't require manual intervention, unlike editing openclaw.json by hand.
When to use it
- Switching from paid AI models to free OpenRouter alternatives
- Auto-recovering from rate limits using ranked fallback models
- Trying different free LLMs without editing config manually
- Keeping AI costs at zero while maintaining reliable model access
- Pinning a specific free model for a project
Example Workflow
Here's how your AI assistant might use this skill in practice.
User asks: Set up free AI models for OpenClaw
- 1Checks that OPENROUTER_API_KEY is set in the environment
- 2Runs `freeride auto` to fetch, rank, and configure the best free model as primary with fallbacks
- 3Runs `openclaw gateway restart` to apply the new config
- 4Tells the user to send `/status` to verify the active model
OpenClaw is configured with the top-ranked free model as primary and up to 5 fallbacks; rate limits now trigger automatic model rotation
Requirements
Accounts, API keys, or tools you or your AI assistant may need to set up while using this skill.