Use Claude Code completely free forever by routing it through OpenRouter's free tier — no credit card, no monthly fee, full AI coding power. In this 2-minute tutorial, I show you the exact 3-step setup to run Claude Code with top-tier free coding models like Qwen 2.5 Coder and DeepSeek R1.

In this video, you'll learn:
• Why Claude Code's default API costs $20–200/month (and how to avoid it)
• What OpenRouter is and how its free tier works with Claude Code
• Step-by-step setup: install, get free API key, configure in 2 minutes
• The best free coding models for Claude Code (128k context, $0 cost)
• A shell alias trick to switch models instantly

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⏱️ CHAPTERS
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1:12 The cost problem with Claude Code
1:45 What is OpenRouter?
2:15 Best free models for coding
3:04 Step 1 — Install Claude Code
3:25 Step 2 — Get your free API key
4:05 Step 3 — Configure & run
6:00 Live demo + alias trick
8:35 Key takeaways

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🔗 RESOURCES
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📁 Full setup guide.
~/.claude/settings.json
{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://openrouter.ai/api",
    "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "sk-or-v1-YOUR-KEY-HERE",
    "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "",
    "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "openrouter/free"
  }
}
🔀 OpenRouter free models: https://openrouter.ai/models?q=free
📖 Claude Code docs: https://docs.anthropic.com/claude-code
📦 Install Claude Code: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

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💬 DROP A COMMENT:
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YouTube

A walkthrough showing how to use Claude Code for free by routing requests through OpenRouter instead of paying for Anthropic's API or Claude Pro subscription. The setup involves creating a free OpenRouter account, generating an API key, and configuring Claude Code's settings.json to point to OpenRouter's free model tier. This avoids local model downloads (unlike Ollama) and bypasses Anthropic rate limits at zero cost.

Claude Code for FREE Forever — OpenRouter Setup (2026)