clixadAI coding without an API key
Clixad is a coding agent for your terminal that you sign into with GitHub. Every model call goes through our gateway, which holds the provider keys, so you never open an account with OpenAI, Anthropic or Google, never paste a key, and never get a bill from any of them.
- No API key
- No monthly subscription
- Free models every day
npm install -g clixad
Node 20 or newer. Then clixad login signs you in with GitHub, and clixad in a project opens the agent.
Where the API key went
A coding agent needs a model, and a model needs somebody's key. In most free tools that somebody is you: the tool costs nothing and the model bill arrives from the provider. In Clixad the key sits on our gateway. The agent on your machine holds no provider credential and talks only to us. The gateway checks your balance, forwards the request through OpenRouter to the model you picked, meters the tokens that come back and debits credits for them.
That is also why switching models costs no setup. /model changes which model the next request
names, and no new account or key is involved.
What you can use without a key
The whole catalogue, priced per turn of 20,000 input and 1,500 output tokens. The five marked free cost nothing up to 24,000 credits of usage per account per day.
| Model | Vendor | Credits per turn | Free every day |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-5 Nano | OpenAI | 240 | yes |
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | 390 | yes | |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | DeepSeek | 484 | yes |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | 1,463 | yes | |
| Kimi K2.5 | Moonshot | 2,352 | yes |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | 3,094 | credits | |
| Kimi K2.7 Code | Moonshot | 3,751 | credits |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | Anthropic | 4,125 | credits |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Anthropic | 8,250 | credits |
| GPT-6 Sol | OpenAI | 8,250 | credits |
| Kimi K3 | Moonshot | 12,375 | credits |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | Anthropic | 16,500 | credits |
| Claude Fable 5.1 | Anthropic | 41,250 | credits |
Past the free allowance, and on every other row, a turn costs the credits shown. The allowance also sits inside a daily budget shared by everybody, so on a busy day the free turns can end sooner. Credits come from completing an offer in a browser tab, credited on completion, or from a one-time pack. A screenout, where a survey ends part way with nothing or a small bonus, is the most common outcome of starting a survey.
Compared with bring-your-own-key tools
Aider, Cline and OpenCode are free, open source and good at what they do. What they leave to you is the model. Each says so on its own site, read on 29 September 2026:
| Tool | In its own words | Who bills the tokens |
|---|---|---|
| Aider | "can connect to almost any LLM, including local models" | Your provider, or nobody for a local model |
| Cline | "Pay only for AI inference on a usage basis", and "You can bring your own API keys or use the Cline provider." | Your provider, or Cline |
| OpenCode | "Free models included or connect any model from any provider" | Nobody for its included free models, your provider for the rest |
| Clixad | 13 models behind one GitHub sign-in | Clixad, in credits |
If you already hold a key, keep it. Credits bought from us pay for tokens at provider cost with a 1.5 markup on top, so a key you already pay for reaches the same model for less, and a local model through Aider or OpenCode costs no tokens at all. Clixad is for the other case: you would rather not set up billing with a provider just to get started.
What you give instead of a key
A GitHub sign-in, which gives us your user id, your login name and your email address. A line of
advertising in the terminal while a model call runs, marked Ad. Nothing you type takes part in
choosing it, and CLIXAD_SPONSOR=0 switches it off. And once the free turns and the
25,000-credit signup bonus are spent, either some time on an offer wall or a one-time purchase.
How that pays for the tokens.
FAQ
Can I use AI for coding without an API key?
Yes. Clixad is a terminal coding agent you sign into with GitHub, and its gateway holds the provider keys. Five models are free up to 24,000 credits of usage a day, and the other eight run on credits you earn or buy.
Which models can I use without an API key?
All thirteen in the catalogue, from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, DeepSeek and Moonshot. GPT-5 Nano, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and Kimi K2.5 are free every day up to the allowance. Claude models, GPT-6 Sol and the rest cost credits per turn.
Is Clixad cheaper than using my own API key?
Not for bought credits. They pay for tokens at provider cost with a 1.5 markup, so a key you already pay for reaches the same model for less. The free allowance and the credits you earn cost you no money.
Who sees my prompts?
Our gateway, which forwards each request through OpenRouter to the provider of the model you picked. Advertisers never receive your code or your prompts. The privacy policy sets out what each party may keep.
Read next
Sources
- Aider, aider.chat, for "can connect to almost any LLM, including local models". Read 29 September 2026.
- Cline, Pricing, for "Pay only for AI inference on a usage basis" and "You can bring your own API keys or use the Cline provider." Read 29 September 2026.
- OpenCode, opencode.ai, for "Free models included or connect any model from any provider" and "75+ LLM providers through Models.dev, including local models". Read 29 September 2026.
- Every Clixad figure:
packages/pricing(creditsForUsage,signupBonusCredits,freeTierDailyCreditsPerUser,FREE_MODEL_IDS,maxAdRewardUsdPerDay,CREDIT_PACKS), over the model catalogue read from OpenRouter on 27 September 2026, recomputed by the test beside this page. A turn is 20,000 input and 1,500 output tokens,FREE_TURN_USAGE, the size the/modelpicker estimates with. - That the CLI holds no provider credential and every request goes through the gateway:
apps/cli/src/client.tsandapps/gateway/src/providers.ts. What GitHub sign-in gives us, and OpenRouter's part: our privacy policy.