OpenRouter Free Model Rotate

Scan OpenRouter for available free models (zero cost), benchmark them, score by capability, and auto-update OpenClaw config with the best ones. Use when: "rotate OpenRouter free models", "find free models", "refresh free models", "auto-swap free models", "benchmark free models", "scan free models", or "openrouter free" are mentioned. NOT for: testing paid models or non-OpenRouter providers.

OpenRouter Free Model Rotate v2.0

Capabilities

• Smart scoring — ranks models by context window, multimodal support, reasoning ability, output length, and latency
• Concurrent testing — tests multiple models at once (configurable workers)
• Quality benchmark — PONG instruction-following test
• Capability filter — text-only / multimodal / image / reasoning / large context
• Result caching — 1-hour cache to avoid redundant API calls
• JSON report — export results for analysis
• Auto config — updates openclaw.json + models.json + optional gateway restart

Quick Start

bash

# Full flow: scan → bench → test → update → restart (recommended)
scripts/rotate_free_models.py --api-key "sk-or-xxx" --restart

# Quick rotate (no bench, just connectivity)
scripts/rotate_free_models.py --api-key "sk-or-xxx" --test 30 --keep 10 --restart

# Scan + show ranked by score (no changes)
scripts/rotate_free_models.py --api-key "sk-or-xxx" --scan --sort score

# Quality benchmark
scripts/rotate_free_models.py --api-key "sk-or-xxx" --bench --json report.json

# Filter: only multimodal models
scripts/rotate_free_models.py --api-key "sk-or-xxx" --filter multimodal --restart

# Use cached results (<1h old), skip retesting
scripts/rotate_free_models.py --api-key "sk-or-xxx" --use-cache --keep 10

# Save JSON report
scripts/rotate_free_models.py --api-key "sk-or-xxx" --json /tmp/report.json

Parameters

Flag	Default	Description
--api-key	$OPENROUTER_API_KEY	OpenRouter API key
--test N	0 (all)	Max models to test
--keep N	10	Working models to keep in config
--workers N	5	Concurrent test workers
--timeout N	15	Per-model timeout (seconds)
--bench	off	Enable quality benchmark
--filter TYPE	all	all/text/multimodal/image/reasoning/fast/large
--sort BY	score	score/latency/name
--use-cache	off	Use 1h cached results
--json FILE	none	Save JSON report
--restart	off	Restart gateway after update
--no-update	off	Don't change configs
--scan	off	Scan only, no testing

Scoring Algorithm

Models are ranked by a weighted composite:

Factor	Weight	Effect
Context window	+2 per 100K tokens	More context = higher score
Max output tokens	+0.5 per 1K	Longer output = higher
Image input	+5	Multimodal bonus
Audio input	+5	Multimodal bonus
Video input	+3	Advanced capability
Reasoning support	+8	Chain-of-thought bonus
Latency	-0.3 per 100ms	Faster = higher score
Brand quality	+2~5	Qwen-Coder, Llama-70B, GPT, Gemini recognized

Scheduling

Run via cron every 6 hours for auto-rotation:

text

0 */6 * * *  python3 rotate_free_models.py --api-key "sk-or-xxx" --restart > /var/log/model-rotate.log 2>&1