Free Ride - Unlimited free AI

Manages free AI models from OpenRouter for OpenClaw. Automatically ranks models by quality, configures fallbacks for rate-limit handling, and updates opencla...

Security Scan

The skill's code and runtime instructions match the described purpose (managing OpenRouter free models and updating your OpenClaw config), but there are packaging/metadata inconsistencies and minor surprises you should be aware of before installing.

Purpose & Capability

The SKILL.md, main.py, and watcher.py all implement the stated purpose: calling OpenRouter, ranking free models, and updating ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json. However, the top-level registry metadata shown earlier said "required env vars: none" and "primary credential: none", while SKILL.md and skill.json require an OPENROUTER_API_KEY. This mismatch is a packaging/information inconsistency.

Instruction Scope

Runtime instructions are narrowly scoped to fetching models from OpenRouter, updating only agents.defaults.model and agents.defaults.models in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json, caching state in ~/.openclaw, and optionally running a watcher daemon. The skill reads the OpenClaw config and environment for an OPENROUTER_API_KEY (declared in skill.json and SKILL.md). There are no instructions to read unrelated system files or send data to unexpected endpoints.

Install Mechanism

Installation is via pip install -e . in the skill workspace (setup.py) and declares only the requests dependency. That's a low-to-moderate risk pattern (local pip install, dependency from PyPI). There is an install command in skill.json referencing npx clawhub + pip install, but the registry summary earlier said "No install spec"—another metadata mismatch to watch for. No remote arbitrary archive downloads are present.

Credentials

The only secret the skill needs is an OpenRouter API key (OPENROUTER_API_KEY), which is appropriate for a tool that calls the OpenRouter API. The code also looks for the key inside ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json env section as a fallback. All environment/config access is scoped to OpenClaw config and the user's home ~/.openclaw directory.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill does persist files (cache and watcher state) under ~/.openclaw and overwrites keys in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (limited to agents.defaults.model and agents.defaults.models and potentially adding an auth profile). It does not request always:true, does not modify unrelated system settings, and does not require elevated privileges.

What to consider before installing

This skill appears to do what it claims (manage OpenRouter free models and edit your OpenClaw config). Still, there are small packaging inconsistencies: the registry summary omitted the required OPENROUTER_API_KEY and install instructions, while SKILL.md and skill.json do require the key and pip installation. Before installing: 1) Back up ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json. 2) Inspect the included files yourself (main.py, watcher.py, setup.py) — they will run on your machine and make network calls to openrouter.ai. 3) Only set OPENROUTER_API_KEY if you trust the source; the watcher daemon will periodically call OpenRouter and store state in ~/.openclaw. 4) Prefer to install from a trusted upstream (official repo or verified package) rather than an unknown workspace copy. The inconsistencies look like sloppy packaging rather than clear malicious behavior, but exercise caution.

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:

   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:

   cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/free-ride
   pip install -e .
   

Primary Workflow

When the user wants free AI, run these steps in order:

# 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

Command	When to use it
freeride auto	User wants free AI set up (most common)
freeride auto -f	User wants fallbacks but wants to keep their current primary model
freeride auto -c 10	User wants more fallbacks (default is 5)
freeride list	User wants to see available free models
freeride list -n 30	User wants to see all free models
freeride switch <model>	User wants a specific model (e.g. freeride switch qwen3-coder)
freeride switch <model> -f	Add specific model as fallback only
freeride status	Check current FreeRide configuration
freeride fallbacks	Update only the fallback models
freeride refresh	Force 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:

freeride-watcher --daemon    # Continuous monitoring
freeride-watcher --rotate    # Force rotate now
freeride-watcher --status    # Check rotation history

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
freeride: command not found	cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/free-ride && pip install -e .
OPENROUTER_API_KEY not set	User needs a key from https://openrouter.ai/keys
Changes not taking effect	openclaw gateway restart then /new for fresh session
Agent shows 0 tokens	Check freeride status — primary should be openrouter/<provider>/<model>:free