"I Made AI Coding Tools Free (For Real This Time)"
The Problem You know what's funny about "free" AI coding tools? They're not free. Codex CLI says it uses your OpenAI credits — and those run out fast. Claude Code says it uses Anthropic — and sudde...

Source: DEV Community
The Problem You know what's funny about "free" AI coding tools? They're not free. Codex CLI says it uses your OpenAI credits — and those run out fast. Claude Code says it uses Anthropic — and suddenly you're staring at "rate limited" at 2 PM on a Tuesday. So much for "just works." What If I Told You... What if I told you there's a way to make Codex, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and OpenClaw actually free? Not "free tier" free. Not "limited to 50 requests" free. I'm talking free like WiFi at a coffee shop free. The Secret: Free Model Routing ProxyPool Hub now intercepts lightweight AI requests — the kind you'd use for quick code lookups, autocompletes, or "what does this error mean" — and routes them to actual free providers. No API key. No credits. No billing. When you need the heavy stuff (o4-mini, Sonnet 4, Gemini 2.5 Pro), it uses your paid accounts. When you just need a quick autocomplete? Free. What Counts as "Free"? Any model with "haiku", "mini", "fast", "lite" in the name gets auto