Claude Code for FREE Forever — OpenRouter Setup (2026)

📄 Zusammenfassung

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 CHAPTERS 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 RESOURCES Full setup guide. .claude settings.json env : ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL : ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN : sk-or-v1-YOUR-KEY-HERE , ANTHROPIC_API_KEY : , ANTHROPIC_MODEL : openrouter free OpenRouter free models: Claude Code docs: Install Claude Code: npm install -g anthropic-ai claude-code DROP A COMMENT: Are you already using Claude Code, or is this your first time?