| name | cheapskate |
| description | Free-tier provider auto-rotation. Select cheapskate/auto as your model and it transparently routes to the best available free backend. |
| distribution | public |
Cheapskate Mode
Select cheapskate/auto from the model picker. It transparently routes requests to the best available free-tier backend and rotates on rate-limit errors.
How it works
- Appears as a model —
cheapskate/auto shows up in the compose box model selector alongside your other models
- Shows the active backend — the model name displays which provider is active:
Free → Google Gemini / Gemini 2.5 Flash · $0
- Rotates automatically — when a backend hits rate limits, it switches to the next available one before the next turn
- Costs nothing — all backends are free-tier APIs
Setup
Set API keys as environment variables or in the keychain (all are free to obtain):
Only backends with a configured API key are available. Any subset works — even a single provider.
Free-tier backends
| Provider | Model | Context | Reasoning | Free limits |
|---|
| Google Gemini | Gemini 2.5 Flash | 1M | ✅ | 10 RPM, 250K TPM, 1M TPD |
| Cerebras | Qwen 3 235B | 131K | ✅ | 30 RPM, 60K TPM, 1M TPD |
| Groq | QwQ 32B | 131K | ✅ | 30 RPM, 15K TPM, 500K TPD |
| SambaNova | DeepSeek R1 | 65K | ✅ | 10 RPM, 100K TPM |
Usage
Select the model
Pick cheapskate/auto from the model selector in the compose box or settings. The compose box shows the active backend:
cheapskate/auto — Free → Google Gemini / Gemini 2.5 Flash · $0
When the backend rotates (e.g. after a rate limit), the display updates:
cheapskate/auto — Free → Cerebras / Qwen 3 235B · $0
Management tool: cheapskate
| Action | What it does |
|---|
cheapskate action=status | Show configured/available backends and active backend |
cheapskate action=list | List all backends with models, limits, and availability |
cheapskate action=usage | Show current rate-limit consumption per backend |
cheapskate action=rotate | Force rotation to the next available backend |
Automatic rotation
- Before each turn: picks the best available backend (least recently used, then largest context)
- On rate-limit error (429): rotates to next backend with exponential backoff (30s → 5min max)
- At 90% of any limit (RPM/TPM/TPD): backend marked unavailable for rotation
- Tracking resets: per-minute counters reset every 60s, daily counters every 24h
Quality ranking
| Use case | Best backend | Why |
|---|
| General coding | Google Gemini 2.5 Flash | Largest context (1M), strong reasoning |
| Complex reasoning | SambaNova DeepSeek R1, Groq QwQ 32B, OpenRouter DeepSeek R1 | Dedicated reasoning models |
| Fast iteration | Cerebras Qwen 3 235B | ~2000 tok/s inference speed |
| Most models via one key | OpenRouter | Aggregates free models from many providers |
| Budget fallback | Any — all are $0 | Rotate through all six |
Notes
- Free tiers change frequently — backend definitions are hardcoded and should be updated when tiers change
- Quality varies between backends — Gemini 2.5 Flash and Cerebras Qwen 3 235B are the strongest for coding
- The extension uses
pi.registerProvider() to register the cheapskate provider and compat.modelId to map the virtual auto model to the backend's actual model ID
- Each turn start re-registers the provider with the current best backend's URL and API key
- The tool is also available as a bundled extension in the piclaw monorepo for immediate availability without installing the addons package
