Freemodel AI Setup Guide

A quick guide to set up Freemodel AI, offering access to $300 in Codex credits upon sign up for official OpenAI Codex and Anthropic Claude Code clients.

Limited time offer: Get a bonus $100 expiring on May 23rd to test integration with Claude Code. Accounts also include $71/week in continuous credits, generous rate limits, and $5 per referral.

1. Account Setup

Go to the Registration page.
Click Sign up with Google and log into your preferred account.
Verification step: The site asks for a Chinese phone number, but you can bypass this by verifying via Telegram. Bind your account to the Telegram bot (completely safe).
Once bound, your Pro plan is activated for the month and you receive your credits instantly.
Go to the API Keys section, click Create key, name it, and copy your secret. You'll only see it once, so keep it safe.

2. Client Installation

The Anthropic CLI works great with Freemodel AI. Note: Requires Node.js 18+ unless you use the official shell install script.

Prerequisites: Node.js (Optional)

If you prefer installing via npm, you need Node.js 18 or newer.

node --version

If not installed or less than 18.0.0, install via:

macOS (Homebrew): brew install node
If you don't have Homebrew, install it first via terminal:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
Windows: Download the LTS installer from nodejs.org
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu):
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_lts.x | sudo -E bash - sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

macOS / Linux

Windows

Step 1: Install the CLI

The easiest official way is using the install script:

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

NPM Installation Method (Alternative)

If you prefer npm and have Node 18+ installed:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

If you get EACCES permission errors, prefix with sudo or configure npm's global prefix.

Step 2: Configure Client

The client reads its config from ~/.claude/settings.json. Create the directory and open the file in a text editor (like nano or VS Code):

mkdir -p ~/.claude
nano ~/.claude/settings.json
# or if you use VS Code: code ~/.claude/settings.json

Paste the following content into the file and save it:

{
    "env": {
        "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY",
        "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://cc.freemodel.dev",
        "CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC": "1"
    },
    "permissions": {
        "allow": [],
        "deny": []
    },
    "apiKeyHelper": "echo 'YOUR_API_KEY'"
}

Replace both occurrences of YOUR_API_KEY with the secret you copied in step 1.

Step 3: Launch

Restart Terminal so it picks up the new config, then start the client:

claude

Git Bash is recommended for Windows as it provides a Unix-style shell that handles paths correctly.

Step 1: Install the CLI

Ensure Node.js 18+ is installed, then run in Git Bash or PowerShell:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Close and reopen your terminal afterwards.

Step 2: Configure Client

On Windows the config lives at C:\Users\<your-username>\.claude\settings.json. Create the directory and open it in Notepad:

mkdir ~\.claude
notepad ~\.claude\settings.json

Paste the following content into the file and save it:

{
    "env": {
        "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY",
        "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://cc.freemodel.dev",
        "CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC": "1"
    },
    "permissions": {
        "allow": [],
        "deny": []
    },
    "apiKeyHelper": "echo 'YOUR_API_KEY'"
}

Replace both occurrences of YOUR_API_KEY with your secret key. Tip: If File Explorer hides files starting with a dot, type the path directly into the address bar to open .claude.

Step 3: Launch

Restart your terminal, then run:

claude

Troubleshooting

Command not found (macOS/Linux): Your npm global bin folder might not be in your PATH. To fix this, run npm config get prefix. If it returns /usr/local, you can add it to your PATH by adding export PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/bin" to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc file, then restart the terminal.
Execution Policies (Windows): If running npm global modules fails in PowerShell, run Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
Permissions error: If you get an EACCES permission error on Mac/Linux during npm install, either prefix with sudo or configure npm's global prefix.

Official @openai/codex CLI — full VSCode extension compatibility guaranteed.

Prerequisites: Node.js

The official npm package requires Node.js to be installed.

node --version

If not installed, download from nodejs.org, or install via Homebrew / apt depending on your OS.

macOS / Linux

Windows

Step 1: Install Codex CLI

Run either of the following commands to install globally:

npm install -g @openai/codex

Homebrew Method (macOS only)

If you don't have Homebrew, install it first using:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Then install Codex:

brew install codex

Step 2: Setup Configuration Directory

Clear any existing config and recreate the directory:

rm -rf ~/.codex
mkdir ~/.codex

Step 3: Configure Authentication

Open ~/.codex/auth.json in a text editor (e.g., nano or VS Code):

nano ~/.codex/auth.json

Paste the following:

{
  "OPENAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
}

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your key.

Step 4: Configure Provider

Open ~/.codex/config.toml in a text editor:

nano ~/.codex/config.toml

Paste the following exactly as below (do not modify values):

model_provider = "freemodel"
model = "gpt-5.5"
model_reasoning_effort = "xhigh"
disable_response_storage = true
preferred_auth_method = "apikey"

[model_providers.freemodel]
name = "freemodel"
base_url = "https://api.freemodel.dev"
wire_api = "responses"

Step 5: Verify & Use

Restart your terminal, then run to confirm installation:

codex -V

Navigate to any project folder and launch Codex:

cd your-project-folder
codex

Step 1: Install Codex CLI

Run the following command to install globally:

npm install -g @openai/codex

Step 2: Setup Configuration Directory

In PowerShell, recreate the directory:

Remove-Item -Recurse -Force ~\.codex -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
New-Item -ItemType Directory ~\.codex

Step 3: Configure Authentication

Open Notepad to create auth.json:

notepad ~\.codex\auth.json

Paste the following and save:

{
  "OPENAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
}

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your key.

Step 4: Configure Provider

Open Notepad to create config.toml:

notepad ~\.codex\config.toml

Paste the following exactly as below (do not modify values):

model_provider = "freemodel"
model = "gpt-5.5"
model_reasoning_effort = "xhigh"
disable_response_storage = true
preferred_auth_method = "apikey"

[model_providers.freemodel]
name = "freemodel"
base_url = "https://api.freemodel.dev"
wire_api = "responses"

Step 5: Verify & Use

Restart your terminal, then run to confirm installation:

codex -V

Navigate to any project folder and launch Codex:

cd your-project-folder
codex

Troubleshooting

Command missing: Restart terminal to reload your PATH context after NPM installation. If it's still missing, you need to add npm's global bin to your PATH. For Mac/Linux, add export PATH="$PATH:$(npm config get prefix)/bin" to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc. For Windows, search "Environment Variables" in the Start Menu and add %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\npm to your Path.
Configuration ignored (Windows): Ensure config.toml does not have a .txt extension hidden by Windows File Explorer.