Connecting Free Models to OpenCode in Practice

⚠️ Pending Update · 2026-08-29 Verification · Content may be outdated, please refer to official docs Updated: 2026-08-29 · Status: Pending Verification

Introduction

OpenCode itself is free — your only cost is the model API. The good news is that OpenRouter, Groq, and Together AI all expose free-tier models over an OpenAI-compatible protocol. This article gives you three ready-to-use configurations and compares their real-world behavior on coding tasks.

架构图

flowchart LR A[OpenCode CLI] --> B[OpenRouter] A --> C[Groq] A --> D[Together AI] B --> B1[Llama:free] C --> C1[Llama 3.3 70B] D --> D1[Qwen 2.5 72B] B1 --> E[Zero-cost terminal coding] C1 --> E D1 --> E

Prerequisites

Make sure OpenCode is installed (see us-01) and grab these keys:

OPENROUTER_API_KEY from https://openrouter.ai/keys
GROQ_API_KEY from https://console.groq.com/keys
TOGETHER_API_KEY from https://api.together.ai/settings/api-keys

Manage all of them via environment variables — never hardcode them into config files.

Config File

Write the following to opencode.json in your project root:

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "provider": {
    "openrouter": {
      "options": { "baseURL": "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1" },
      "models": {
        "meta-llama/llama-3.3-70b-instruct:free": { "name": "Llama 3.3 70B (free)" }
      }
    },
    "groq": {
      "options": { "baseURL": "https://api.groq.com/openai/v1" },
      "models": {
        "llama-3.3-70b-versatile": { "name": "Llama 3.3 70B Groq" },
        "llama-3.1-8b-instant": { "name": "Llama 3.1 8B Instant" }
      }
    },
    "together": {
      "options": { "baseURL": "https://api.together.xyz/v1" },
      "models": {
        "meta-llama/Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct-Turbo": { "name": "Llama 3.3 70B Together" }
      }
    }
  },
  "model": "groq/llama-3.3-70b-versatile"
}

Inject Keys

export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or-v1-..."
export GROQ_API_KEY="gsk_..."
export TOGETHER_API_KEY="..."

OpenCode matches each provider to an environment variable of the same name, so you never hardcode keys in the config.

Launch and Switch

opencode

Inside the TUI, press Ctrl+M to switch between configured models. Use Groq's llama-3.3-70b-versatile for fast everyday coding (first-token latency often under 300ms), fall back to OpenRouter's :free Llama for heavier reasoning, and pick llama-3.1-8b-instant for the cheapest code completion.

Free-tier Comparison

Provider	Strength	Weakness	Best for
Groq	Blazing fast	128K context, strict TPM	Real-time chat, completion
OpenRouter :free	Many models	Heavy queuing	Complex reasoning
Together	Stable	Few fully free models	Mid-complexity tasks

Model Selection Tips

In practice, free models differ noticeably by task: for code completion use Groq's llama-3.1-8b-instant (low latency, large free quota); for complex refactors or algorithms pick OpenRouter's llama-3.3-70b-instruct:free (70B params, stronger reasoning); for Chinese prose use Qwen on Together. Configure all of them and switch on demand.

Troubleshooting

429 Too Many Requests: Free tiers have RPM caps. Wait 30 seconds or switch providers — configuring all three lets you Ctrl+M to the next on failure.
Garbled non-English output: Set export LANG=en_US.UTF-8, or append Always respond in Simplified Chinese to the prompt.
OpenRouter :free returns 403: Verify your account has a credit card on file — OpenRouter requires verification even for free models and will not charge you.
context length exceeded on 8B models: Switch to a 70B model or split the file into chunks.

You now have a fully free terminal AI coding environment.

Pitfalls and Best Practices

Multi-provider switching needs /model command: OpenCode does not auto-fallback; when one provider hits 429 you must manually switch to the backup.
Keep token context small: most free models have 8K-32K context; chunk long files before sending.
Never commit API keys: use the apiKey: "${ENV_VAR}" reference syntax; pre-commit hooks alone are not enough.
Prefer Groq over OpenRouter for speed: Groq is consistently faster for daily coding; reserve OpenRouter :free as the degraded fallback.

🚀 Get Started: One-Click Free API Access

Want to call all the free models above with a single API key, no need to sign up for each provider? Apishare.cc provides a unified API Key — one key, 100+ models, free models at zero cost.

👉 Register on Apishare.cc → Get your unified API Key

📊 Want to see more free model rankings? Check out the Sep 2026 Free LLM API Rankings →

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