freellmapi: run from source, auto-pull on boot, free-tier aggregator

Run `tashfeenahmed/freellmapi` (14K-star OpenAI-compat proxy stacking 16 free LLM provider tiers) from the local fork's dev server. Auto-start on Windows login on ports :3001 (server) + :5173 (Vite client).

freellmapi: dev server from source, auto-pull on boot

What freellmapi is

tashfeenahmed/freellmapi is a 14,201-star OpenAI-compatible proxy that stacks the free tiers of 16 LLM providers behind one /v1 endpoint, totaling ~1.7B free tokens/month. Pure forward (not reverse-engineered), encrypted keys, smart routing with auto-failover.

Repo description: “OpenAI-compatible proxy that stacks the free tiers of 16 LLM providers (~1.7B tokens/month) behind one /v1 endpoint — plus any custom OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Smart routing, automatic failover, encrypted keys. Personal experimentation only.”

Conceptually parallel to OmniRoute but with a tighter focus on the stacked-free-tier use case.

Decision

Same pattern as omniroute-dev-server-from-source-2026-06-30:

1. Fork tashfeenahmed/freellmapi to chirag127/freellmapi (canonical fork — duplicate freellmapi-1 deleted)
2. Clone to C:\D\oriz\repos\frk\freellmapi with upstream tracked
3. Startup script C:\D\oriz\scripts\start-freellmapi-dev.ps1:
   • Fast-forward merges upstream/main
   • npm install only when package-lock.json or package.json changed
   • Launches npm run dev in a Windows Terminal tab titled “freellmapi Dev”
   • Idempotent: skips if :3001 already in use
4. Auto-runs on Windows login via shell:startup shortcut
5. Manual trigger via desktop shortcut freellmapi Dev.lnk

Ports

• Server: http://localhost:3001 (Hono backend per repo’s .env.example default)
• Client: http://localhost:5173 (Vite default; ships as part of npm run dev via concurrently)

The server is the OpenAI-compat endpoint (point AI tools at http://localhost:3001/v1). The client is the web dashboard.

No collision with OmniRoute (:20128) — both can run side by side.

Why this complements OmniRoute (not replaces it)

Strategic role:

• OmniRoute = primary daily-driver gateway with rich routing + compression + MCP
• freellmapi = fallback when OmniRoute providers exhaust quota OR when a specific user wants a smaller, simpler gateway

Both pointing at the same downstream free tiers means cross-redundancy: if OmniRoute throttles, freellmapi may still have capacity on the same upstream provider via its independent routing.

Why not BYOK-only or paid

freellmapi explicitly stacks free tiers — passes the free-tier-with-cost-controls bar. No card-on-file required.

Caveats

• freellmapi’s own README says “Personal experimentation only” — apply normal don’t-overload-free-tiers hygiene
• Some of the 16 upstream providers freellmapi targets will rate-limit or shut down their free tiers over time; pair with periodic upstream review
• License is permissive but the README cautions against commercial use; respect the upstream stance

Path note

Same as OmniRoute: the launcher uses absolute path to npm.cmd (C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.cmd) because wt-spawned shells don’t reliably inherit the User PATH. See rules/development/windows-shortcut-absolute-binary-paths.

See also

• omniroute-dev-server-from-source-2026-06-30 — sibling decision; this one mirrors that pattern
• runbooks/operations/start-dev-server-from-source — the migration runbook covers both
• OmniRoute issue #5687 — filed asking OmniRoute to route through freellmapi as a no-key fallback tier

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