free-the-claw

A self-hosted AI chat setup using openclaw with free NVIDIA NIM models via claude-code-free.

Before You Begin

Get a free NVIDIA NIM API key from https://build.nvidia.com/settings/api-keys

Quick Start with Codespaces

The fastest way to try free-the-claw — no local install needed.

1. Click the Open in GitHub Codespaces badge above
2. When prompted, add your NVIDIA_NIM_API_KEY as a Codespaces secret
3. Wait for the containers to build and start
4. The gateway port (18789) auto-opens in your browser — log in with ?token=changeme

Codespaces is ephemeral and will reset after a while. To persist your data, follow the Deploy on Railway section instead.

Running Locally Via Docker

1. Clone the repo:

   git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/polats/free-the-claw.git
   cd free-the-claw
   

2. Copy the example env file and add your API key:

   cp .env.example .env
   

   Edit .env and set your API key and model:

   NVIDIA_NIM_API_KEY=your-key-here
   MODEL=stepfun-ai/step-3.5-flash
   

3. Start the services:

   docker compose up -d
   

4. Open http://localhost:18789/?token=changeme in your browser.

Configuration

• Model: Change MODEL in .env (default: stepfun-ai/step-3.5-flash)

Popular choices:

• stepfun-ai/step-3.5-flash
• moonshotai/kimi-k2.5
• z-ai/glm4.7
• minimaxai/minimax-m2.1
• mistralai/devstral-2-123b-instruct-2512

See Claude Code Free to add more models.

• Gateway token: Change OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN in docker-compose.yml (default: changeme)

• Ports: claude-code-free runs on 8082, openclaw on 18789

Deploy on Railway

For persistent hosting, deploy on Railway with two services from this repo. You will probably need the Hobby Plan ($5/month) as the free tier may not have enough memory for openclaw.

1. Click the Deploy on Railway badge above
2. Add your NVIDIA NIM API key from https://build.nvidia.com/settings/api-keys in the openclaw service's variables
3. Once deployed, you should see the gateway URL on the service (similar to https://openclaw-railway-1234567890.up.railway.app)
4. Visit the URL via the browser appended with ?token=changeme (you can change this OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN in the openclaw service's environment variables)

GitHub Integration (optional)

Connect your GitHub account by adding a Personal Access Token to your .env:

GITHUB_PAT_TOKEN=ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This does two things:

1. Agent persona — auto-detects your GitHub username and fetches your profile README (the username/username repo) as a SOUL.md, which openclaw injects into the agent's system prompt
2. Git operations — configures git credentials and gh CLI so the agent can clone, push, pull, and interact with your repos