The coding agent that runs on the cheap models.
CheapCode is an open-source coding agent that connects directly to OpenRouter. No per-token surcharge, no middleman markup on your models — just the best cheap open-weight models, priced at roughly what they actually cost.
Why this exists
The cheap open-weight models — DeepSeek, GLM — are genuinely great at coding now. But the popular tools don't connect to them, or they slap a per-token surcharge on top that roughly doubles the cost of the cheapest models. Cursor doesn't even support DeepSeek.
So we built the thing we wanted: a fast agent loop, prompt caching that actually hits, provider pinning so the cache stays warm, and a flat ~10% markup instead of a per-token tax. The cheaper the model, the bigger the saving.
Optimized for
Download
Download for Mac (Apple Silicon) ↓
The desktop app — Cursor-style agent chat on OpenRouter models. Unzip, drag to Applications, then right-click → Open the first time (it's unsigned while in beta).
Install the CLI
$ curl -fsSL https://cheapcode.ai/install.sh | bash
Needs Node.js 18+. Or grab the tarball and
npm install -g it yourself. Then set OPENROUTER_API_KEY and run
cheapcode in any project.
A CLI today. A macOS desktop agent next — same agent core, Cursor-style layout, your models.
View the source →