Docs · Cline
Four VS Code settings
FreeModel is an AI model gateway: one key for 477 models across dozens of providers, routed by task with free capacity tried first. Cline lets you pick OpenAI-compatible as a provider and then asks for a base URL, a key and a model. All three come from FreeModel.
Setup
{
"cline.apiProvider": "openai",
"cline.openaiBaseUrl": "https://freemodel.online/v1",
"cline.openaiApiKey": "sk-your-key",
"cline.model": "auto/best-coding"
}The same three fields are in Cline's own settings panel if you would rather click than edit JSON. Provider: OpenAI Compatible.
Why a route works well here
Cline is an agent — it reads files, writes patches and runs commands in a loop. That means many calls per task, and the model that is best for the planning step is often not the best for the mechanical edits.
Point it at auto/best-coding and the router makes that call per request. If
a provider hits a rate limit mid-task, the request moves to the next candidate rather
than failing the run.
For long agent runs specifically, consider auto/coding:reliable — it weights
toward providers with steady uptime over raw capability.
If it does not work
| Symptom | Cause |
|---|---|
| 404 | Base URL is not ending at /v1, or has an extra segment |
| 401 | Key wrong, or the provider is still set to something other than OpenAI Compatible |
| Runs stall on long tasks | Provider-side rate limits; a route with failover handles it better than a fixed model |
| Tool calls rejected | The chosen model id does not support tool calling — every id in /v1/models does, so check the id spelling |