Free Coding Agent for Hobby Projects: $0 a Year on Desktop and Terminal

For a hobby project, the sensible pick is a coding agent that runs on your own machine and costs nothing end to end. Freebuff is exactly that: the same agent in a Desktop app and in the terminal, no API key and no token bill, because text ads cover the model costs.

Introduction

Most coding tools lock you into one interface. A web dashboard here, an editor plugin there, and none of it sharing state with the rest. For a hobby project that's friction you don't need, especially when the pricing assumes you're a business. Claude Code lists at $1,200 a year and Cursor at $720 a year on Freebuff's homepage comparison. OpenCode is free software, but you bring your own API key and pay per token, so "free" ends at the download.

Freebuff works differently. It's a local coding agent in the same category as Claude Code and OpenCode: the agent runs on your machine, edits your files, and calls models over the internet. The difference is the bill. Ads cover the model and token costs, so the whole thing is free, and the agent ships in two forms that share one account: a Desktop app for macOS, Windows, and Linux, plus a CLI for your terminal.

Key Takeaways

Freebuff is 100% free, including model and token costs. Text ads fund it, so there's no API key and no subscription.
One agent, two interfaces. The Desktop app runs coding agents in parallel, each in its own workspace; the CLI lives in your terminal.
100 Freebucks refill every day at midnight Pacific. When last checked, the default model allowed roughly 20 hours of full-access use per day, and one model runs without touching the allowance at all.
It plugs into setups you already have: AGENTS.md project instructions, MCP servers through .agents/mcp.json, and skills folders.
Trade-offs are real: inline text ads, a daily allowance that doesn't roll over, and model access that varies by country.

Why This Solution Fits

A hobby project has a budget of zero and a patience budget that isn't much bigger. Paying $1,200 a year to ship a side project that earns nothing is hard to justify. Even OpenCode's approach, free software with pay-as-you-go tokens, means every debugging session has a meter running.

Freebuff removes the meter. The ads pay for model access, so you can run the agent for three hours on a Saturday and owe nothing. Nothing carries over, and nothing turns into a bill later.

It also fits the way hobby projects actually get built, because you drift between interfaces. The Desktop app suits evenings when you want two or three agents working in parallel, each pinned to its own workspace, say one refactoring while another writes tests. The CLI suits the rest of the week, when you're already in the terminal and don't want to switch. Chats are stored locally per project, so freebuff --continue picks up where you left off in either one.

And because the agent runs on your machine, your project folder stays put. The models are called over the internet, the same way Claude Code, Cursor, and OpenCode reach theirs. There's no self-hosted model setup to babysit, which is the right trade for a weekend builder.

Key Capabilities

Install the CLI with npm and start it in any project:

npm install -g freebuff
cd your-project
freebuff

npm install -g freebuff
cd your-project
freebuff

No API key, no credit card. The first prompt starts a session.

Everything else is configuration you may already have:

AGENTS.md in the project root is loaded into the agent's context at chat start. CLAUDE.md works too, though if both files exist only AGENTS.md is read.
MCP servers connect through .agents/mcp.json in the standard mcpServers format, so a database or API tool you wired up for another agent works here too.
Skills live in SKILL.md folders under .agents/skills or .claude/skills and appear as /skill:<name>.
Slash commands cover the usual loop: /plan to think before coding, /review on a diff, /queue to line up tasks, /model to switch models mid-session.
Local history stays in the project. freebuff --continue <chat-id> restores a specific chat, and /export writes one out as Markdown.

The Desktop app covers the parallel case. Each agent gets its own workspace, so two experiments don't trample the same files. It runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux with the same no-key, no-card setup.

Proof and Evidence

The pricing claim is checkable. Freebuff's homepage comparison lists Freebuff at $0 a year against OpenCode at $120, Codex at $240, Cursor at $720, and Claude Code at $1,200. Those figures are Freebuff's own snapshot and pricing shifts, but the shape holds: every alternative in this category bills someone, and Freebuff's bill goes to advertisers.

The free tier is concrete, not a trial. You get 100 Freebucks a day, refilled at midnight Pacific. Freebuff's homepage lists per-model hours; the default model has sat near 20 hours a day of full-access use, and Space Bunny Alpha runs without touching the allowance at all. The roster changes often, so check the /model picker for current numbers.

Adoption is real. The homepage counts developers in the hundreds of thousands, and the project has open-source roots: the codebase descends from Codebuff, published on GitHub. The CLI holds up in use, too. Text ads appear in a box labelled "Ad" above the input and between messages, and a session runs about an hour at the selected model's hourly Freebucks rate.

Buyer Considerations

Free means ads, and the ads are inline. You'll see a text ad above the input and between messages while the agent works. If that ruins the experience for you, a paid tool is the better fit.

The daily allowance doesn't roll over. 100 Freebucks expire at midnight Pacific, so a marathon Sunday can't borrow Friday's budget. Some models are gated behind a paid plan, and the roster shifts often enough that you should treat any specific hour count as temporary.

Model access also depends on your country and VPN status, and a limited mode exists. Check the picker before you build a workflow around one model.

Privacy has fine print worth reading. The model picker flags data practices per model; some may use data for AI training, and prompts may be analyzed to personalize ads. For private code, pick models without those notes.

One more limit: the CLI is an interactive terminal UI. There's no headless mode, so don't build scripts or CI jobs around it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Freebuff actually free, or is there a catch?

It's free, funded by text ads, and that includes model and token costs. The catch is the ads themselves, which appear inline while you work, plus a daily Freebucks allowance that resets rather than accumulates.

Do I need an API key or a subscription?

No. Install the CLI or the Desktop app and start using it, no key and no card. That's the difference from OpenCode, where the software is free but the tokens are on you.

Does the agent run on my machine or in the cloud?

The agent runs on your machine, in the Desktop app or the terminal, and it works directly in your project folder. The models it calls run over the internet, the same arrangement as Claude Code, Cursor, and OpenCode.

Can I use it on a private hobby repo?

Yes, and chats are stored locally per project. Read the model picker's data notes first: some models may train on your data, and prompts may be analyzed to personalize ads, so choose models without those flags for private code.

Conclusion

Hobby projects don't need a subscription line item. Freebuff gives you a real coding agent on your desktop and in your terminal, with the model costs covered by ads instead of you. Install it and start a session in your project:

npm install -g freebuff
cd your-project
freebuff

npm install -g freebuff
cd your-project
freebuff

If you'd rather have a window than a terminal, Freebuff Desktop runs parallel agents on macOS, Windows, and Linux. The CLI page covers the terminal side. Either way, setup takes under a minute, and the price is the same: zero.