Quickstart

Make your first request in a few minutes. You need a FreeTheAI account, an API key, and today's check-in; the code is the same OpenAI client code you already know, with a different base URL and key.

Get a key and check in

These steps happen on freetheai.org, by you:

1. Create a free account and confirm your email.
2. Open Dashboard > API keys and create a key. It starts with ftai_, is 53 characters long, and is shown only once, so copy all of it.
3. Do today's check-in. Free models stay unlocked until 00:00 UTC.

Save the key in an environment variable

Keep the key out of your code. The examples on this site read it from FTAI_KEY.

macOS / Linux

export FTAI_KEY="ftai_your_key_here"

Windows PowerShell

$env:FTAI_KEY = "ftai_your_key_here"

Windows cmd

set FTAI_KEY=ftai_your_key_here

To keep it across terminals, add the export line to your shell profile, or on Windows run setx FTAI_KEY "ftai_your_key_here" and open a new terminal.

Send your first request

Pick a language. Every example sends one message to fta/zai/glm-5.3 and prints the reply.

curl

curl https://api.freetheai.org/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FTAI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "fta/zai/glm-5.3",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "user", "content": "Explain recursion in one paragraph."}
    ]
  }'

Python

# pip install openai
import os
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.freetheai.org/v1",
    api_key=os.environ["FTAI_KEY"],
)

reply = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="fta/zai/glm-5.3",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Explain recursion in one paragraph."}],
)
print(reply.choices[0].message.content)

JavaScript

// npm install openai   (save as quickstart.mjs, run: node quickstart.mjs)
import OpenAI from 'openai'

const client = new OpenAI({
  baseURL: 'https://api.freetheai.org/v1',
  apiKey: process.env.FTAI_KEY,
})

const reply = await client.chat.completions.create({
  model: 'fta/zai/glm-5.3',
  messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Explain recursion in one paragraph.' }],
})
console.log(reply.choices[0].message.content)

TypeScript

// npm install openai   (run with: npx tsx quickstart.ts)
import OpenAI from 'openai'
import type { ChatCompletionMessageParam } from 'openai/resources/chat/completions'

const client = new OpenAI({
  baseURL: 'https://api.freetheai.org/v1',
  apiKey: process.env.FTAI_KEY ?? '',
})

const messages: ChatCompletionMessageParam[] = [
  { role: 'user', content: 'Explain recursion in one paragraph.' },
]

const reply = await client.chat.completions.create({
  model: 'fta/zai/glm-5.3',
  messages,
})
console.log(reply.choices[0].message.content ?? '')

A successful reply looks like this (shortened):

{
  "id": "chatcmpl-...",
  "object": "chat.completion",
  "model": "fta/zai/glm-5.3",
  "choices": [
    {
      "index": 0,
      "message": { "role": "assistant", "content": "Recursion is when a function solves a problem by calling itself..." },
      "finish_reason": "stop"
    }
  ],
  "usage": { "prompt_tokens": 14, "completion_tokens": 96, "total_tokens": 110 }
}

Stream the reply

For long replies, turn on streaming so words arrive as they are written. Very long replies without streaming can time out in some apps.

Python

stream = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="fta/zai/glm-5.3",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Write a short story about a lighthouse."}],
    stream=True,
)
for chunk in stream:
    if chunk.choices and chunk.choices[0].delta.content:
        print(chunk.choices[0].delta.content, end="", flush=True)

TypeScript

const stream = await client.chat.completions.create({
  model: 'fta/zai/glm-5.3',
  messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Write a short story about a lighthouse.' }],
  stream: true,
})
for await (const chunk of stream) {
  process.stdout.write(chunk.choices[0]?.delta?.content ?? '')
}

More on streaming.

If something goes wrong

What you see	What to do
401 unauthorized	The key is missing or incomplete. Paste the whole ftai_ key (53 characters).
403 Daily check-in required	Do today's check-in, then send the request again.
404 model not found	Copy an exact ID from freetheai.org/models, including the fta/ part.
429 concurrency limit	A reply is still running. Free accounts run one request at a time.
503 model busy	Retry in a minute or pick another model. Busy refusals do not count.

Every message and its fix is on the errors page.

Next steps

• Want retries, fallback models, and typed errors built in? Use an official SDK for Python, JavaScript and TypeScript, or Go.
• Use a different model: Models and IDs.
• Give the model functions to call: Tool calls.
• Already using the Anthropic SDK or Claude Code? Point it at https://api.freetheai.org: Anthropic SDK.
• Set up an app instead of writing code: App guides.