Configure Cursor with a Free LLM API — No Credit Card

1. Pick your tool

Claude Code Cursor Codex Gemini CLI OpenCode Hermes OpenClaw

2. Pick your free backend

Owl Alpha OpenRouter

# Cursor → Settings (⚙️) → Models → Add Model
# Enter the model name exactly as shown, then fill in:
#   Override OpenAI Base URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
#   OpenAI API Key: <your-api-key>   # Get at https://openrouter.ai
# Click "Verify" to confirm the connection, then enable the model.
#
# Model name to add: Owl Alpha

NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) OpenRouter

# Cursor → Settings (⚙️) → Models → Add Model
# Enter the model name exactly as shown, then fill in:
#   Override OpenAI Base URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
#   OpenAI API Key: <your-api-key>   # Get at https://openrouter.ai
# Click "Verify" to confirm the connection, then enable the model.
#
# Model name to add: NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)

Poolside: Laguna XS.2 (free) OpenRouter

# Cursor → Settings (⚙️) → Models → Add Model
# Enter the model name exactly as shown, then fill in:
#   Override OpenAI Base URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
#   OpenAI API Key: <your-api-key>   # Get at https://openrouter.ai
# Click "Verify" to confirm the connection, then enable the model.
#
# Model name to add: Poolside: Laguna XS.2 (free)

Poolside: Laguna M.1 (free) OpenRouter

# Cursor → Settings (⚙️) → Models → Add Model
# Enter the model name exactly as shown, then fill in:
#   Override OpenAI Base URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
#   OpenAI API Key: <your-api-key>   # Get at https://openrouter.ai
# Click "Verify" to confirm the connection, then enable the model.
#
# Model name to add: Poolside: Laguna M.1 (free)

inclusionAI: Ling-2.6-1T (free) OpenRouter

# Cursor → Settings (⚙️) → Models → Add Model
# Enter the model name exactly as shown, then fill in:
#   Override OpenAI Base URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
#   OpenAI API Key: <your-api-key>   # Get at https://openrouter.ai
# Click "Verify" to confirm the connection, then enable the model.
#
# Model name to add: inclusionAI: Ling-2.6-1T (free)

Tencent: Hy3 preview (free) OpenRouter

# Cursor → Settings (⚙️) → Models → Add Model
# Enter the model name exactly as shown, then fill in:
#   Override OpenAI Base URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
#   OpenAI API Key: <your-api-key>   # Get at https://openrouter.ai
# Click "Verify" to confirm the connection, then enable the model.
#
# Model name to add: Tencent: Hy3 preview (free)

Baidu: Qianfan-OCR-Fast (free) OpenRouter

# Cursor → Settings (⚙️) → Models → Add Model
# Enter the model name exactly as shown, then fill in:
#   Override OpenAI Base URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
#   OpenAI API Key: <your-api-key>   # Get at https://openrouter.ai
# Click "Verify" to confirm the connection, then enable the model.
#
# Model name to add: Baidu: Qianfan-OCR-Fast (free)

Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) OpenRouter

# Cursor → Settings (⚙️) → Models → Add Model
# Enter the model name exactly as shown, then fill in:
#   Override OpenAI Base URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
#   OpenAI API Key: <your-api-key>   # Get at https://openrouter.ai
# Click "Verify" to confirm the connection, then enable the model.
#
# Model name to add: Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B  (free)

Google: Gemma 4 31B (free) OpenRouter

# Cursor → Settings (⚙️) → Models → Add Model
# Enter the model name exactly as shown, then fill in:
#   Override OpenAI Base URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
#   OpenAI API Key: <your-api-key>   # Get at https://openrouter.ai
# Click "Verify" to confirm the connection, then enable the model.
#
# Model name to add: Google: Gemma 4 31B (free)

Google: Lyria 3 Pro Preview OpenRouter

# Cursor → Settings (⚙️) → Models → Add Model
# Enter the model name exactly as shown, then fill in:
#   Override OpenAI Base URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
#   OpenAI API Key: <your-api-key>   # Get at https://openrouter.ai
# Click "Verify" to confirm the connection, then enable the model.
#
# Model name to add: Google: Lyria 3 Pro Preview

Google: Lyria 3 Clip Preview OpenRouter

# Cursor → Settings (⚙️) → Models → Add Model
# Enter the model name exactly as shown, then fill in:
#   Override OpenAI Base URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
#   OpenAI API Key: <your-api-key>   # Get at https://openrouter.ai
# Click "Verify" to confirm the connection, then enable the model.
#
# Model name to add: Google: Lyria 3 Clip Preview

NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Super (free) OpenRouter

# Cursor → Settings (⚙️) → Models → Add Model
# Enter the model name exactly as shown, then fill in:
#   Override OpenAI Base URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
#   OpenAI API Key: <your-api-key>   # Get at https://openrouter.ai
# Click "Verify" to confirm the connection, then enable the model.
#
# Model name to add: NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Super (free)