Run Claude Code,
completely free.
Claude Code is an AI coding agent that lives in your terminal. It normally needs a paid Anthropic plan — this guide powers it with NVIDIA's free AI models instead. Same tool. Zero cost.
How it works
Three pieces, working together
You type a request. A small translator rewrites it, and NVIDIA's free models do the thinking — then hand the answer back to Claude Code. You never leave your terminal.
The AI agent you talk to. It reads files, runs commands and writes code for you.
A tiny proxy that rewrites Claude's requests into a format NVIDIA understands — and back.
NVIDIA's free inference cloud runs powerful open models and does the actual thinking.
First, the basics
New here? Here's what each part is
No prior knowledge needed. Three short explanations and you'll understand the whole stack.
What is Claude Code?
AI that writes code
An AI coding assistant that edits files, runs terminal commands, and handles complex development tasks directly in your terminal.
What is NVIDIA NIM?
Free AI inference API
Free access to powerful open-source models like DeepSeek, Mistral and Gemma — served from NVIDIA's cloud. No credit card required.
Why LiteLLM?
The translation layer
LiteLLM converts Claude Code's Anthropic API calls into the OpenAI format NVIDIA NIM expects — so the two speak the same language.
What you need
Just three things
All free, all quick to install. Grab these and you're ready for the setup walkthrough.
Go to setup →Ready to code for free?
Follow the step-by-step setup and you'll be running Claude Code on free NVIDIA models in about fifteen minutes.