Use Cline / Roo with llmapi.cheap

Run Cline / Roo on Gemini 3.8 Flash, Claude Sonnet 4.6, Claude Opus 4.6 or GPT-OSS with a single llmapi.cheap key. Plans start at $2 a month, and there is a free one-hour trial.

Protocol: OpenAI Chat

Fastest: one command

The setup command finds Cline / Roo on your machine, writes its configuration with your key and sets Gemini 3.8 Flash (high) as the default model. It needs no Node.js. Sign up first: your key is created automatically, and the dashboard shows this command with the key already filled in.

macOS / Linux

curl -fsSL https://llmapi.cheap/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell)

irm https://llmapi.cheap/install.ps1 | iex

Manual setup

Cline CLI (also configures the shared Cline settings):

cline auth -p openai-compatible -k YOUR_API_KEY -m gemini-3.8-flash-high -b https://llmapi.cheap/v1

In the VS Code extension (Cline or Roo Code) choose API Provider → "OpenAI Compatible":

Base URL:  https://llmapi.cheap/v1
API Key:   YOUR_API_KEY
Model ID:  gemini-3.8-flash-high

Endpoints

Use the base URL that matches the protocol your tool speaks.

OpenAI

https://llmapi.cheap/v1

Anthropic

https://llmapi.cheap

Gemini

https://llmapi.cheap/v1beta

Models

https://llmapi.cheap/v1/models

Model IDs

Any of these work wherever Cline / Roo asks for a model name. Gemini 3.8 Flash (high) is the default the setup command picks.

Troubleshooting

• 401 / invalid key: check the key starts with sk-llm- and has no extra spaces. Create a new one under Dashboard → API keys if needed.
• Model not allowed: the free trial covers the Gemini models; Claude and GPT-OSS come with any paid plan.
• 404 on requests: OpenAI-style tools need https://llmapi.cheap/v1; Anthropic-style tools need https://llmapi.cheap without /v1.