$ cat README.md
# How I code with AI on a budget/cheap
Budget-friendly AI development workflows and coding guides. Free and low-cost tools, real workflows, and evolving playbooks.
$ _
[HN] Featured on Hacker News →
discussion
$ ls -la guides/
total 3
drwxr-xr-x user staff guides/
-rw-r--r-- 2025-11-09 11092025/
-rw-r--r-- 2025-09-01 09012025/
-rw-r--r-- 2025-07-01 07012025/
AI Coding Guides
./11092025/index.html
// This guide outlines a cost-effective AI coding workflow centered on Claude Code, heavily utilizing the Minimax M2 model and tools like aicodeprep-gui for planning. It also highlights several free or low-cost resources, including Google's Antigravity IDE and various agent platforms, to maximize productivity while minimizing expenses.
./09012025/index.html
// This guide outlines a strategy for free AI-assisted coding by leveraging multiple web-based models like GLM 4.5, Gemini, and Claude through various free tiers. The core strategy involves using these superior web interfaces for complex problem-solving and code review, then using cheaper or free agent tools only for the simple task of executing file edits.
./07012025/index.html
// This guide outlines a strategy for coding with AI on a budget by leveraging free tiers of multiple models like GPT, Gemini, and Claude through web interfaces. The core strategy is to use these "smarter" chat interfaces for complex problem-solving and code review, then feed the solutions to cheaper, integrated agents like Cline solely for executing file edits.
{
"topics": {
"core_workflows": [
"Browser-only AI setups",
"Safe file sharing with AI",
"Prompting and context patterns",
"Debugging and refactor flows"
],
"budget_scaling": [
"Free-tier and cheap models",
"Mixing web chats + VS Code",
"Async agents and queues",
"Keeping costs under control"
]
}
}