Free compute for the hive: the jugaad list
How this project keeps running 24/7 with no budget. Every entry is something the hive can use today or that the
owner can apply for. Free tiers change often, so the Hermes lane re-checks this page against each provider's
official page every month.
Status: verified 2027-02-01 against official pages.
Already wired in (no setup)
| What |
What is free |
How the hive uses it |
Caveat |
| GitHub Actions |
Standard runners are free for public repositories |
Validates every push and pull request; runs the cloud hive by hand when the Mac is off (.github/workflows/hive-cloud.yml) |
Never schedule the hive: frequent automated pushes look like spam. Scheduled checks pause after 60 days without repository activity |
One-time owner steps that add free capacity (repository secrets)
Add any of these under Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions. The free agent tries providers in order and
skips any that is missing or rate-limited, so each extra key adds capacity.
Paid by the owner (already bought)
| What |
How the hive uses it |
| OpenCode Go plan |
Secret OPENCODE_API_KEY. The cloud OpenCode lane runs the real OpenCode CLI on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, and the judge prefers it. Content work uses free tiers first to save the plan's limits. |
| Google AI Pro / Workspace accounts |
Gemini CLI signed in with one of them is a Mac worker in the Hermes lane; Drive for desktop mounts their files for the harvest; NotebookLM (through its MCP on the Mac) is a source of leads for Hermes-lane workers |
Free on the owner's Mac
| What |
Why |
| Gemini CLI signed in with a Google account |
Free tier of about 1,000 requests a day (more with AI Pro); runs as an extra Hermes-lane worker (gemini --yolo -p) |
| Ollama + a small instruct model |
Unlimited local inference. Set HIVE_CMD_HERMES=free-agent in cron and the agent uses http://localhost:11434/v1 when cloud providers are exhausted. Official: ollama.com |
| The owner's own JEVX / Hermes / OpenCode |
Extra lanes through ops/crontab.example. Their claims never collide with the cloud's |
Worth applying for
| Programme |
What it can give |
Fit |
| GitHub Student Developer Pack |
Free GitHub Copilot Pro for verified students |
Needs current student verification. Official: education.github.com/pack |
| Oracle Cloud Always Free |
Always-free Arm VM capacity, enough to host Ollama with a small model 24/7 |
Needs a card for identity verification; no charge on the always-free tier. Official: oracle.com/cloud/free |
| Google Cloud free trial / free tier |
Trial credits for new accounts plus always-free products |
Needs a card. Official: cloud.google.com/free |
| Kaggle / Google Colab |
Free notebook GPUs with weekly quotas |
Good for training and evaluating the future JEV+LLM model, not for 24/7 serving. Official: kaggle.com, colab.research.google.com |
Rules for adding an entry
Only free or free-credit offers, each with the provider's official page, what exactly is free, and the catch
(card needed, data use, limits). Remove offers that have ended.