Ability to use Free Models (0x credits) in Copilot CLI

Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve

The Copilot CLI uses Sonnet 4 by default which incurs 1x cost / message.

Proposed solution

In the Copilot CLI, I wish we could select from a list of free models provided by GitHub Copilot eg. GPT-4.1, GPT-4o, GPT-5 mini, Grok Code Fast 1 etc. This would let us optimize our monthly quota. Thank you for considering.

Example prompts or workflows

No response

Additional context

No response

+1'd. This is definitely the reason I'm not using the cli for now. Sometimes I ask some very simple questions and I wouldn't want to use a premium request for that!

+1. Support adding free models rather than wasting premium request credits on simple tasks. This is crucial for our long-term use of Copilot CLI.

This is indeed very necessary for me to use the cli viably. I feel vscode has the best gh copilot experience right now but much of that should be ported to the cli, starting with more model availability

+1 , some task maybe just want to read, but wasting the premium

+1 maybe I can replace codecompanion.nvim with sidekick.nvim that use Copilot CLI.

+1

👍

This really should be prioritized to include at least one 0x multiplier model, and set it as the default.

+1

Max priority👍🏻

this should be a priority, the tool currently forces the use of expensive models for very simple tasks.

+1

@JourneyOver

This is a a features everyone wants, but I guess it would stress their servers too much. Currently I am using Haiku 4.5. Thanks @JourneyOver , I will try opencode.

+1 — Free model selection in Copilot CLI would be very helpful.
Being able to choose lower-cost/free models (e.g., GPT-5 mini / 0x credits tiers) lets teams run frequent CLI prompts without burning quota, especially for routine tasks (refactors, test stubs, commit messages). Thanks for considering!

but I guess it would stress their servers too much

It shouldn't be any more of a stress than running the free models through Copilot Chat in VSCode.

+1

When?

It's very hit or miss with them working from what I can tell, I ended up switching over to opencode and just use my copilot through it instead and it seems to work better and I don't have to deal with workarounds.

Same here with sidekick inside Neovim

Since it's using public API I believe you can achieve that by changing @github\copilot\index.js

There's a line

=["claude-sonnet-4.5","claude-sonnet-4","gpt-5"];
That can be replaced with:

=["gpt-4o","gpt-5","gpt-5-mini","grok-code-fast-1","o3-mini","o1","claude-3.5-sonnet","claude-3.7-sonnet","claude-3.7-sonnet-thought","claude-sonnet-4","claude-sonnet-4.5","gemini-2.0-flash-001","gemini-2.5-pro","gpt-4.1","o4-mini"];
Then go to your .copilot/config.json and a model of your choice:
{
  "banner": "never",
  "model": "grok-code-fast-1",
  "render_markdown": true,
  "screen_reader": false,
  "theme": "auto"
}

I tried to apply these changes but I get:

       * If new errors or old errors persist, return to step 2 and repeat the process. You must continue until `bun checks` is clean.

 ✗ Model call failed: "403 403 Access to this endpoint is forbidden. Please review our [Terms of 
   Service](https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/github-terms/github-terms-of-service).\n" (Request ID: FF70:3B696B:183D6E7:23CD8B3:69073731)

 ✗ Authorization error, you may need to run /login

Since it's using public API I believe you can achieve that by changing @github\copilot\index.js
There's a line
=["claude-sonnet-4.5","claude-sonnet-4","gpt-5"];
That can be replaced with:
=["gpt-4o","gpt-5","gpt-5-mini","grok-code-fast-1","o3-mini","o1","claude-3.5-sonnet","claude-3.7-sonnet","claude-3.7-sonnet-thought","claude-sonnet-4","claude-sonnet-4.5","gemini-2.0-flash-001","gemini-2.5-pro","gpt-4.1","o4-mini"];
Then go to your .copilot/config.json and a model of your choice:
{
  "banner": "never",
  "model": "grok-code-fast-1",
  "render_markdown": true,
  "screen_reader": false,
  "theme": "auto"
}
I tried to apply these changes but I get:
       * If new errors or old errors persist, return to step 2 and repeat the process. You must continue until `bun checks` is clean.

 ✗ Model call failed: "403 403 Access to this endpoint is forbidden. Please review our [Terms of 
   Service](https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/github-terms/github-terms-of-service).\n" (Request ID: FF70:3B696B:183D6E7:23CD8B3:69073731)

 ✗ Authorization error, you may need to run /login

me too here

I've created a patcher for this in my repo here

This should continue to work after updates as long as the approach for the model array stays the same.

+1

Currently this is the most wanted feature by the number of reactions and comments.

0x models now available with the 0.0.363 release. Enjoy!

@EvanBoyle

@EvanBoyle Thank you! This was much needed 💯 Any chance you'd add Grok Code Fast 1 (0X) to this list? It's an amazing agentic model. Thanks for considering.

@zazendev9900

@zazendev9900 we are always open to any and all feedback from the community! Would you mind opening a new issue to track this request?

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Ability to use Free Models (0x credits) in Copilot CLI #32

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Ability to use Free Models (0x credits) in Copilot CLI #32

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