Cline or Roo on a Relay Key: A $0.624 Receipt

01 / Start with a $0.624 receipt, not a savings claim

A cheap API key deserves an itemized bill. Before sending a coding agent through your repository, separate ordinary input, generated output, cache reads, and cache writes. Otherwise, a small headline price tells you little about the final charge.

This walkthrough uses an illustrative session costing $0.624. The token quantities and rates are arithmetic assumptions, not measured usage, published CheapRelay prices, or a performance benchmark. Replace every rate with the applicable account price before budgeting real work.

CheapRelay describes its service as pay-as-you-go, with no monthly fee or subscription, and billing for real tokens, including cache reads and writes. That makes the useful question straightforward: what did this particular task consume?

02 / Connect Cline using three provider fields

In Cline, open settings and select OpenAI Compatible. Its documented configuration requires a provider base URL, API key, and model ID. Use the relay key here, rather than a key issued by a different provider. ([docs.cline.bot](https://docs.cline.bot/provider-config/openai-compatible))

• ■ Base URL: use HTTPS with the host api.cheapapirelay.com and append /v1.
• ■ API key: paste your CheapRelay key into the provider’s secret field.
• ■ Model ID: copy the exact API identifier from CheapRelay’s available-model listing.

Do not guess an identifier from a display name such as Gemini 2.5 Flash. Cline explicitly advises checking the chosen provider’s model names and configuration details. ([docs.cline.bot](https://docs.cline.bot/provider-config/openai-compatible))

Cline also exposes model configuration fields for context size, maximum output, and input/output prices. Populate those from verified provider information; do not substitute the illustrative rates below. ([docs.cline.bot](https://docs.cline.bot/provider-config/openai-compatible))

03 / Use Roo only after checking tool compatibility

Roo’s documented OpenAI Compatible configuration uses the same base URL, key, and model-ID pattern. However, its documentation requires native OpenAI-compatible tool calling. A successful text response alone does not establish that the selected relay route supports file-reading and editing tools. ([docs.roocode.com](https://docs.roocode.com/providers/openai-compatible))

For either client, start with a disposable project. Ask for a short explanation, then request one file read, then one reversible edit. Keep command execution under manual approval during this check. Inspect the diff before expanding the task.

04 / Itemize four token buckets to reach $0.624

Assume the following mutually exclusive billing buckets. All rates are hypothetical US dollars per million tokens. The ordinary-input count excludes the tokens separately assigned to cache reads and writes.

• ■ Ordinary input: 120,000 tokens × $2.00 / 1,000,000 = $0.240.
• ■ Cache reads: 240,000 tokens × $0.10 / 1,000,000 = $0.024.
• ■ Cache writes: 40,000 tokens × $3.00 / 1,000,000 = $0.120.
• ■ Output: 30,000 tokens × $8.00 / 1,000,000 = $0.240.
• ■ Total illustrative usage charge: $0.624.

Twenty identical sessions would cost $12.48; forty would cost $24.96. Those are workload scenarios, not forecasts. The receipt covers token usage only, not taxes, payment charges, or other costs that might apply.

Notice that output contributes the same $0.240 as ordinary input despite using one-quarter as many tokens. In this example, asking for shorter explanations is worth considering alongside reducing unnecessary input.

05 / Reconcile one task before multiplying the budget

Record the starting balance, complete one bounded task, and inspect the corresponding usage records. Compare quantities and rates separately. Avoid adding cached tokens twice if an input total already includes them; follow the billing record’s definitions.

If authentication or model selection fails, check the key and exact model ID before repeatedly retrying. Both clients’ provider documentation identifies these as troubleshooting checks. ([docs.cline.bot](https://docs.cline.bot/provider-config/openai-compatible))

The official client documentation establishes the configuration pattern, but CheapRelay’s live pricing page could not be retrieved for this walkthrough. Consequently, no current rate or savings percentage is claimed here. Sign up for CheapRelay when you are ready to verify the applicable prices and run your own first receipt.