What is a cloud-based AI coding agent?

A cloud-based AI coding agent is an AI coding tool where the actual model runs on a remote server instead of on your own computer.

That distinction matters more than it might sound.

With a local AI coding setup, your machine has to handle the model or at least part of the workload. Depending on the model, that can mean a lot of RAM, GPU power or a complicated local setup.

With a cloud-based coding agent, your computer mainly acts as the interface. The agent can work with your project remotely while you interact with it from your terminal.

A typical coding agent can do much more than generate code snippets. It can inspect a project, read files, edit files, run commands, execute tests, find errors and make additional changes based on the results.

That's the model we're using with Clixad.

Clixad is a cloud-based AI coding agent for the terminal. The agent runs remotely, so users don't need their own API key or expensive local hardware.

The other difference is the pricing model. Instead of requiring a monthly subscription, Clixad provides free credits and additional ways to earn credits through advertiser-funded offers, forms and surveys.

We also made the five cheapest models free within their daily usage limits. This includes GPT-5 Nano, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite and Kimi K2.

Cloud-based AI coding can therefore be useful for people who want an actual coding agent without setting up local models or committing to another recurring subscription.

It also makes the concept more accessible for beginners, students, hobby developers and people who only use AI coding tools occasionally.

For us, the interesting part isn't just moving AI coding into the cloud. It's making the full agent workflow available without requiring the user to own the infrastructure behind it.