{"slug": "ask-hn-how-to-use-agents-via-api-cheaply", "title": "Ask HN: How to use agents via API cheaply?", "summary": "A Hacker News user asks the community for advice on building a cheap AI coding agent setup using a BYOK open source client to avoid vendor lock-in, specifically inquiring about Deepseek and Kimi models. The user wants to inspect system prompts and compare pricing to subsidized plans like Claude Pro.", "body_md": "| ||||||||||||\n1 point by |\nI’d like to code with an AI agent via a BYOK open source client. I want to be able to inspect everything, check the system prompt, etc. Also, I’d like to avoid vendor lock in. Is anyone here using a setup like this? Does this get close in pricing and efficiency to the subsidized plans offered by model providers (like Claude Pro, etc)? In particular Deepseek and Kimi models are being praised as both efficient and cheap; I’m curious if anyone built a coding setup around them. | |||||||||||\nApplications are open till July 27. |", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ask-hn-how-to-use-agents-via-api-cheaply", "canonical_source": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49045925", "published_at": "2026-07-25 09:13:41+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-25 09:52:47.665544+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-agents", "large-language-models", "developer-tools"], "entities": ["Deepseek", "Kimi", "Claude Pro"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ask-hn-how-to-use-agents-via-api-cheaply", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ask-hn-how-to-use-agents-via-api-cheaply.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ask-hn-how-to-use-agents-via-api-cheaply.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ask-hn-how-to-use-agents-via-api-cheaply.jsonld"}}