Show HN: Hydra – Never stop coding when your AI CLI hits a rate limit

Unified wrapper for AI coding CLIs. Run Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, or Pi as a full interactive TUI. When one hits a rate limit, switch to another with your conversation context on the clipboard. Cut one head off, another takes its place. AI coding CLIs are incredible, but every one of them has usage limits. Hit your Claude Code cap mid-task and you're stuck — copy context manually, open a different tool, re-explain everything, lose your flow. Hydra fixes this. You never stop coding because one provider ran out. Your fallback chain kicks in automatically, your context transfers with one paste, and you keep moving. No single provider becomes a bottleneck, and you're never locked into one ecosystem. The free tiers alone (Gemini via OpenCode/Pi = 3000 req/day combined) mean you can code all day even after burning through paid limits. go install github.com/saadnvd1/hydra@latest Or build from source: git clone https://github.com/saadnvd1/hydra.git cd hydra go build -o hydra . sudo mv hydra /usr/local/bin/ # Copy the example config mkdir -p ~/.config/hydra cp config.example.yaml ~/.config/hydra/config.yaml # (Optional) Set up free model API keys for fallback providers export GOOGLE_GENERATIVE_AI_API_KEY="your-key" # for OpenCode — https://aistudio.google.com export GEMINI_API_KEY="your-key" # for Pi — same key works hydra # start with primary provider (claude) hydra codex # start with specific provider hydra switch # switch ALL running sessions (from another terminal) hydra --continue # resume from last session with context on clipboard hydra status # show last session info hydra config # show loaded config Extra flags are passed through to the initial provider: hydra --model sonnet # passes --model sonnet to claude hydra codex --yolo # passes --yolo to codex hydra spawns your AI coding CLI in a PTY — full interactive TUI, identical to running it directly- Terminal output is monitored for rate limit / quota error patterns - When a limit is detected or you want to switch manually: - Open another terminal, run hydra switch - Sends SIGUSR1 to all running hydra sessions (rate limits are account-wide) - Each session shows a single-keypress provider picker - Open another terminal, run - On switch: conversation context (history + git diff + recent commits) is extracted and copied to clipboard - New CLI spawns — paste context and continue You can also press Ctrl+] inside a session to trigger a switch directly. | Order | Provider | Model | Cost | |---|---|---|---| | 1 | Claude Code | Your default (Opus/Sonnet) | Paid (Max/Pro) | | 2 | OpenCode | google/gemini-2.5-flash | Free (1500 req/day) | | 3 | Codex | Default (OpenAI) | Paid | | 4 | Pi | gemini-2.5-flash | Free (1500 req/day) | Configure your own provider chain in ~/.config/hydra/config.yaml . providers: - name: claude command: claude args: ["--dangerously-skip-permissions"] - name: opencode command: opencode args: ["-m", "google/gemini-2.5-flash"] env: OPENCODE_PERMISSION: '{"*":"allow"}' - name: codex command: codex args: ["--full-auto"] - name: pi command: pi args: ["--model", "gemini-2.5-flash"] limit_patterns: - "rate limit" - "quota exceeded" - "usage limit" # ... see config.example.yaml for the full list Override the config path with HYDRA_CONFIG=/path/to/config.yaml . On provider switch, the clipboard gets: - Conversation history — parsed from Claude Code's JSONL session files - Git diff — all uncommitted changes - Recent commits — last 5 for completed work context Multiple hydra sessions can run simultaneously. hydra switch signals ALL of them — because rate limits are account-wide, if one session hits a limit, they all need to switch. | Provider | Free Limit | Get Key | |---|---|---| | Google Gemini | 1500 req/day, 1M context | aistudio.google.com | | Groq | Generous daily limit | console.groq.com | | Cerebras | ~1700 req/day | cerebras.ai | Any CLI that runs interactively in a terminal works. Add it to your config: providers: - name: my-tool command: /path/to/my-tool args: ["--some-flag"] env: MY_VAR: "value" - macOS, Linux, or WSL (PTY-based — needs a Unix terminal) - At least one AI coding CLI installed xclip orxsel on Linux for clipboard support MIT