Free AI: What You Can Build for $0 as a Developer in 2026 (plus Free Towels!)
Details
Want to build personal side projects without burning a hole in your pocket? Or maybe you're just tired of waiting for API tokens to replenish?
No scratch? No problem!
Join us Thursday, August 20th at HeatSync Labs at 7:00 PM for a hands-on, zero-dollar workshop where we’ll explore what you can actually build with completely free dev tools, local models, and free-tier infrastructure.
Plus, I scored a bunch of official towels from Google Next 2026 so you'll literally walk away with free swag just for hanging out and building stuff.
Special Guest & Live Demos with Drew Ewing:
- Start Free, Scale Later: Drew will share how he built and launched his foveated document intelligence app using Google's free tier before scaling it up while showing how to design projects to run for $0 initially and upgrade as you grow.
- Local AI Showdown: Demos covering local model options including Ollama, oMLX, and LM Studio . . . plus how to use free local AI to augment paid models when quality is the top priority.
- Cloudflare Free Tier: Quick look at using Cloudflare's free ecosystem as a zero-cost backend for side projects.
- Open Workshop: Drew will kick things off with a ~30 minute breakdown, and then we’ll spend the rest of the time actively hacking, sharing ideas, and testing out free-tier workflows together.
What to bring:
- Your laptop and an open mind!
- Any side project ideas or free tools you've been experimenting with.
See you Thursday, August 20th at HeatSync at 7pm!
Bring your laptop, grab a free towel, and let's see what we can build without dropping a dime.