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How to Build MVPs for Free: DeepSeek + Jan + OPC Skills = $0 API Costs

Tutorial 📅 January 28, 2026 ✍️ OPC Team ⏱️ 10 min

How to Build MVPs for Free: DeepSeek + Jan + OPC Skills = $0 API Costs

By OPC Team | January 28, 2026 | 10 min read

The Problem: API Costs Are Crushing Solopreneur MVPs

You want to build your next MVP using Ralph—the autonomous AI agent loop that builds features automatically. But there's one problem: Claude API costs add up fast.

Ralph's typical MVP workflow costs $30-60 in Claude API fees. If you're a solopreneur on a tight budget validating multiple ideas, that's $100-300 per month just for coding. Add domain research, logo design, social media research, and your infrastructure bill becomes a startup's first real expense—before you've made a single dollar in revenue.

"I validated 5 ideas with Ralph last month and spent $247 in API costs. None of them hit product-market fit. If I'd known about DeepSeek and Jan, I'd have spent $0." — Marcus T., indie hacker

But what if you could build production-grade MVPs with zero API costs?

The Solution: Free Open-Source AI Infrastructure

In January 2026, two major developments changed the game for solopreneurs:

  1. DeepSeek released OCR-2 model (open-source, free)
  2. Jan released v3-4B-base-instruct with 40% better coding performance than previous versions

Combined with existing free tools and OPC Skills, you can now build complete MVPs without spending a single dollar on AI infrastructure.

The New Stack: DeepSeek + Jan + OPC Skills

1. DeepSeek: The Free Foundation

What is DeepSeek?

DeepSeek is an open-source AI model maintained by High-Flyer, a quantitative hedge fund with a lean 140-200 person team. They've committed to releasing world-class models 100% free and open-source.

Why it matters to solopreneurs:

Latest model: DeepSeek OCR-2

Feature DeepSeek OCR-2 Claude Vision API
Cost Free $0.03/image
Accuracy 97% on scanned documents 95%
Setup Run locally (30 min) Buy credits ($5 minimum)
Privacy Data stays on your machine Sent to Anthropic servers
Scaling Unlimited (just your hardware) $300+/month for high volume

Real cost comparison for typical MVP:

2. Jan: Local Coding AI with 40% Better Performance

What is Jan?

Jan is an open-source AI assistant designed for local development. The team just released v3-4B-base-instruct, a 4B parameter model that's surprisingly capable for coding tasks.

Why it's a game-changer for solopreneurs:

Jan v3-4B vs Claude API Performance:

Task Jan v3-4B Claude 3.5 Sonnet Cost Difference
Bug fix (simple) 85% correct 95% correct $0 vs $0.08
Feature implementation (medium) 70% correct (needs 1-2 iterations) 90% correct $0 vs $0.24
Full API endpoint 60% correct (needs 2-3 iterations) 95% correct $0 vs $0.48
Complex architecture 40% correct 85% correct Use Claude

Key insight: Jan is perfect for 70% of MVP tasks. Use it for the easy stuff (boilerplate, simple fixes, CRUD operations). For the hard 20%, iterate with Jan or switch to Claude for critical paths.

Installation (5 minutes):

# Install Jan (macOS, Linux, Windows)
brew install jan   # macOS
# Or download from https://www.jan.ai/

# Download v3-4B model
jan pull janhq/Jan-v3-4B-base-instruct

# Start coding
jan start

3. OPC Skills: The Automation Layer

While DeepSeek handles documents and Jan handles code, OPC Skills automate everything else that usually requires paid APIs:

# Install OPC Skills
npx skills add ReScienceLab/opc-skills

Real Workflow: Build an MVP for $0

Here's exactly how to build a complete MVP without spending money on API infrastructure:

Step 1: Validate Your Idea ($0 cost)

# Use requesthunt (built into OPC Skills)
# In your Claude Code or Cursor:
# "Find Reddit discussions about people asking for a [your idea] tool"

What happens:

Time saved: 8 hours of manual Reddit browsing → 5 minutes

Step 2: Reserve Your Domain ($0 using promo codes)

# Use domain-hunter skill
# In your Claude Code:
# "Find the cheapest .io domain registrar and active promo codes for [mydomain]"

What happens:

Money saved: $33-47 on your first domain

Step 3: Write Your PRD (Free)

Create a simple prd.md file describing your MVP:

# MyApp MVP

## User Story 1: User can sign up
- User lands on homepage
- Clicks "Sign Up"
- Enters email, password
- Account created
- Redirected to dashboard

## User Story 2: User can create items
- User clicks "New Item"
- Fills in form
- Clicks save
- Item appears in list

Step 4: Generate Your Logo & Branding ($0)

# Use logo-creator skill
# In Claude Code:
# "Create a minimalist logo for MyApp - modern, clean, blue and white"

What happens:

Step 5: Run Ralph with Local Jan ($0)

Instead of using Claude API (which costs $30-60), run Ralph with Jan:

# Clone Ralph repo
git clone https://github.com/snarktank/ralph
cd ralph

# Point to local Jan instead of Claude
export RALPH_MODEL="local-jan"  # Use v3-4B locally
./ralph.sh prd.json

What Ralph does:

Cost: $0

Time: 2-8 hours (fully automated, you sleep or work on marketing)

Step 6: Optimize for AI Search ($0)

# Use seo-geo skill
# In Claude Code:
# "Audit my site and generate schema.org markup for AI search optimization"

What happens:

Cost Breakdown: Traditional vs Free Stack

Traditional MVP Building ($289)

Component Tool Cost
Idea validation Manual research $0 (your time)
Domain GoDaddy with promo $15
Logo design Fiverr designer $100
Code generation Claude API $50-60
Infrastructure Vercel free tier $0
SEO optimization Manual $0 (your time)
Total $165-175

Free Stack MVP Building ($0-15)

Component Tool Cost
Idea validation OPC Skills (requesthunt) $0
Domain domain-hunter + promo code $5-15
Logo design logo-creator (Gemini free tier) $0
Code generation Jan v3-4B local $0
Infrastructure Vercel free tier $0
SEO optimization OPC Skills (seo-geo) $0
Total $5-15

Your savings: 90-95% cheaper

System Requirements: What Hardware Do You Need?

Minimum (Just Works)

Recommended (Optimal Experience)

Budget Alternative

Real numbers:

Limitations: When to Use What

Use Jan Local (Free) For:

Switch to Claude API For:

Use DeepSeek Local For:

Strategy: Use Jan for 70% of features, Claude for critical 20%, and iterate. Total cost: $30-50 instead of $200+.

The Hybrid Approach: Maximize Your Resources

Month 1-2: Validate & Build MVP (Jan + DeepSeek, $5-15)

Month 3-4: Scale Fast Path (Claude API, $50-100)

Month 5+: Sustainable Business (Jan + Selective Claude, $50-200/mo)

Step-by-Step Setup Guide

1. Install Jan (macOS, Linux, or Windows)

# macOS using Homebrew
brew install jan

# Or download from:
# https://www.jan.ai/download

# Verify installation
jan --version

2. Download v3-4B Model

# Pull the latest Jan model
jan pull janhq/Jan-v3-4B-base-instruct

# This downloads ~2.4GB model
# Time: 5-10 minutes depending on internet

3. Set Up Local Inference Server

# Start Jan server (runs on localhost:1337)
jan start

# Verify it's running
curl http://localhost:1337/health
# Should return: {"status": "ok"}

4. Install OPC Skills

# Install all skills
npx skills add ReScienceLab/opc-skills

# Or specific skills
npx skills add ReScienceLab/opc-skills --skill requesthunt --skill domain-hunter

5. Configure Your AI Tool to Use Local Jan

For Claude Code:

{
  "provider": "custom",
  "model": "jan-v3-4b",
  "endpoint": "http://localhost:1337"
}

For Cursor:

For Windsurf:

6. Run Ralph with Local Jan

# Clone Ralph
git clone https://github.com/snarktank/ralph
cd ralph

# Create your prd.json
cat > prd.json << 'EOF'
{
  "name": "MyApp",
  "description": "My MVP idea",
  "features": [
    {
      "id": "feature-1",
      "title": "User authentication",
      "description": "Users can sign up and log in",
      "status": "pending"
    }
  ]
}
EOF

# Run Ralph pointing to local Jan
OPENAI_BASE_URL=http://localhost:1337 OPENAI_API_KEY=local ./ralph.sh prd.json

FAQ: Free Infrastructure for Solopreneurs

Q: Is Jan production-ready?

A: Yes, for 70-80% of production use cases. Jan v3-4B handles standard CRUD, API endpoints, and component development well. For security-critical features or complex algorithms, iterate with Jan or validate with Claude.

Q: Can I switch between Jan and Claude mid-project?

A: Absolutely. That's the hybrid approach's strength. Start with Jan, and when you hit a blocker (Jan generates incorrect architecture), switch to Claude for that specific task. Cost: $0.24 for one feature iteration instead of $200+ for the whole development.

Q: Does DeepSeek require GPU?

A: Not necessarily. DeepSeek OCR-2 can run on CPU (slow) or GPU (fast). For solopreneurs:

Q: What about model updates? Is Jan maintained?

A: Yes. Jan releases major updates monthly and security patches weekly. Subscribe to updates on jan.ai or via GitHub releases.

Q: Can I use this for client projects?

A: Absolutely. Both Jan and DeepSeek are open-source. No licensing restrictions. You own the work.

Q: What if my MVP needs 20% Claude-level intelligence?

A: Budget $50-100/month for Claude API and use the hybrid approach. Use Jan for 70% of features, Claude for the critical 20%, iterate with Jan for the remaining 10%. Total: ~$0.25 per feature instead of $1-2.

Q: How does this compare to other free options like Llama?

A:

Use Llama if you have a powerful GPU. Use Jan if you want easy setup on consumer hardware.

Q: How do I know when to pay for Claude?

A: Pay for Claude when:

  1. Jan fails on 3+ different attempts to solve a problem
  2. Your MVP needs to ship production-grade code in <24 hours
  3. You're optimizing critical path features (auth, payments, core algorithm)

Otherwise, iterate with Jan and learn from the failures.

Q: Can I run both Jan and DeepSeek simultaneously?

A: Yes. They require ~10-15GB total VRAM when running together. Most M3 Macs and gaming laptops can handle this.

The Future: Why This Matters

The solopreneur era is here. Solopreneurs generating $1M+ revenue went from 5% of indie founders in 2020 to 35% in 2025. The bottleneck was always execution bandwidth—not ideas.

With Jan, DeepSeek, OPC Skills, and Ralph, solopreneurs now have:

The era of expensive AI infrastructure for solo builders is ending.

As DeepSeek's team of 140-200 people builds better models than teams of 500, and Jan demonstrates that 4B parameter models beat expectations, open-source AI infrastructure will continue getting better and cheaper.

The solopreneurs who adopt this now have an unfair advantage in 2026: same coding speed as well-funded startups, zero infrastructure costs.

Getting Started Today

5-Minute Quick Start

# 1. Install Jan
brew install jan

# 2. Download model
jan pull janhq/Jan-v3-4B-base-instruct

# 3. Install OPC Skills
npx skills add ReScienceLab/opc-skills

# 4. Verify everything works
jan start
# In Claude Code: "Create a React component for a todo item"

Next: Your First MVP

  1. Validate: Use OPC Skills' requesthunt to research your idea ($0)
  2. Design: Use OPC Skills' logo-creator for branding ($0)
  3. Build: Use Jan locally in Claude Code for 70% of features ($0)
  4. Optimize: Use OPC Skills' seo-geo for AI search visibility ($0)
  5. Iterate: Use Claude API only when Jan hits limits ($20-50)

Total first MVP cost: $5-15 (just your domain)

Resources

Last updated: January 28, 2026

References

  1. Jan Team (2026). "Jan v3-4B-base-instruct Release" - Aider benchmark improvements documented at jan.ai
  2. DeepSeek AI (2026). "DeepSeek OCR-2 Model" - Released on GitHub
  3. High-Flyer (2026). "DeepSeek: Open Source AI Models" - Company profile: high-flyer.cn
  4. Geoffrey Huntley (2025). "Ralph: Autonomous AI Agent Loop" - github.com/snarktank/ralph
  5. OPC Skills Team (2026). "AI Agent Skills for Solopreneurs" - opc.dev
  6. Princeton University (2024). "GEO: Generative Engine Optimization for AI Search Visibility"