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Meet Grok Code Fast 1: Elon Musk’s New AI Coding Model, Free This Week

Best ofGrokCodeFastAIProgrammingxAICodingToolsAgenticAIAbout 3 min

Meet Grok Code Fast 1: Elon Musk’s New AI Coding Model, Free This Week

Big news in the AI coding world: this Thursday, Elon Musk’s xAI officially released its latest code-focused model — Grok Code Fast 1. It landed just in time for the promised August deadline, and many are already calling it the “code version” of Grok 4.

What Makes Grok Code Fast 1 Special?

This model is designed specifically for agentic programming — a new paradigm where AI inside your IDE automatically calls tools (like grep, terminal, or file editors) to complete programming tasks for you.

While today’s large language models are powerful, they’re often not optimized for coding workflows. Grok Code Fast 1 is built differently:

  • Trained from scratch with a brand-new architecture.

  • Pretrained on a rich programming-focused corpus.

  • Fine-tuned with high-quality datasets of real-world pull requests and coding tasks.

The result? Speed. It can generate results before you’ve even finished reading the first line of its reasoning.

Where Can You Use It for Free?

xAI announced that for the first week, Grok Code Fast 1 will be free to use across many platforms, including:

  • GitHub Copilot

  • Cursor

  • Cline

  • Roo Code

  • Kilo Code

  • opencode

  • Windsurf

Fun fact: earlier this week it quietly launched under the codename Sonic before the official release.

Key Features & Performance

  • Tool mastery: Natively handles grep, terminal commands, and file edits — smooth inside IDEs.

  • Programming languages: Strong with TypeScript, Python, Java, Rust, C++, and Go.

  • Caching optimization: Cache hit rates above 90% for ultra-low latency.

  • Affordable pricing:

  1. $0.20 per million input tokens

  2. $1.50 per million output tokens

  3. $0.02 per million cached input tokens

On the SWE-Bench-Verified benchmark, Grok Code Fast 1 scored 70.8%, putting it close to the highly respected Claude 4 series.

Quick Start Tutorial

Want to try it out? Here’s how:

  1. Open one of the supported platforms (e.g., Cursor or GitHub Copilot).

  2. Switch to the Grok Code Fast 1 model.

  3. In your IDE, start coding or give it tasks. For example:

# Example: use grep to find errors in a log
grep "ERROR" app.log

The model will instantly provide results or solutions.

  1. Test it with a small project or bug fix. Developers have already reported building a playable mini-game in just one day using Grok Code Fast 1.

Who Should Use It?

  • Developers: Fast debugging and everyday coding tasks.

  • Beginners: Easy way to bootstrap projects from scratch.

  • Engineering teams: Efficient for large-scale code maintenance.

  • Side-hustlers: Great for building low-cost prototypes quickly.

What’s Next?

According to xAI, Grok Code Fast 1 will continue to evolve. A new variant is already in training that will support multi-modal input, parallel tool calls, and longer context windows.

In short: if you want to experience the future of AI-assisted coding, now’s the perfect chance — and it’s free this week.

FAQ

1. How long is Grok Code Fast 1 free to use?

It’s free for one week on supported platforms such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and Windsurf. After that, standard usage pricing applies.

2. Which programming languages does it work best with?

Grok Code Fast 1 is optimized for TypeScript, Python, Java, Rust, C++, and Go, but it can handle many other popular languages as well.

3. How does it compare to GitHub Copilot?

While Copilot is great for code completion, Grok Code Fast 1 is designed for agentic programming, meaning it can call tools like grep or the terminal and actually execute tasks inside your IDE — not just suggest code.

4. What’s the difference between Grok 4 and Grok Code Fast 1?

Grok 4 is a general-purpose LLM, while Grok Code Fast 1 is a code-focused variant, trained from scratch with a new architecture and specialized datasets for programming tasks.

5. Is Grok Code Fast 1 suitable for beginners?

Yes. It’s ideal for new developers who want to quickly prototype apps, learn coding workflows, or get AI assistance while studying.

6. How much does it cost after the free trial?

The pricing is very competitive:

$0.20 per million input tokens

$1.50 per million output tokens

$0.02 per million cached input tokens

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