Developer launches zero-cost LLM API business using a home RTX 3060 Ti GPU

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A developer built and launched a working API service at no infrastructure cost by running an open-source LLM locally on an RTX 3060 Ti gaming GPU already in their possession. The API converts plain English into code artifacts such as regex patterns, SQL queries, commit messages, and JSON schemas using the qwen2.5-coder:7b model via Ollama. FastAPI handled request logic, Cloudflare Tunnel exposed the service publicly without port forwarding, and RapidAPI managed billing and subscriptions. The project surfaced several practical pitfalls, including Windows SSH session process termination, ngrok's interstitial page blocking API calls on its free tier, and LLMs inconsistently returning valid JSON despite explicit prompting. RapidAPI retains 25% of marketplace revenue as its cut, representing the primary ongoing cost of the venture.

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