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brian austin
brian austin

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I built a $2/month Claude API wrapper. Here's the curl command.

#api #claude #python #tutorial

I built a $2/month Claude API wrapper. Here's the curl command.

Last month I got tired of paying $20/month for ChatGPT when I only use it for side projects and API calls.

So I built SimplyLouie — a flat-rate Claude API with no token counting, no billing anxiety, no $0.003-per-1K-token spreadsheets. Just a simple REST API that works.

Here's everything you need.

The API endpoint 

curl -X POST https://simplylouie.com/api/chat \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "message": "Explain async/await in Python in 3 sentences"
  }'
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Response:

{
  "response": "Async/await in Python allows you to write asynchronous code that looks synchronous. The async keyword declares a coroutine function, and await pauses execution until an async operation completes. This is useful for I/O-bound tasks like API calls or database queries where you don't want to block the thread.",
  "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet"
}
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That's it. No SDK required. Any language that can make an HTTP request works.

Python — 10 lines to get started 

import requests

API_KEY = "your_api_key_here"
BASE_URL = "https://simplylouie.com/api/chat"

def ask(message: str) -> str:
    response = requests.post(
        BASE_URL,
        headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}"},
        json={"message": message}
    )
    return response.json()["response"]

# Use it
print(ask("Write a Python function to validate an email address"))
print(ask("What's the time complexity of a binary search?"))
print(ask("Translate 'hello world' to Swahili"))
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JavaScript / Node.js 

const axios = require('axios');

const API_KEY = 'your_api_key_here';
const BASE_URL = 'https://simplylouie.com/api/chat';

async function ask(message) {
  const { data } = await axios.post(
    BASE_URL,
    { message },
    { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY}` } }
  );
  return data.response;
}

// Use it
(async () => {
  const result = await ask('Write a regex to match URLs');
  console.log(result);
})();
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Real project examples

Here's what I've built with it:

1. Code review bot in my CI pipeline

def review_pr_diff(diff: str) -> str:
    return ask(f"Review this code diff and suggest improvements:\n\n{diff}")
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2. Telegram bot for my team (60 lines, full tutorial here)

3. Automated commit message generator

def generate_commit_msg(diff: str) -> str:
    return ask(f"Write a conventional commit message for this diff:\n{diff}")
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4. README generator

def generate_readme(code: str) -> str:
    return ask(f"Generate a README.md for this project:\n\n{code}")
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5. SQL query explainer for my team

def explain_query(sql: str) -> str:
    return ask(f"Explain what this SQL query does in plain English:\n{sql}")
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Why not just use Anthropic directly?

Fair question. Here's my honest answer:

Anthropic direct SimplyLouie
Price $0.003/1K tokens (~$15-60/month for active use) $2/month flat
Billing Per-token metering Flat rate
Anxiety Yes (watching every API call) No
Setup API key + SDK + rate limit handling Same API key, REST calls
Best for High volume (>1M tokens/month) Side projects, bots, prototypes

If you're processing millions of tokens a month, use Anthropic directly. If you're building side projects, automations, and bots — $2/month flat is significantly cheaper.

For developers in Nigeria, India, Philippines, Kenya: $2/month = N3,200, Rs165, P112, KSh260. That's roughly 10x cheaper than ChatGPT Plus in local currency terms.

Get your API key

7-day free trial, then $2/month: simplylouie.com/developers

What are you building?

Drop your use case in the comments — I'm curious what people are actually automating. The most interesting integrations I've seen:

  • WhatsApp bots for customer support (Nigeria/Philippines)
  • Automated code review in GitHub Actions
  • Language learning tools
  • Local government document parsers

What's yours?

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