How to Use Grok: Every Access Path

You can use Grok 4.5 today without guessing which download page is the "real" one. SpaceXAI (formerly xAI) ships it as a coding-and-agent model first, so the default door is the terminal agent Grok Build, with Cursor, the SpaceXAI API console, Office add-ins, and model gateways running in parallel. Official list pricing is $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens under 200k prompt tokens, and it doubles above that threshold. The post-launch confusion is product positioning, not a broken website.

Key Takeaways:

• Grok 4.5 is the default model in official Grok Build. Cursor docs list it on all plans inside the Cursor Models pool.
• API access uses the model id grok-4.5 from the SpaceXAI console, with a second price tier once prompts hit 200k tokens.
• Gateways (OpenRouter, Vercel, Cloudflare, Snowflake, Databricks Mosaic) are the honest answer when you refuse to install a CLI.
• Official Grok Build is not the community Rust project grok-cli. Mixing them up burns a morning on the wrong login flow.
• MoClaw does not run Grok 4.5. If you need agent work without a terminal tax, use a model MoClaw already hosts.

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Why Grok 4.5 Opens in a Terminal First

Search "Grok 4.5," land on an install script, and it feels like the marketing site failed. It didn't. SpaceXAI's launch post frames 4.5 for coding, agentic tasks, and knowledge work, trained alongside Cursor, and names Grok Build as the place where 4.5 is the default. A chat tab was never the headline surface for this release.

That is why the first-party install line is still curl -fsSL https://x.ai/cli/install.sh | bash, and the binary you get is grok. On first launch it opens a browser to authenticate, or you export an API key. The model behind that agent loop is the same grok-4.5 string you'd pass to the API.

If you only wanted a browser chat box, this feels hostile. If you wanted an agent that edits files and runs shell commands, it's the intended door. The rest of this page maps every other door: identity, cost, and whether a terminal is required.

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How to Use Grok: Every Access Path

This table is the page. Everything after it is annotation.

Path	Identity you need	Cost signal (verify in-account)	Terminal required?	Best for
Grok Build (official CLI agent)	SpaceXAI/xAI account; browser OAuth or XAI_API_KEY	Launch promised limited-time free use; treat as ended unless your account still shows promo credits	Yes	Coding agents, repo work, headless scripts
Cursor	Cursor account on a plan that includes the Cursor Models pool	On-demand rates listed at $2/$6 per 1M tokens (Fast variant $4/$18); pool shared with other Cursor models	No (IDE)	Day-to-day coding inside an editor you already use
SpaceXAI console / API (grok-4.5)	API key from console.x.ai	$2 in / $6 out per 1M under 200k prompt tokens; $4 / $12 at or above 200k; cached input $0.30 / $0.60	No (HTTP)	Production apps, eval harnesses, your own agent loop
Model gateways (OpenRouter, Vercel, Cloudflare, Snowflake, Databricks Mosaic)	Gateway account + billing	Gateway list price (often mirrors $2/$6) plus any gateway markup	No	Teams that already route models through one gateway
Office add-ins (Word, PowerPoint, Excel)	Microsoft 365 + SpaceXAI sign-in	Tied to the add-in / account entitlement; confirm which model the add-in is actually calling	No	Spreadsheet and document work inside Office
grok.com / X chat surfaces	X Premium or SuperGrok-style entitlement	Subscription, not token billing	No	Consumer chat; confirm the picker actually shows 4.5
Community grok-cli (Rust)	OAuth against SuperGrok or X Premium+ (no manual API key)	Bound to that subscription tier; xai_oauth_tier_denied means entitlement, not a bad install	Yes	Scriptable chat/media against a consumer entitlement

If you applied the morning of launch expecting a free forever chat box, what you actually got was a temporary promo on Grok Build and Cursor, plus paid API rates that were public from day one. As of July 31, 2026, Cursor's own model page documents on-demand pricing, so don't plan a workflow around "still free."

Already on OpenRouter or Vercel AI Gateway? Adding x-ai/grok-4.5 (or that provider's slug) is often a one-line model change. That's the cleanest no-terminal path that still hits the coding model, not a consumer chat skin.

For API math, start from the official model detail page. Which door is cheapest for your token mix belongs in a calculator, not this access map.

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Grok Build vs Community grok-cli

Two different CLIs share the word "grok" and almost none of the same paperwork.

Official Grok Build is SpaceXAI's coding agent. Install from x.ai/cli, run grok, authenticate, and you're on the agent that lists grok-4.5 as its default coding model. Docs live under docs.x.ai/build. Source for the agent harness is published as xai-org/grok-build. It edits files, runs shell commands, searches the web, runs headless with -p, and talks to editors over ACP.

Community grok-cli is a separate Rust project at Moore-developers/grok-cli. It's OAuth-first against SuperGrok or X Premium+, exposes chat/search/image/video/audio commands, and markets "no API key needed." That's a consumer-entitlement CLI, not the official coding agent. If login succeeds in the browser and every command then returns a tier denial, reinstalling won't help; the subscription is the gate.

Spent an hour cargo install-ing a CLI that chats fine but can't edit your repo the way Grok Build demos promised? You installed the community tool. Check the binary name and the GitHub org before you blame the model. Third-party CLIs can also lag releases, so a working OAuth session still might not expose grok-4.5 until the maintainer ships a model-list update.

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Subscription Walls and What Free Meant at Launch

Three walls show up again and again, and they aren't the same wall.

Token billing vs subscription billing. API and most gateway traffic bill tokens. Consumer chat and the community CLI hang off X Premium / SuperGrok-style entitlements. Paying for one doesn't unlock the other.

Launch promo vs steady state. The July 2026 launch post offered limited-time free Grok 4.5 usage in Grok Build and Cursor. Limited-time means it expires. Cursor now publishes on-demand rates for Grok 4.5; assume you're on paid usage unless your invoice still shows promo credits.

Plan pools inside Cursor. Grok 4.5 sits in the Cursor Models pool. On the India-only Start plan, effort is fixed at medium in non-fast mode. Pro and higher unlock effort switching and Fast mode. "Available on all plans" is not the same sentence as "same controls on all plans."

Already on Cursor Pro and you only need Grok 4.5 inside the editor? You may already have access without touching the SpaceXAI console. Need the same model from a backend service? You still need an API key or a gateway.

"Is Grok free?" is the wrong question. Ask which surface and which identity. SuperGrok plan names change; verify on the current billing page before you write a budget.

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Region and Channel Checks Before You Migrate

Grok 4.5 launched with EU exclusions that later opened channel by channel. Don't treat a Cursor win as proof that the API console works for the same person.

Official model docs currently list serving regions as us-east-1 and us-west-2. That's a routing fact, not a passport stamp, but EU teams still need to verify console visibility, gateway routing, and tenant policy separately. For the live EU tracker, use our channel-by-channel page on Grok 4.5 EU release date rather than a one-line yes/no here.

Outside the EU and still can't see the model? Check the boring causes first: wrong workspace, no billing method on the console, Cursor model pool exhausted for the month, or community grok-cli pointed at an entitlement that never included 4.5. Your company's DPA can still block a US-hosted model even when the UI shows it.

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Agent Work Without Paying the Terminal Tax

Grok 4.5 sells agent behavior: long tool loops, file edits, recovery from mistakes. The first-party price of admission is a CLI install, a Cursor seat, an API key, or a gateway you operate yourself.

MoClaw does not host Grok 4.5. If what you actually need is managed agent work (scheduled research, browser tasks, file workflows) without standing up CLI auth and model routing, run that work on a model MoClaw already supports, starting with Claude Opus 5 on MoClaw. Different model. Different bill. Honest substitute when the job is "agent," not "must be Grok."

Skip this section if your requirement is specifically the Grok 4.5 weights. No managed layer can invent an integration that doesn't exist yet.

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FAQ

How do I use Grok 4.5 without a terminal?

Use Cursor, the SpaceXAI API (or a gateway), or the Office add-ins. Consumer chat on grok.com or X only counts if the model picker actually lists 4.5 for your entitlement.

Is Grok 4.5 still free in Grok Build or Cursor?

Treat launch free usage as expired unless your own invoice still shows promo credits. Cursor documents on-demand token rates for Grok 4.5 as of late July 2026.

What is the API model id?

grok-4.5. Aliases on the model page include grok-4.5-latest and grok-build-latest. Prefer the dated or aliased name your team locks in CI.

How much does the API cost?

Per the official model page: $2 / $6 per million tokens below 200k prompt tokens, and $4 / $12 once the prompt reaches 200k (the higher rate applies to the whole request). Cached input is $0.30 / $0.60 across the same threshold.

Is grok-cli the official tool?

Only Grok Build from SpaceXAI is official. Moore-developers/grok-cli is a community OAuth CLI tied to SuperGrok or X Premium+.

Does MoClaw support Grok 4.5?

No. MoClaw has not integrated Grok 4.5. Don't look for a /integrations/grok-4-5 page yet.

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How to Use Grok: Pick the Path That Matches the Job

Match the door to the job. Coding agents in a repo: official Grok Build or Grok 4.5 inside Cursor. Production traffic: call grok-4.5 on the SpaceXAI API or a gateway you already trust. Documents and sheets: Office add-ins. Chat-only entitlement workflows: confirm the consumer surface and ignore CLIs that can't edit files. Keep community grok-cli out of any runbook that assumes official agent behavior.

Editor's note: Access paths, list prices, and region notes verified against SpaceXAI docs, the Grok 4.5 launch post, Cursor's model page, OpenRouter's model card, and the public grok-cli / grok-build GitHub repos on July 31, 2026. Promotional free usage and EU channel status change without notice; confirm in your own accounts before migrating production traffic.