Dev Signal Guide
Senior frontend and full-stack developers working in Next.js who want a top-performing coding model without vendor lock-in or added cost during the stealt…
Pixel Canary is a coding-specialized AI model now available for free on the Vercel AI Gateway under the model string stealth/pixel-canary. It matches GPT-6 Astra on Next.js evaluation benchmarks, scoring 90.3% at baseline and 96.8% when provided with documentation context. Access is routed through the Vercel AI Gateway, meaning you can reach it via the Vercel CLI agents or any OpenAI-compatible API call with a simple model string swap. During its stealth period the model is free to use, making it a low-risk option for teams already working in the Vercel and Next.js ecosystem. It integrates natively with Claude Code, Codex, and fx, reducing the setup overhead typically associated with adopting a new model in an existing agent workflow.
Dev Signal Verdict
Best for: Senior frontend and full-stack developers working in Next.js who want a top-performing coding model without vendor lock-in or added cost during the stealth period.
Swap your existing model string to stealth/pixel-canary and run npx vercel ai-gateway setup to integrate immediately. The free pricing and near-top eval scores make it worth adopting now, but review your data policies first given the ZDR absence and potential training data use.
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Set your AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY, run npx vercel ai-gateway setup, and replace your current model string with stealth/pixel-canary in any OpenAI-compatible API call or Vercel CLI agent config.
It scores 90.3% at baseline and 96.8% when documentation context is provided, matching GPT-6 Astra on Next.js evals and passing 30 out of 31 tasks with context.
It is free during the current stealth period. No pricing details beyond the stealth phase are provided in available context.
Zero Data Retention (ZDR) is not available, and responses may be used for model training. Factor this into your decision if your project has strict data privacy requirements.
It integrates natively with Claude Code, Codex, and fx, and works with any OpenAI-compatible API client or the Vercel CLI agent tooling.
Based on Dev Signal coverage