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Welcome to Qwen Code documentation

Qwen Code is a powerful command-line AI workflow tool adapted from Gemini CLI (details), specifically optimized for Qwen3-Coder models. It enhances your development workflow with advanced code understanding, automated tasks, and intelligent assistance.

🚀 Why Choose Qwen Code?

  • 🎯 Free Tier: Up to 60 requests/min and 2,000 requests/day with your QwenChat account.
  • 🧠 Advanced Model: Specially optimized for Qwen3-Coder for superior code understanding and assistance.
  • 🏆 Comprehensive Features: Includes subagents, Plan Mode, TodoWrite, vision model support, and full OpenAI API compatibility—all seamlessly integrated.
  • 🔧 Built-in & Extensible Tools: Includes file system operations, shell command execution, web fetch/search, and more—all easily extended via the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for custom integrations.
  • 💻 Developer-Centric: Built for terminal-first workflows—perfect for command-line enthusiasts.
  • 🛡️ Open Source: Apache 2.0 licensed for maximum freedom and transparency.

Installation

Prerequisites

Ensure you have Node.js version 20 or higher installed.

curl -qL https://www.npmjs.com/install.sh | sh

Install from npm

npm install -g @qwen-code/qwen-code@latest
qwen --version

Install from source

git clone https://github.com/QwenLM/qwen-code.git
cd qwen-code
npm install
npm install -g .

Install globally with Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew install qwen-code

Quick Start

# Start Qwen Code
qwen

# Example commands
> Explain this codebase structure
> Help me refactor this function
> Generate unit tests for this module

Session Management

Control your token usage with configurable session limits to optimize costs and performance.

Configure Session Token Limit

Create or edit .qwen/settings.json in your home directory:

{
  "sessionTokenLimit": 32000
}

Session Commands

  • /compress - Compress conversation history to continue within token limits
  • /clear - Clear all conversation history and start fresh
  • /stats - Check current token usage and limits

📝 Note: Session token limit applies to a single conversation, not cumulative API calls.

Vision Model Configuration

Qwen Code includes intelligent vision model auto-switching that detects images in your input and can automatically switch to vision-capable models for multimodal analysis. This feature is enabled by default - when you include images in your queries, you'll see a dialog asking how you'd like to handle the vision model switch.

Skip the Switch Dialog (Optional)

If you don't want to see the interactive dialog each time, configure the default behavior in your .qwen/settings.json:

{
  "experimental": {
    "vlmSwitchMode": "once"
  }
}

Available modes:

  • "once" - Switch to vision model for this query only, then revert
  • "session" - Switch to vision model for the entire session
  • "persist" - Continue with current model (no switching)
  • Not set - Show interactive dialog each time (default)

Command Line Override

You can also set the behavior via command line:

# Switch once per query
qwen --vlm-switch-mode once

# Switch for entire session
qwen --vlm-switch-mode session

# Never switch automatically
qwen --vlm-switch-mode persist

Disable Vision Models (Optional)

To completely disable vision model support, add to your .qwen/settings.json:

{
  "experimental": {
    "visionModelPreview": false
  }
}

💡 Tip: In YOLO mode (--yolo), vision switching happens automatically without prompts when images are detected.

Authorization

Choose your preferred authentication method based on your needs:

1. Qwen OAuth (🚀 Recommended - Start in 30 seconds)

The easiest way to get started - completely free with generous quotas:

# Just run this command and follow the browser authentication
qwen

What happens:

  1. Instant Setup: CLI opens your browser automatically
  2. One-Click Login: Authenticate with your qwen.ai account
  3. Automatic Management: Credentials cached locally for future use
  4. No Configuration: Zero setup required - just start coding!

Free Tier Benefits:

  • ✅ 2,000 requests/day (no token counting needed)
  • ✅ 60 requests/minute rate limit
  • ✅ Automatic credential refresh
  • ✅ Zero cost for individual users
  • ℹ️ Note: Model fallback may occur to maintain service quality

2. OpenAI-Compatible API

Use API keys for OpenAI or other compatible providers:

Configuration Methods:

  1. Environment Variables

    export OPENAI_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"
export OPENAI_BASE_URL="your_api_endpoint"
export OPENAI_MODEL="your_model_choice"

  2. Project .env File Create a .env file in your project root:

    OPENAI_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
OPENAI_BASE_URL=your_api_endpoint
OPENAI_MODEL=your_model_choice

API Provider Options

⚠️ Regional Notice:

  • Mainland China: Use Alibaba Cloud Bailian or ModelScope
  • International: Use Alibaba Cloud ModelStudio or OpenRouter
🇨🇳 For Users in Mainland China

Option 1: Alibaba Cloud Bailian (Apply for API Key)

export OPENAI_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"
export OPENAI_BASE_URL="https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1"
export OPENAI_MODEL="qwen3-coder-plus"

Option 2: ModelScope (Free Tier) (Apply for API Key)

  • ✅ 2,000 free API calls per day
  • ⚠️ Connect your Aliyun account to avoid authentication errors
export OPENAI_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"
export OPENAI_BASE_URL="https://api-inference.modelscope.cn/v1"
export OPENAI_MODEL="Qwen/Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B-Instruct"
🌍 For International Users

Option 1: Alibaba Cloud ModelStudio (Apply for API Key)

export OPENAI_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"
export OPENAI_BASE_URL="https://dashscope-intl.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1"
export OPENAI_MODEL="qwen3-coder-plus"

Option 2: OpenRouter (Free Tier Available) (Apply for API Key)

export OPENAI_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"
export OPENAI_BASE_URL="https://openrouter.ai/api/v1"
export OPENAI_MODEL="qwen/qwen3-coder:free"

Usage Examples

🔍 Explore Codebases

cd your-project/
qwen

# Architecture analysis
> Describe the main pieces of this system's architecture
> What are the key dependencies and how do they interact?
> Find all API endpoints and their authentication methods

💻 Code Development

# Refactoring
> Refactor this function to improve readability and performance
> Convert this class to use dependency injection
> Split this large module into smaller, focused components

# Code generation
> Create a REST API endpoint for user management
> Generate unit tests for the authentication module
> Add error handling to all database operations

🔄 Automate Workflows

# Git automation
> Analyze git commits from the last 7 days, grouped by feature
> Create a changelog from recent commits
> Find all TODO comments and create GitHub issues

# File operations
> Convert all images in this directory to PNG format
> Rename all test files to follow the *.test.ts pattern
> Find and remove all console.log statements

🐛 Debugging & Analysis

# Performance analysis
> Identify performance bottlenecks in this React component
> Find all N+1 query problems in the codebase

# Security audit
> Check for potential SQL injection vulnerabilities
> Find all hardcoded credentials or API keys

Popular Tasks

📚 Understand New Codebases

> What are the core business logic components?
> What security mechanisms are in place?
> How does the data flow through the system?
> What are the main design patterns used?
> Generate a dependency graph for this module

🔨 Code Refactoring & Optimization

> What parts of this module can be optimized?
> Help me refactor this class to follow SOLID principles
> Add proper error handling and logging
> Convert callbacks to async/await pattern
> Implement caching for expensive operations

📝 Documentation & Testing

> Generate comprehensive JSDoc comments for all public APIs
> Write unit tests with edge cases for this component
> Create API documentation in OpenAPI format
> Add inline comments explaining complex algorithms
> Generate a README for this module

🚀 Development Acceleration

> Set up a new Express server with authentication
> Create a React component with TypeScript and tests
> Implement a rate limiter middleware
> Add database migrations for new schema
> Configure CI/CD pipeline for this project

Commands & Shortcuts

Session Commands

  • /help - Display available commands
  • /clear - Clear conversation history
  • /compress - Compress history to save tokens
  • /stats - Show current session information
  • /exit or /quit - Exit Qwen Code

Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Ctrl+C - Cancel current operation
  • Ctrl+D - Exit (on empty line)
  • Up/Down - Navigate command history