An open-source AI agent that lives in your terminal.

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Qwen Code is an open-source AI agent for the terminal, optimized for Qwen3-Coder. It helps you understand large codebases, automate tedious work, and ship faster.

Why Qwen Code?

• OpenAI-compatible, OAuth free tier: use an OpenAI-compatible API, or sign in with Qwen OAuth to get 2,000 free requests/day.
• Open-source, co-evolving: both the framework and the Qwen3-Coder model are open-source—and they ship and evolve together.
• Agentic workflow, feature-rich: rich built-in tools (Skills, SubAgents, Plan Mode) for a full agentic workflow and a Claude Code-like experience.
• Terminal-first, IDE-friendly: built for developers who live in the command line, with optional integration for VS Code, Zed, and JetBrains IDEs.

Installation

Prerequisites

# Node.js 20+
curl -qL https://www.npmjs.com/install.sh | sh

NPM (recommended)

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

Homebrew (macOS, Linux)

brew install qwen-code

Quick Start

# Start Qwen Code (interactive)
qwen

# Then, in the session:
/help
/auth

On first use, you'll be prompted to sign in. You can run /auth anytime to switch authentication methods.

Example prompts:

What does this project do?
Explain the codebase structure.
Help me refactor this function.
Generate unit tests for this module.

Authentication

Qwen Code supports two authentication methods:

• Qwen OAuth (recommended & free): sign in with your qwen.ai account in a browser.
• OpenAI-compatible API: use OPENAI_API_KEY (and optionally a custom base URL / model).

Qwen OAuth (recommended)

Start qwen, then run:

/auth

Choose Qwen OAuth and complete the browser flow. Your credentials are cached locally so you usually won't need to log in again.

OpenAI-compatible API (API key)

Environment variables (recommended for CI / headless environments):

export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"
export OPENAI_BASE_URL="https://api.openai.com/v1"  # optional
export OPENAI_MODEL="gpt-4o"                        # optional

For details (including .qwen/.env loading and security notes), see the authentication guide.

Usage

As an open-source terminal agent, you can use Qwen Code in four primary ways:

1. Interactive mode (terminal UI)
2. Headless mode (scripts, CI)
3. IDE integration (VS Code, Zed)
4. TypeScript SDK

Interactive mode

cd your-project/
qwen

Run qwen in your project folder to launch the interactive terminal UI. Use @ to reference local files (for example @src/main.ts).

Headless mode

cd your-project/
qwen -p "your question"

Use -p to run Qwen Code without the interactive UI—ideal for scripts, automation, and CI/CD. Learn more: Headless mode.

IDE integration

Use Qwen Code inside your editor (VS Code, Zed, and JetBrains IDEs):

• Use in VS Code
• Use in Zed
• Use in JetBrains IDEs

TypeScript SDK

Build on top of Qwen Code with the TypeScript SDK:

• Use the Qwen Code SDK

Commands & Shortcuts

Session Commands

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

Keyboard Shortcuts

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

Learn more about Commands

Tip: In YOLO mode (--yolo), vision switching happens automatically without prompts when images are detected. Learn more about Approval Mode

Configuration

Qwen Code can be configured via settings.json, environment variables, and CLI flags.

• User settings: ~/.qwen/settings.json
• Project settings: .qwen/settings.json

See settings for available options and precedence.

Benchmark Results

Terminal-Bench Performance

| Agent | Model | Accuracy | | --------- | ------------------ | -------- | | Qwen Code | Qwen3-Coder-480A35 | 37.5% | | Qwen Code | Qwen3-Coder-30BA3B | 31.3% |

Ecosystem

Looking for a graphical interface?

• AionUi A modern GUI for command-line AI tools including Qwen Code
• Gemini CLI Desktop A cross-platform desktop/web/mobile UI for Qwen Code

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues, check the troubleshooting guide.

To report a bug from within the CLI, run /bug and include a short title and repro steps.

Connect with Us

• Discord: https://discord.gg/ycKBjdNd
• Dingtalk: https://qr.dingtalk.com/action/joingroup?code=v1,k1,+FX6Gf/ZDlTahTIRi8AEQhIaBlqykA0j+eBKKdhLeAE=&_dt_no_comment=1&origin=1

Acknowledgments

This project is based on Google Gemini CLI. We acknowledge and appreciate the excellent work of the Gemini CLI team. Our main contribution focuses on parser-level adaptations to better support Qwen-Coder models.