README.md

June 18, 2026 · View on GitHub

The open-source AI coding agent that lives in your terminal.

Why Qwen Code?

Agentic out of the box — Auto-Memory, Auto-Skills, SubAgents, Agent Teams, and MCP. Dynamic workflows, zero setup.
Open-source, inside and out — The framework and the Qwen models are open-source. They evolve together. No vendor lock-in.
Multi-protocol — Supports OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and Qwen APIs. Any third-party provider or local model (Ollama / vLLM). Switch at runtime.
Beyond the terminal — IDE plugins, Desktop app, daemon mode, SDKs, and IM bots (Telegram / DingTalk / WeChat / Feishu).

Tip

Qwen Code is actively iterating on itself — using its own agent and models to file issues, submit PRs, review code, and run tests. Powered by the community, driven by AI.

Installation

Linux / macOS:

curl -fsSL https://qwen-code-assets.oss-cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/installation/install-qwen-standalone.sh | bash

Windows:

irm https://qwen-code-assets.oss-cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/installation/install-qwen-standalone.ps1 | iex

Restart your terminal after installation to ensure environment variables take effect.

NPM / Homebrew

NPM (requires Node.js 22+):

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

Homebrew (macOS / Linux):

brew install qwen-code

Quick Start

qwen          # Launch interactive terminal UI
# Inside the session:
/auth         # Configure your provider and API key

See the Authentication Guide and Settings Reference for detailed setup.

Qwen Code

How to Use Qwen Code

Mode	Command	Use Case
Interactive	`qwen`	Terminal UI with rich rendering, `@file` references, slash commands
Headless	`qwen -p "..."`	Scripts, CI/CD, batch processing — no UI
IDE	—	VS Code, Zed, JetBrains
Desktop	—	Qwen Code Desktop — GUI for macOS, Windows, Linux
Daemon	`qwen serve`	Shared agent session over HTTP+SSE (ACP). Multiple clients, one agent. (experimental) Docs
SDK	—	TypeScript, Python, Java
IM Bot	`qwen channel`	Connect to Telegram, DingTalk, WeChat, or Feishu

SDK example (Python)

import asyncio

from qwen_code_sdk import is_sdk_result_message, query


async def main() -> None:
    result = query(
        "Summarize the repository layout.",
        {
            "cwd": "/path/to/project",
            "path_to_qwen_executable": "qwen",
        },
    )

    async for message in result:
        if is_sdk_result_message(message):
            print(message["result"])


asyncio.run(main())

If you know Claude Code, you already know Qwen Code — and then some. We've put significant effort into bringing Qwen Code to feature parity with Claude Code, improving both breadth and reliability across the board.

Feature	Qwen Code	Claude Code
SubAgents, Agent Teams, Dynamic Workflows	✓	✓
Auto-Memory, Auto-Skills, Hooks	✓	✓
Built-in Skills (/review, /batch, /loop, /bugfix…)	✓	✓
MCP, Plan Mode, LSP Integration	✓	✓
Auto Mode, Sandbox, Git Worktrees	✓	✓
Computer Use (desktop automation)	✓	✓
IDE Plugins (VS Code / JetBrains / Zed)	✓	✓
SDK	✓	✓
Headless Mode, Session Management	✓	✓
Open-source — model and framework	✓	—
Multi-protocol (OpenAI / Anthropic / Gemini / Qwen + any provider)	✓	—
Agent Arena (multi-model head-to-head on same task)	✓	—
Daemon Mode — `qwen serve` (multi-client shared agent)	✓	—
IM Channels (Telegram / DingTalk / WeChat / Feishu)	✓	—

Ecosystem

Qwen Code Desktop — Official desktop app for macOS, Windows, and Linux
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
🦞 Qwen Code Claw — Let other agents (Claude, Codex, etc.) delegate coding tasks to Qwen Code via ACP. Paste this prompt into your agent:

Use Qwen Code as a coding agent. First, fetch and read this skill reference:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/QwenLM/qwen-code/refs/heads/main/.qwen/skills/qwen-code-claw/SKILL.md
Then follow the instructions inside to install, authenticate, and use Qwen Code via acpx for all coding tasks.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Acknowledgments

This project was originally based on Google Gemini CLI v0.8.2. We gratefully acknowledge the Gemini CLI team's excellent work. Starting from Qwen Code v0.1, we stopped syncing with upstream and began independent development as a multi-protocol, multi-platform agent framework with deep integrations for Qwen models and beyond.