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Qwen Code (Alibaba / QwenLM)

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Alibaba's open-source coding CLI. Qwen3-Coder-Next model scores 70.6% SWE-bench Verified — highest open-weight model score. 1,000 free daily requests via Qwen OAuth. Supports OpenAI/Anthropic/Gemini-compatible APIs. 20K+ stars, v0.12.6 released 2026-03-17.

Score 82
Qwen Code (Alibaba / QwenLM) in action

Where it wins

Qwen3-Coder-Next: 70.6% SWE-bench Verified — highest open-weight model score in the category

1,000 free daily requests via Qwen OAuth — best free tier for open-weight models

Supports OpenAI/Anthropic/Gemini-compatible APIs — multi-provider

Strongest local/on-prem story: run the 80B model yourself

Ships regularly: v0.12.6 released 2026-03-17

Where to be skeptical

Alibaba / Chinese cloud provenance — enterprise and GovCloud use cases require scrutiny

Gemini CLI fork — limited differentiation at the CLI layer

Near-zero HN engagement (~7 pts) — minimal Western developer community signal

SWE-bench Pro standardized score (38.70%) is the lowest among ranked contenders

Editorial verdict

Best cost=zero option for developers who want a serious open-weight model without paying per token. The 70.6% SWE-bench Verified figure (Qwen3-Coder-Next) is the strongest open-weight score in the category and anchors the strongest local/on-prem story. Alibaba/Chinese cloud provenance is a consideration for enterprise and GovCloud use cases.

Videos

Reviews, tutorials, and comparisons from the community.

¡QWEN 3 rompe la IA con TODO Gratis e ilimitado! Esto puedes hacer 🚀

Alejavi Rivera·2025-08-24

Qwen 3 ACTUALLY Made Me Quit Claude Code

AI LABS·2025-08-12

NEW Qwen 3 Coder: FULLY FREE AI Coder! Develop a Full-stack App Without Writing ANY Code! (FREE API)

WorldofAI·2025-04-29

Related

Claude Code

98

Anthropic's official agentic coding CLI. v2.1.81 (Mar 20) shipped `--bare`, smarter worktree resume, and improved MCP OAuth while the repo crossed 82,204 stars and logged ~14 commits/week across 10+ maintainers. Terminal-native, tool-use-driven, with deep file system + shell access, #1 SWE-bench Pro standardized (45.89%), ~4% of GitHub public commits (SemiAnalysis), $2.5B annualized revenue. 8M+ npm weekly downloads. Opus 4.6 with 1M context.

OpenHands

88

Category leader in multi-agent orchestration — 69,352 stars (verified), $18.8M Series A, AMD hardware partnership, 455 contributors, 1M downloads/month PyPI (3.4M all-time). SWE-Bench Verified 72% with Claude 4.5 Extended Thinking (updated 2026-03-19), Multi-SWE-Bench #1 across 8 languages. Gap to #2 is enormous on every axis.

OpenCode

88

Open-source AI coding agent from SST. v1.2.27 active (2026-03-16) — development resumed after a gap. OpenAI official partnership following the Anthropic OAuth block controversy. 126K+ GitHub stars (star surge driven by Anthropic controversy). Known unauthenticated RCE fixed in v1.1.10+ (CVE, 432 HN pts). CVE-2026-22812 (CVSS 8.8-10.0) is a second serious security incident.

Gemini CLI

88

Google's open-source terminal agent with Gemini 3 models, 1M token context, built-in Google Search grounding, and the best free tier in the category (60 req/min, 1K req/day). v0.35.0 (Mar 24) shipped keybinding, policy, and telemetry fixes while the repo hit 98,957 stars and 12,593 forks. Terminal-Bench 2.0: 78.4% (#1). SWE-bench Pro standardized 43.30% (#3). Plan Mode added March 2026. First-pass correctness ~50-60% (Educative.io).

Public evidence

Raw GitHub source

GitHub README peek

Constrained peek so you can sanity-check the source material without leaving the site.

<div align="center">

<a href="https://trendshift.io/repositories/15287" target="_blank"><img src="https://trendshift.io/api/badge/repositories/15287" alt="QwenLM%2Fqwen-code | Trendshift" style="width: 250px; height: 55px;" width="250" height="55"/></a>

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

<a href="https://qwenlm.github.io/qwen-code-docs/zh/users/overview">中文</a> | <a href="https://qwenlm.github.io/qwen-code-docs/de/users/overview">Deutsch</a> | <a href="https://qwenlm.github.io/qwen-code-docs/fr/users/overview">français</a> | <a href="https://qwenlm.github.io/qwen-code-docs/ja/users/overview">日本語</a> | <a href="https://qwenlm.github.io/qwen-code-docs/ru/users/overview">Русский</a> | <a href="https://qwenlm.github.io/qwen-code-docs/pt-BR/users/overview">Português (Brasil)</a> | <a href="https://qwenlm.github.io/qwen-code-docs/ko/users/overview">한국어</a>

</div>

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.

<details> <summary>NPM / Homebrew</summary>

NPM (requires Node.js 22+):

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

Homebrew (macOS / Linux):

brew install qwen-code
</details>

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

ModeCommandUse Case
InteractiveqwenTerminal UI with rich rendering, @file references, slash commands
Headlessqwen -p "..."Scripts, CI/CD, batch processing — no UI
IDEVS Code, Zed, JetBrains
DesktopQwen Code Desktop — GUI for macOS, Windows, Linux
Daemonqwen serveShared agent session over HTTP+SSE (ACP). Multiple clients, one agent. (experimental) Docs
SDKTypeScript, Python, Java
IM Botqwen channelConnect to Telegram, DingTalk, WeChat, or Feishu
<details> <summary>SDK example (Python)</summary>
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())
</details>

Capabilities

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.

FeatureQwen CodeClaude 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:

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