--- title: Qwen Code slug: qwen-code url: "https://toolweight.com/options/qwen-code" homepage: "https://qwenlm.github.io/qwen-code-docs/" categories: coding-agents last_verified: 2026-01-15 license: CC-BY-4.0 --- # Qwen Code > Apache-2.0 Gemini CLI fork tuned for Qwen3-Coder, with a large free daily quota. Qwen Code is a fork of Gemini CLI re-targeted at the Qwen3-Coder models, which means it inherits a mature harness, MCP, custom commands, checkpointing, without having to build one. A Qwen sign-in grants a substantial free daily request quota, and because it speaks OpenAI-compatible endpoints it also works against any compatible provider or a local server. The obvious choice if you want strong open-weight models in a familiar loop. ## Identity | | | | --- | --- | | Name | Qwen Code | | Company | Alibaba | | One-liner | Apache-2.0 Gemini CLI fork tuned for Qwen3-Coder, with a large free daily quota. | | Site | https://qwenlm.github.io/qwen-code-docs/ | | Repo | https://github.com/QwenLM/qwen-code | | Founded | 2025 | | Open source | Yes | | Licence | Apache-2.0 | | Brand | https://toolweight.com/vendors/Qwen | | Compared in | 1 | ## Where it is compared ### [Coding agents](https://toolweight.com/compare/coding-agents) Ranked **#9 of 17** on default weights. | Field | Value | Confidence | Verified | Source | Note | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Surface | CLI | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://github.com/QwenLM/qwen-code | - | | Default model | Latest Qwen3-Coder model | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | Model breadth | one vendor + custom endpoint | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Tuned for Qwen but speaks OpenAI-compatible endpoints, so routers and local servers work. | | Repo indexing | agentic grep | Inferred | - | - | Inherited from Gemini CLI. | | Plan mode | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | - | | Checkpoint & undo | ● | Inferred | - | - | Inherits Gemini CLI's restore mechanism. | | Headless / CI | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | Local models | ● | Community-reported | - | - | Open-weight Qwen models, plus any OpenAI-compatible local server. | | Where it stops | 3 | Inferred | - | - | Edits files and runs commands locally; no PR path. | | MCP | ● | Inferred | - | - | Inherited from the upstream fork. | | Subagents | - | Unknown | - | - | Upstream Gemini CLI shipped experimental subagents; we have not verified whether the fork carries them, and asserting partial at unknown confidence was the one cell on this page claiming a value it could not support. | | Hooks | - | Unknown | - | - | - | | Skills / commands | ● | Inferred | - | - | TOML custom commands, as upstream. | | Background agents | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | | Opens PRs | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | | Permissions | granular allowlist | Inferred | - | - | Approval modes inherited from Gemini CLI. The upstream sandbox may well have come across with the fork, which would put this a tier higher alongside Gemini CLI and Goose, but we could not confirm it in the fork's own documentation and we grade the control we can confirm. | | BYOK | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | Licence | Apache-2.0 | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://github.com/QwenLM/qwen-code | - | | Pricing model | BYOK tokens only | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | The free daily quota is a vendor-provided allowance on a Qwen account rather than your key, the same shape as Gemini CLI's. It stays encoded as BYOK because there is no paid seat behind it that we can name; above the quota you bring a key. Gemini CLI is encoded a tier lower precisely because it does sell a seat. | | Entry price | $0 /seat/mo | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | Token markup | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | | GitHub stars | 13,000 | Community-reported | - | - | Rounded, moderate confidence. | | Terminal-Bench | - | Unknown | - | - | - | | Bench model | - | Unknown | - | - | - | | Positioning | A command-line coding agent tuned for the Qwen3-Coder models. | Vendor-claimed | - | https://qwenlm.github.io/qwen-code-docs/ | - | | First release | 2025-07-01 | Community-reported | - | - | Approximate. | **Verdict.** Forking Gemini CLI was the right call, it inherits a mature harness for free and spends its effort on model integration. The clearest route to strong open-weight models in an agent loop, and the free quota makes daily use viable outside US and EU price brackets. ## Alternatives - [Aider](https://toolweight.com/options/aider), Minimal terminal pair-programmer with a tree-sitter repo map and automatic git commits. - [Amp](https://toolweight.com/options/amp), Sourcegraph's opinionated agent with no model picker and an ad-supported free tier. - [Claude Code](https://toolweight.com/options/claude-code), Anthropic's terminal-first agent, with IDE, web and GitHub Action surfaces. - [Cline](https://toolweight.com/options/cline), Open-source VS Code and JetBrains agent built around an explicit plan/act split. - [Codex CLI](https://toolweight.com/options/codex-cli), OpenAI's open-source Rust agent, with the strongest local sandboxing on this page. - [Cursor](https://toolweight.com/options/cursor), VS Code fork with a real codebase index, background cloud agents and a CLI. - [Devin](https://toolweight.com/options/devin), Fully delegated cloud engineer: file a task in Slack or the web app, get a PR back. - [DIY harness](https://toolweight.com/options/diy-harness), Your own loop over a model API with an agent SDK, the build-it-yourself reference point. - [Gemini CLI](https://toolweight.com/options/gemini-cli), Apache-2.0 terminal agent from Google with an unusually generous free tier. - [GitHub Copilot (Agent HQ)](https://toolweight.com/options/github-copilot), Copilot's coding agent plus a control plane for running third-party agents on your repos. - [Goose](https://toolweight.com/options/goose), Block's Apache-2.0 agent, MCP-native from the start, as both a CLI and a desktop app. - [Grok Build](https://toolweight.com/options/grok-build), xAI's coding harness, launched July 2026, on this page but not yet verified. ## Licence and attribution Data from toolweight (https://toolweight.com), licensed CC-BY-4.0. - Licence: [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) - Canonical HTML: https://toolweight.com/options/qwen-code - Machine-readable: https://toolweight.com/options/qwen-code.md · https://toolweight.com/api/v1 · https://toolweight.com/mcp - toolweight takes no affiliate revenue and sells no placements. Corrections: https://toolweight.com/suggest