Why you'd want it
Qwen Code was originally based on Gemini CLI v0.8.2 and has been developed independently since v0.1. It supports OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini and Qwen APIs, other third-party providers and local models through Ollama or vLLM, and you can switch provider at runtime. Beyond the terminal it has VS Code, Zed and JetBrains integrations, a desktop app, an experimental web UI, a headless qwen -p mode and TypeScript, Python and Java SDKs.
Best for
- Running Qwen models in an agent
- Mixing hosted and local models
- Scripted runs in headless mode
Use it when
You want a terminal coding agent that is not tied to one model vendor, or you specifically want to use Qwen models.
Skip it if
You were counting on the free Qwen OAuth tier, which the docs say was discontinued on 2026-04-15; you now need an API key, an Alibaba Cloud plan or a local model. Its docs say optional usage statistics can be collected, so check the setting.