How to Use Qwen 3 with VS Code (FREE) | Complete Setup with Ollama

A developer from TheCodeStreet demonstrates how to set up Alibaba's open-source Qwen 3 large language model with Ollama for local use in VS Code, offering a free alternative to GitHub Copilot. The tutorial covers installation, configuration, and prompting strategies, emphasizing that breaking projects into smaller steps improves output quality.

Have you ever wanted an AI coding assistant inside VS Code without paying for GitHub Copilot or other monthly subscriptions? The good news is—you can. Using Qwen 3 and Ollama , you can run a powerful coding model directly on your computer and use it inside VS Code. No API costs. No cloud dependency. Your code stays on your machine. 🎥 YouTube Video: How to Use Qwen 3 with VS Code FREE | Complete Setup with Ollama By the end of this tutorial you'll know how to: Qwen 3 is Alibaba's latest family of open-source large language models. It performs well for: Since it can run locally using Ollama, you don't need to rely on cloud APIs for everyday coding assistance. Ollama lets you run Large Language Models directly on your computer. Benefits include: Download Ollama from: Verify installation: ollama --version Run: ollama pull qwen3.6:latest Verify: ollama list You should now see the Qwen 3 model installed locally. Configure OpenCode to use your Ollama server. Typical endpoint: http://localhost:11434 or http://localhost:11434/v1 depending on your configuration. Instead of asking: Build an entire React application Start with something simple. Example: Create a reusable React Button component using functional components and CSS Modules. Small prompts generally produce better results with local models. Instead: Break the project into smaller components. Use a coding-capable Qwen model whenever possible. Local models work best when you: After experimenting with Qwen 3, I realized that the biggest limitation wasn't the model itself—it was my prompting strategy. Once I started building projects step by step instead of expecting an entire application in one response, the quality improved significantly. This article is Part 1 of the series. In Part 2 we'll build a complete GitHub Profile Finder using: …all with step-by-step prompts. https://ollama.com/library/qwen3 https://ollama.com/library/qwen3 https://code.visualstudio.com/ https://code.visualstudio.com/ Running Qwen 3 locally inside VS Code is a great option if you want a private, free AI coding assistant. Whether you're learning React, JavaScript, or working on professional software projects, local AI models have become capable enough to be part of your daily development workflow. If you found this article helpful, consider following TheCodeStreet for more tutorials on: Happy Coding 🚀