Qwen Code

Alibaba's Qwen team has released Qwen Code v0.1.20, an open source terminal-based AI coding agent licensed under Apache-2.0 that has drawn 28,502 GitHub stars. Qwen Code began as a fork of Google's Gemini CLI v0.8.2 but has been developed independently since v0.1, supporting OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini and Qwen APIs plus local models through Ollama or vLLM, with IDE plugins for VS Code, Zed and JetBrains, a desktop app, a web UI and SDKs. The project is optimized for Qwen's open-weight models, letting developers run both the agent and the model on their own hardware as a vendor-neutral Claude Code alternative.

Open Source Alternative to: - Stars 28,502 - Last commit 58 minutes ago - Repository age 1 year - Version v0.1.20 - License Apache-2.0 https://openalternative.co/licenses/apache-2 - Repository qwenlm/qwen-code https://github.com/QwenLM/qwen-code Qwen Code is an open source AI coding agent from the Qwen team at Alibaba. It runs in the terminal and reads your codebase, edits files, runs shell commands, and works through multi-step tasks on your local repository. The project started from Google's Gemini CLI https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli?utm source=openalternative.co v0.8.2. Since v0.1 it has been developed independently, with its own features and support for many model providers. Key capabilities: - Multi-provider models: works with OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini and Qwen APIs, any compatible third-party provider, and local models through Ollama https://openalternative.co/ollama or vLLM. You can switch models at runtime. - Agent features: subagents, agent teams, skills, auto-memory and MCP server support. - More than a terminal: IDE plugins for VS Code, Zed and JetBrains, a desktop app, a web UI, and SDKs for building on top of the agent. - Chat integrations: run the agent from Telegram, DingTalk, WeChat or Feishu. Qwen Code is optimized for Qwen models, and many of those are open-weight, so you can run both the agent and the model on your own hardware. It is a good fit for developers who want a Claude Code alternative https://openalternative.co/alternatives/claude-code without being tied to one model vendor. Install it with the standalone script, npm @qwen-code/qwen-code , Node.js 22+ or Homebrew. Every Sunday we deconstruct one proprietary app and pick the best open source alternatives worth switching to. - Stars - Last commit - License AI AI coding agent for terminal, IDE, and desktop - Stars 213,615 - Last commit 11 hours ago - License MIT Open source AI coding agent that works in your terminal, IDE, or desktop app, supporting 75+ LLM providers with no code storage. Compare with AI coding agent that works inside your terminal - Stars 129,378 Minimal terminal coding agent you can fully customize - Stars 115,284 Autonomous coding agents that complete real engineering tasks - Stars 90,934 Open-source AI coding agent for your editor and terminal Coding agent that runs on local and open-weight models - Stars 68,580 General-purpose AI agent for code, workflows, and more - Stars 55,295 AI coding agent and CLI for complex terminal workflows - Stars 27,380 AI coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains, CLI, and Cloud Terminal coding agent with full model and data control - Stars 1,736 Last commit 59 minutes ago License Apache-2.0 Terminal-based AI coding agent that inspects files, edits code, runs commands, and integrates into CI pipelines using OpenAI's Codex models. 13 hours ago MIT Terminal-based coding agent with a minimal core, 15+ LLM providers, tree-structured session history, and a TypeScript extension system for building your own workflows. 15 hours ago AI agent platform that runs autonomous coding agents to plan, write, and ship changes across codebases end-to-end, with support for any model and self-hosted deployment. Stars 70,345 11 hours ago AI coding agent that runs inside VS Code and the terminal, supporting multi-file edits, bash execution, and any LLM provider via bring-your-own-key. 5 days ago Coding agent that lets LLMs write and execute code, manage files, and control your computer using local or low-cost models. 12 hours ago Local AI agent with a desktop app, CLI, and API that connects to 15+ LLM providers and 70+ extensions for code, research, automation, and data tasks. 16 days ago Terminal-based coding agent powered by Grok 4.5 that plans, builds, tests, and deploys across any codebase with parallel subagents and plugin support. 27,610 Open source AI coding agent with 500+ models, bring-your-own-key support, and specialized modes for writing, debugging, and planning code across IDEs and CLI. Open-source AI coding agent for the terminal that works with 25+ model providers, keeps sessions on your disk, and ships as a single Go binary with no telemetry.