---
summary: "Use Qwen Cloud through its OpenClaw plugin"
read_when:
- You want to use Qwen with OpenClaw
- You have an Alibaba Cloud Token Plan subscription
title: "Qwen"
---
Qwen Cloud is an official external OpenClaw provider plugin with canonical id `qwen`. It targets Qwen Cloud / Alibaba DashScope Standard and Coding Plan endpoints, exposes Token Plan as `qwen-token-plan`, keeps `modelstudio` as a compatibility alias, and independently owns Alibaba's documented `bailian-token-plan` custom-provider id.
| Property | Value |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| Provider | `qwen` |
| Token Plan provider | `qwen-token-plan` |
| Preferred env var | `QWEN_API_KEY` |
| Token Plan env var | `QWEN_TOKEN_PLAN_API_KEY` |
| Also accepted (compat) | `MODELSTUDIO_API_KEY`, `DASHSCOPE_API_KEY` |
| API style | OpenAI-compatible |
`qwen3.7-plus` and `qwen3.6-plus` work with Coding Plan and Standard endpoints.
For `qwen3.8-max` or `qwen3.8-flash`, use **Standard (pay-as-you-go)** or **Token Plan**.
The older Coding Plan does not include these models. `qwen3.7-max` and
`qwen3.6-flash` also require Standard or Token Plan.
## Install plugin
`qwen` ships as an official external plugin, not bundled with core. Install it and restart Gateway:
```bash
openclaw plugins install @openclaw/qwen-provider
openclaw gateway restart
```
## Getting started
Choose your plan type and follow the setup steps.
**Best for:** subscription-based access through the Qwen Coding Plan.
Create or copy an API key from [home.qwencloud.com/api-keys](https://home.qwencloud.com/api-keys).
For the **Global** endpoint:
```bash
openclaw onboard --auth-choice qwen-api-key
```
For the **China** endpoint:
```bash
openclaw onboard --auth-choice qwen-api-key-cn
```
```json5
{
agents: {
defaults: {
model: { primary: "qwen/qwen3.5-plus" },
},
},
}
```
```bash
openclaw models list --provider qwen
```
Legacy `modelstudio-*` auth-choice ids and `modelstudio/...` model refs still
work as compatibility aliases, but new setup flows should prefer the canonical
`qwen-*` auth-choice ids and `qwen/...` model refs. If you define an exact
custom `models.providers.modelstudio` entry with another `api` value, that
custom provider owns `modelstudio/...` refs instead of the Qwen compatibility
alias.
**Best for:** pay-as-you-go access through the Standard Model Studio endpoint, including `qwen3.8-max` and `qwen3.8-flash`, which are not available on the older Coding Plan.
Create or copy an API key from [home.qwencloud.com/api-keys](https://home.qwencloud.com/api-keys).
For the **Global** endpoint:
```bash
openclaw onboard --auth-choice qwen-standard-api-key
```
For the **China** endpoint:
```bash
openclaw onboard --auth-choice qwen-standard-api-key-cn
```
```json5
{
agents: {
defaults: {
model: { primary: "qwen/qwen3.5-plus" },
},
},
}
```
```bash
openclaw models list --provider qwen
```
Legacy `modelstudio-*` auth-choice ids and `modelstudio/...` model refs still
work as compatibility aliases, but new setup flows should prefer the canonical
`qwen-*` auth-choice ids and `qwen/...` model refs. If you define an exact
custom `models.providers.modelstudio` entry with another `api` value, that
custom provider owns `modelstudio/...` refs instead of the Qwen compatibility
alias.
**Best for:** credit-based team subscription access to Qwen and supported third-party models through Alibaba Cloud Model Studio.
Assign a Token Plan seat and create its dedicated `sk-sp-...` key. Token Plan, Coding Plan, and pay-as-you-go keys are not interchangeable. See the [Global Token Plan overview](https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/model-studio/token-plan-overview) or [China Token Plan overview](https://help.aliyun.com/zh/model-studio/token-plan-overview).
For the **Global / International** endpoint in Singapore:
```bash
openclaw onboard --auth-choice qwen-token-plan
```
For the **China** endpoint in Beijing:
```bash
openclaw onboard --auth-choice qwen-token-plan-cn
```
```bash
openclaw models list --provider qwen-token-plan
openclaw agent --model qwen-token-plan/qwen3.7-plus --message "Reply with: token plan ready"
```
Alibaba's OpenClaw guide uses `bailian-token-plan` for a manual custom
provider. The plugin registers that id as a compatibility owner, but new
configs should use `qwen-token-plan`. An exact custom
`models.providers.bailian-token-plan` entry keeps ownership of its configured
transport and catalog; it is never merged into the canonical OpenAI catalog.
Use Token Plan only for interactive OpenClaw sessions. Do not select it for
cron jobs, unattended scripts, or application backends. Alibaba states that
non-interactive use can suspend the subscription or revoke its API key.
## Retired Qwen Portal authentication
The `qwen-oauth` Portal provider and its legacy OAuth flow have been removed.
Portal tokens are not interchangeable with Qwen Cloud or DashScope API keys.
Using the current Qwen plugin requires fresh API-key authentication for the
chosen endpoint and updated model configuration. Follow
[Install plugin](/providers/qwen#install-plugin) and
[Getting started](/providers/qwen#getting-started); existing Portal credentials
are not converted automatically.
## Plan types and endpoints
| Plan | Region | Auth choice | Endpoint |
| -------------------------- | ------ | -------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Coding Plan (subscription) | China | `qwen-api-key-cn` | `coding.dashscope.aliyuncs.com/v1` |
| Coding Plan (subscription) | Global | `qwen-api-key` | `coding-intl.dashscope.aliyuncs.com/v1` |
| Standard (pay-as-you-go) | China | `qwen-standard-api-key-cn` | `dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1` |
| Standard (pay-as-you-go) | Global | `qwen-standard-api-key` | `dashscope-intl.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1` |
| Token Plan (Team Edition) | China | `qwen-token-plan-cn` | `token-plan.cn-beijing.maas.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1` |
| Token Plan (Team Edition) | Global | `qwen-token-plan` | `token-plan.ap-southeast-1.maas.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1` |
The provider auto-selects the endpoint based on your auth choice. Canonical
choices use the `qwen-*` family; `modelstudio-*` remains compatibility-only.
Override with a custom `baseUrl` in config.
**Manage keys:** [home.qwencloud.com/api-keys](https://home.qwencloud.com/api-keys) |
**Docs:** [docs.qwencloud.com](https://docs.qwencloud.com/developer-guides/getting-started/introduction)
## Built-in catalog
OpenClaw discovers models from the configured endpoint's authenticated `/models`
API. The plugin keeps the following seed metadata for offline discovery and for
endpoints that return only model IDs. Coding Plan configs omit models that are
not included in that plan; a Standard model listing does not establish Token
Plan or Coding Plan access.
| Model ref | Input | Context | Notes |
| --------------------------- | ----------- | --------- | ----------------------- |
| `qwen/qwen3.5-plus` | text, image | 1,000,000 | Default model |
| `qwen/qwen3.6-flash` | text, image | 1,000,000 | Standard endpoints only |
| `qwen/qwen3.6-plus` | text, image | 1,000,000 | Coding Plan + Standard |
| `qwen/qwen3.7-max` | text | 1,000,000 | Standard endpoints only |
| `qwen/qwen3.7-plus` | text, image | 1,000,000 | Coding Plan + Standard |
| `qwen/qwen3.8-max` | text, image | 1,000,000 | Standard endpoints only |
| `qwen/qwen3.8-flash` | text, image | 1,000,000 | Standard endpoints only |
| `qwen/qwen3-max-2026-01-23` | text | 262,144 | Qwen Max line |
| `qwen/qwen3-coder-next` | text | 262,144 | Coding |
| `qwen/qwen3-coder-plus` | text | 1,000,000 | Coding |
| `qwen/MiniMax-M2.5` | text | 1,000,000 | Reasoning enabled |
| `qwen/glm-5` | text | 202,752 | GLM |
| `qwen/glm-4.7` | text | 202,752 | GLM |
| `qwen/kimi-k2.5` | text, image | 262,144 | Moonshot AI via Alibaba |
Availability can still vary by endpoint and billing plan even when a model is
present in the seed catalog. Additional chat models returned by the endpoint can
appear without a plugin update. For locally hosted models, use the
[Ollama](/providers/ollama) or [LM Studio](/providers/lmstudio) discovery flow.
### Token Plan catalog
Token Plan uses a separate exact-string allowlist. The built-in catalog shows
Alibaba's currently recommended plan models and keeps the newer Qwen3-Coder
compatibility tier selectable but hidden. Other allowlisted model IDs remain
available as custom model refs. Image-generation-only plan models are not
included here because they use different APIs.
| Model ref | Input | Context | Picker status |
| ---------------------------------- | ----------- | --------- | ------------- |
| `qwen-token-plan/qwen3.7-plus` | text, image | 1,000,000 | visible |
| `qwen-token-plan/qwen3.8-max` | text, image | 1,000,000 | visible |
| `qwen-token-plan/qwen3.8-flash` | text, image | 1,000,000 | visible |
| `qwen-token-plan/qwen3.6-plus` | text, image | 1,000,000 | visible |
| `qwen-token-plan/qwen3-coder-next` | text | 262,144 | hidden |
| `qwen-token-plan/kimi-k2.5` | text, image | 262,144 | visible |
| `qwen-token-plan/glm-5` | text | 202,752 | visible |
| `qwen-token-plan/MiniMax-M2.5` | text | 196,608 | visible |
## Thinking controls
`qwen3.8-max` and `qwen3.8-flash` support `off`, `low`, `medium`, and `xhigh`
thinking, with `xhigh` as the default. `minimal` maps to `low`; `high` and `max`
map to `xhigh`. This applies to Standard and Token Plan. Both models support
131,072 output tokens. OpenClaw preserves returned reasoning in its separate
`reasoning_content` replay field during tool use, rather than placing it in
visible answer text.
An explicit `thinking_budget` in request parameters takes precedence over the
mapped `reasoning_effort`: Qwen rejects requests containing both. See the
[Qwen thinking reference](https://docs.qwencloud.com/developer-guides/text-generation/thinking).
`qwen3.7-max`, `qwen3.7-plus`, `qwen3.6-flash`, and `qwen3.6-plus` are
reasoning-enabled in the built-in catalog. For reasoning models on the `qwen`
family, the provider maps OpenClaw thinking levels to DashScope's top-level
`enable_thinking` request flag: disabled thinking sends `enable_thinking: false`,
any other level sends `enable_thinking: true`. Custom models can opt into an
alternate chat-template thinking payload by setting
`compat.thinkingFormat: "qwen-chat-template"` on the model entry.
Token Plan models are also marked reasoning-capable. `kimi-k2.7-code` and
`MiniMax-M2.5` are thinking-only, so OpenClaw keeps thinking enabled even when
the session requests `/think off`. DeepSeek V4 maps `minimal` through `high` to
the service's `high` effort and maps `xhigh` or `max` to `max`. GLM 5.2 accepts
the full `minimal` through `max` range; GLM 5.1 and GLM 5 accept through
`xhigh`, and all three default to `high`. Other hybrid models follow the
requested on/off state.
## Multimodal add-ons
The `qwen` plugin exposes multimodal capabilities on the **Standard** DashScope
endpoints only, not the Coding Plan endpoints:
- **Image and video understanding** via `qwen3.6-plus`
- **Wan video generation** via `wan2.6-t2v` (default), `wan2.6-i2v`, `wan2.6-r2v`, `wan2.6-r2v-flash`, `wan2.7-r2v`
Media understanding is auto-resolved from the configured Qwen auth; no extra
config is needed. Make sure you are on a Standard (pay-as-you-go) endpoint for
media understanding to work.
To make Qwen the default video provider:
```json5
{
agents: {
defaults: {
mediaModels: { video: { primary: "qwen/wan2.6-t2v" } },
},
},
}
```
Each Wan model advertises only its matching runtime mode:
| Mode | Models | Reference limits | Max duration | Supported controls |
| ---------------------------- | -------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | ------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Text-to-video | `wan2.6-t2v` | n/a | 15 s | `size`, `aspectRatio`, `resolution`, `audio`, `watermark` |
| Image-to-video | `wan2.6-i2v` | 1 image | 15 s | `resolution`, `audio`, `watermark` |
| Reference-to-video (Wan 2.6) | `wan2.6-r2v`, `wan2.6-r2v-flash` | 5 total images/videos; up to 3 videos | 10 s | `size`, `aspectRatio`, `resolution`, `audio`, `watermark` |
| Reference-to-video (Wan 2.7) | `wan2.7-r2v` | 5 total images/videos; up to 3 videos | 10 s | `size`, `aspectRatio`, `resolution`, `watermark`; audio is always on |
Wan 2.6 text/reference models translate `resolution` plus `aspectRatio` to the
documented exact `size`. Wan 2.6 image-to-video sends the `resolution` tier and
uses the input image's aspect ratio. Wan 2.7 reference-to-video sends
`media`, `resolution`, and `ratio` and always generates audio.
Reference image/video inputs require remote http(s) URLs; local file paths are
rejected up front because the DashScope video endpoint does not accept uploaded
local buffers for those references.
See [Video generation](/tools/video-generation) for shared tool parameters, provider selection, and failover behavior.
## Advanced configuration
`qwen3.7-plus` and `qwen3.6-plus` are available on Coding Plan and Standard endpoints. For `qwen3.8-max`, `qwen3.8-flash`, `qwen3.7-max`, or `qwen3.6-flash`, use Standard or Token Plan. The Standard (pay-as-you-go) endpoints are:
- China: `dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1`
- Global: `dashscope-intl.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1`
OpenClaw omits these models from Coding Plan catalogs. If a Coding Plan
endpoint returns an "unsupported model" error, switch to the matching
Standard or Token Plan endpoint and its dedicated key.
OpenClaw maps the configured Qwen region to the matching DashScope AIGC host
before submitting a video job:
- Global/Intl: `https://dashscope-intl.aliyuncs.com`
- China: `https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com`
A normal `models.providers.qwen.baseUrl` pointing at either the Coding Plan
or Standard Qwen hosts still routes video generation to the matching
regional DashScope video endpoint.
Native Qwen endpoints advertise streaming usage compatibility on the shared
`openai-completions` transport, so DashScope-compatible custom provider ids
targeting the same native hosts inherit the same behavior without requiring
the built-in `qwen` provider id specifically. This applies to Coding Plan,
Standard, and Token Plan endpoints:
- `https://coding.dashscope.aliyuncs.com/v1`
- `https://coding-intl.dashscope.aliyuncs.com/v1`
- `https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1`
- `https://dashscope-intl.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1`
- `https://token-plan.ap-southeast-1.maas.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1`
- `https://token-plan.cn-beijing.maas.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1`
The `qwen` plugin is being positioned as the vendor home for the full Qwen
Cloud surface, not just coding/text models.
- **Text/chat models:** available through the plugin
- **Tool calling, structured output, thinking:** inherited from the OpenAI-compatible transport
- **Image generation:** planned at the provider-plugin layer
- **Image/video understanding:** available through the plugin on the Standard endpoint
- **Speech/audio:** planned at the provider-plugin layer
- **Memory embeddings/reranking:** planned through the embedding adapter surface
- **Video generation:** available through the plugin through the shared video-generation capability
If the Gateway runs as a daemon (launchd/systemd), make sure `QWEN_API_KEY`
or `QWEN_TOKEN_PLAN_API_KEY` is available to that process (for example, in
`~/.openclaw/.env` or via `env.shellEnv`).
## Related
Choosing providers, model refs, and failover behavior.
Shared video tool parameters and provider selection.
Bundled Wan video generation provider on the same DashScope platform.
General troubleshooting and FAQ.