Set Up Qwen Code

On Windows, npm installs global CLI commands into %APPDATA%\npm. If your PowerShell execution policy is restricted, running global scripts can throw an authorization error.

Get-ExecutionPolicy -List
npm config get prefix

If CurrentUser is Restricted, configure it to RemoteSigned:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned -Force

Run npm install globally. This installs the CLI binaries qwen and qwen.cmd into your global npm path.

npm install -g @qwen-code/qwen-code

Notice: Ollama is never touched, downloaded, or invoked during this process. Qwen Code is completely standalone!

Qwen Code connects to Qwen's official models in the cloud via browser OAuth or API keys. If you have a DashScope / Alibaba Cloud account, set your API key:

$env:DASHSCOPE_API_KEY = "sk-your-dashscope-key"

Alternatively, launch qwen in interactive mode to complete standard browser OAuth authentication.

Qwen Code features built-in support for any OpenAI-compatible REST endpoint (including OpenAI, OpenRouter, vLLM, or private enterprise gateways):

$env:OPENAI_API_KEY = "your-api-key"
$env:OPENAI_BASE_URL = "https://api.openai.com/v1"
$env:OPENAI_MODEL = "gpt-4o"

Running bare qwen in your project folder opens the rich interactive interface with conversational memory, syntax highlighting, and inline diff viewing:

qwen

Useful interactive commands: /help, /clear, /model, /bye.

Execute single-shot prompts without launching the interactive UI:

qwen -p "Explain the contents of package.json in one concise paragraph"

Pipe error logs or command output directly into Qwen Code:

git status | qwen -p "Suggest a commit message for these changes"

By default, Qwen Code operates within your current working directory. Use --include-directories to include shared libraries, docs, or sibling folders:

# Windows PowerShell:
qwen --include-directories "$HOME\projects\shared_lib"

# macOS / Linux:
qwen --include-directories "$HOME/projects/shared_lib"

Connect MCP servers via --mcp-config or within .qwen/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sql-explorer": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "mcp_server_sql", "--db", "BOTS"]
    }
  }
}

Run a prompt task to build a small utility and its test suite. By default, execute without the -y flag so you review file diffs before accepting:

qwen -p "Create math_utils.py with a gcd function and test_math.py with unit tests"

Safety Note: Append -y only in automated CI/CD pipelines or isolated sandboxes. In day-to-day workspaces, omit -y so you can confirm diffs interactively.

1. Per-Agent Onboarding Checklist: Run this checklist for every agent to confirm guardrails and backup paths:

$check = Join-Path $env:TEMP "bbb-onboarding-checklist.txt"; @("agent:","rules file:","memory location:","permissions:","delete guard:","backup path:","final check:") | Set-Content -Encoding ascii $check; Get-Content $check; Write-Host "Fill every line for this agent. Rerun this checklist for the next agent."

2. Variable-Limit Delete Guard Demo: Verify that your environment catches variable-derived deletions:

$tmp = $env:USERPROFILE; $literal = $env:USERPROFILE; foreach ($src in @('$tmp','$env:GROK_HOME','python cleanup.py')) { if ($src -like "*$literal*") { "HIT $src" } else { "MISS $src" } }; if ([IO.Path]::GetFullPath($tmp) -eq [IO.Path]::GetFullPath($env:USERPROFILE)) { "REFUSE resolved tmp: it is the user profile. Text guards miss dollar-variables and python cleanup.py. 2026-09-23 Remove-Item of user profile is the example." }

3. Off-Volume Qwen Profile Backup: Back up ~/.qwen configuration to D:\Backups\llm-profiles:

$dest = "D:\Backups\llm-profiles\$(Get-Date -Format yyyyMMdd-HHmm)"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $dest | Out-Null
if (Test-Path "$env:USERPROFILE\.qwen") {
  robocopy "$env:USERPROFILE\.qwen" "$dest\.qwen" /E /NFL /NDL /NJH /NJS
  Write-Host "Backed up $dest\.qwen"
}
Get-ChildItem $dest

4. Practised Restore Drill: Prove non-destructive restore capability in temp directory:

$drill = Join-Path $env:TEMP "bbb-restore-drill"; $src = Join-Path $drill "source"; $bak = Join-Path $drill "backup"; $back = Join-Path $drill "restored"; New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $src,$bak,$back | Out-Null; Set-Content -Encoding ascii -Path (Join-Path $src "proof.txt") -Value "bbb-restore-proof"; Copy-Item (Join-Path $src "proof.txt") (Join-Path $bak "proof.txt"); Remove-Item (Join-Path $src "proof.txt"); Copy-Item (Join-Path $bak "proof.txt") (Join-Path $back "proof.txt"); Get-Content (Join-Path $back "proof.txt"); Write-Host "Practised restore wrote proof into $back. Do not delete your user profile to test this."

5. Fail-Closed Workspace Policy: Restrict all Qwen Code execution roots to dedicated repository folders like $HOME/projects.