Setup guide - From Qwen and Aider docs
Use Qwen in Aider
Aider documents connecting to any OpenAI-compatible endpoint via OPENAI_API_BASE and OPENAI_API_KEY, with the model prefixed openai/. Model Studio documents the OpenAI-compatible base URLs and Qwen model ids.
Last verified 3 steps4 official sources
Steps
- Step 1.
Set the endpoint and key (pay-as-you-go Singapore shown; replace {WorkspaceId}).
Terminal# Mac/Linux: export OPENAI_API_BASE=https://{WorkspaceId}.ap-southeast-1.maas.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1 export OPENAI_API_KEY=<your Model Studio API key> # Windows: setx OPENAI_API_BASE https://{WorkspaceId}.ap-southeast-1.maas.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1 setx OPENAI_API_KEY <your Model Studio API key> # ... restart shell after setx commands - Step 2.
Start aider in your project with the model name prefixed with openai/.
Terminalcd /to/your/project aider --model openai/qwen3.7-plus - Step 3.
Coding Plan alternative: set OPENAI_API_BASE to the Coding Plan endpoint and OPENAI_API_KEY to the Coding Plan key.
Terminalexport OPENAI_API_BASE=https://coding-intl.dashscope.aliyuncs.com/v1
Caveats
- Combined setup: Aider's documented OpenAI-compatible mechanism plus Model Studio's documented base URLs and model ids. There is no Aider-specific Model Studio guide.
- Aider prints model warnings for models it doesn't recognise (see aider's model warnings docs).
- Model Studio plan keys (Coding Plan, Token Plan) are restricted to interactive AI coding tools; do not use them for scripts or backends.
- Replace {WorkspaceId}; keys are region-specific.
More setup guides
Same tool, other providers
Related reading
- Run Qwen3.8-Flash-Next on a Gaming PC With StrataRun Qwen3.8-Flash-Next locally with Strata on a 12 GB GPU: hardware needs, speeds by quant, the license catch, and when the hosted API is the better call.
- Terminal-Universe Turns Agent Traces Into Training EnvironmentsTerminal-Universe, Qwen's paper on rebuilding terminal-agent trajectories into reusable environments, and why agent teams should keep replayable workspaces.
- Qwen3.8-27B vs Opus 4.6 Max: Local Agentic Coding BenchmarksQwen3.8-27B is a 27B dense Apache-2.0 model that beats Opus 4.6 Max on SWE-bench Pro (61.7 vs 53.4). Benchmarks, hardware, cost and when to run it.
- Qwen 3.8 Max Ships: 2.4T MoE, 1M Context, $2/$6 per MTok, Open Weights Next WeekQwen 3.8 Max is a 2.4T-parameter MoE with 95B active, a 1M context window and $2/$6 per million tokens on QwenCloud, with open weights promised next week.
- Qwen-UI-Agent Points at the Next GUI Agent RuntimeQwen-UI-Agent, Alibaba's GUI agent report, reads best as a product spec: mobile, desktop, browser, CLI and DeepSearch combined in one stateful agent runtime.
- $500 RL Fine-Tune of a 9B Open Model Beat GPT-5.6 Sol and Claude Opus 4.8 on Catalog ReviewA $500 GRPO fine-tune of Qwen 3.5 9B beat GPT-5.6 Sol and Opus 4.8 on catalog review, hitting 97% accuracy at a fraction of the cost per listing.
FAQ
How do I use Qwen in Aider?
Aider documents connecting to any OpenAI-compatible endpoint via OPENAI_API_BASE and OPENAI_API_KEY, with the model prefixed openai/. Model Studio documents the OpenAI-compatible base URLs and Qwen model ids.
Which Qwen model ids work in Aider?
The official docs read for this guide list qwen3.7-plus, qwen3.6-plus and qwen3.7-max. Requests go to https://{WorkspaceId}.ap-southeast-1.maas.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1.
Is this an official Qwen and Aider setup?
The steps draw on both Qwen's and Aider's docs. It was last checked against 4 official pages on October 17, 2026.
Sources
Last verified against 4 official pages.
- aider.chathttps://aider.chat/docs/llms/openai-compat.html
- github.comhttps://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/blob/main/aider/website/docs/llms/openai-compat.md
- alibabacloud.comhttps://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/model-studio/more-tools
- alibabacloud.comhttps://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/model-studio/coding-plan
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