| name | drive-qwen |
| description | Use when delegating a coding or research task to the Qwen Code CLI (`qwen`) from Claude Code. Covers one-shot positional prompts, approval modes, sessions (and the --chat-recording gotcha), output formats, and tmux interactive driving. Load delegate-to-agents first for the shared mechanism. |
Drive Qwen Code CLI
Delegate to Qwen Code, a coding agent CLI
(a Gemini-CLI-style fork). Read delegate-to-agents first for the shared
Claude Code mechanism.
Flags verified against qwen 0.15.6 (qwen --help).
When to use
Coding, refactors, review, research — when you want the Qwen models or a cheap,
fast second engine.
Preflight
command -v qwen && qwen --version
qwen auth # configure auth: OpenRouter, Coding Plan, API Key, or Qwen-OAuth
Auth backends: OpenRouter, Qwen Coding Plan, API key, or Qwen-OAuth — set up via
qwen auth. No valid backend → headless runs fail; fall back.
One-shot (PREFERRED): positional prompt
Unlike Gemini, Qwen's positional prompt defaults to one-shot ("use
-i/--prompt-interactive for interactive"). So a bare prompt is already headless.
# one-shot, capture stdout
Bash(command="cd /repo && qwen 'Summarize the responsibilities of src/scheduler.go'", timeout=300000)
# write task, auto-approve edits
Bash(command="cd /repo && qwen 'Add input validation to the signup handler and tests' --approval-mode auto-edit", timeout=600000)
# stdin appended to the prompt
Bash(command="git -C /repo diff | qwen 'Review this diff; flag bugs and missing tests'", timeout=300000)
# long task: detach + log
Bash(command="cd /repo && qwen 'Refactor the parser' --approval-mode auto-edit > /tmp/agent-qwen.log 2>&1", run_in_background=true)
-p/--prompt still works but is deprecated in favor of the positional form.
Key flags
| Flag | Effect |
|---|
<prompt> (positional) | One-shot run (default) |
-i, --prompt-interactive <text> | Run prompt, then stay interactive |
-m, --model <name> | Model override |
--approval-mode <mode> | plan (read-only), default (prompt), auto-edit (auto-approve edits), yolo (approve all) |
-y, --yolo | Approve all actions |
-o, --output-format <fmt> | text, json, stream-json |
-s, --sandbox | Run tools in a sandbox |
--system-prompt / --append-system-prompt | Replace / extend the system prompt |
--include-directories, --add-dir <dirs> | Add workspace directories |
--bare | Minimal mode: skip startup auto-discovery |
--max-session-turns <n> | Cap agent turns |
Note: --approval-mode auto-edit (hyphen). Gemini uses auto_edit
(underscore). They differ — don't copy across drivers.
Sessions / resume — the --chat-recording gotcha
Resume/continue only work if chat history was recorded. --continue/--resume
do nothing unless --chat-recording was enabled on the original run.
qwen --chat-recording 'Start the migration' # record so it can be resumed
qwen -c 'Continue the migration' # -c is a boolean (most-recent); the string is the positional prompt
qwen -r <session-id> 'Continue the migration' # -r takes the ID; the prompt stays positional
qwen --session-id <session-id> 'Continue …'
Interactive (tmux)
Bash(command="tmux new-session -d -s qwen -x 200 -y 50")
Bash(command="tmux send-keys -t qwen 'cd /repo && qwen -i \"Add a health-check endpoint\"' Enter")
Bash(command="sleep 6 && tmux capture-pane -t qwen -p -S -60")
Bash(command="tmux send-keys -t qwen 'now add a test for it' Enter")
Bash(command="sleep 25 && tmux capture-pane -t qwen -p -S -80")
Bash(command="tmux kill-session -t qwen")
Rules
- Positional prompt = one-shot — no extra flag needed for headless.
--approval-mode auto-edit (hyphen) for building; plan for read-only review.- Enable
--chat-recording if you intend to resume later.
--output-format json to parse results.- One worktree per parallel run; clean up tmux/logs.
- Review the diff and re-run tests yourself.
