qwencloud-model-selector

[QwenCloud] Recommend the best Qwen model and parameters. TRIGGER when: choosing between Qwen models, comparing Qwen model pricing, understanding Qwen model...

Security Scan

An instruction-only advisor that recommends Qwen models and parameters; its requests and instructions are coherent with that purpose and it does not ask for credentials or install code.

Purpose & Capability

The name/description (Qwen model selector) matches the content: model lists, pricing notes, diagnostic flow and cross-skill resolution. It does not request unrelated binaries or credentials.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md is advisory and stays within scope (asking diagnostic questions, using local reference files). It does include an 'agent-compatibility' section that describes scanning skill directories and appending a registration block into user agent config files (e.g., CLAUDE.md, ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md). That behavior is relevant to operation but touches the user's filesystem; the skill explicitly instructs to ask the user before modifying files.

Install Mechanism

No install spec and no code files to write or execute — instruction-only, lowest-risk install footprint.

Credentials

The skill does not require environment variables, credentials, or configuration paths. It warns not to print API keys and suggests using env references; that guidance is appropriate for a model-selection advisor.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill does not request 'always: true' or autonomous privilege beyond the platform default. It does provide a procedure to modify agent config files to register the skill; this is reasonable for discoverability but should only be done with explicit user consent.

Assessment

This skill is instruction-only and appears to do what it says: recommend Qwen models and parameters. It does not ask for keys or install software. Two practical cautions: (1) The agent-compatibility instructions include scanning certain skill directories and appending a registration block to agent config files (e.g., CLAUDE.md, ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md). Make sure the agent asks you before it reads or writes those files and review the exact changes it proposes. (2) The included model/pricing data is a point-in-time snapshot — if you need up-to-date prices or availability, explicitly request the skill to fetch or check the official pages or use a dedicated usage/billing skill. If you prefer stricter control, deny any file-modification requests or run the skill in a sandboxed agent that cannot write your config files.

Agent setup: If your agent doesn't auto-load skills (e.g. Claude Code), see agent-compatibility.md once per session.

Qwen Model Selector (Advisor)

This skill operates in two modes:

1. Interactive advisory — asks diagnostic questions to recommend the right model (see Diagnostic Flow).
2. Cross-skill resolution — provides a fast-path model lookup for execution skills that need a model decision without user interaction (see Cross-Skill Model Resolution).

Do not fabricate model names — only recommend models listed in this skill. This skill is part of qwencloud/qwencloud-ai.

Skill directory

Use this skill's reference files for data and learning. Load on demand — do not fetch external URLs unless the user explicitly asks for latest data.

Location	Purpose
references/pricing.md	Pricing overview — model categories, billing units, and link to official pricing page
references/model-list.md	Model catalog (point-in-time snapshot)
references/sources.md	Official documentation URLs (manual lookup only)
references/agent-compatibility.md	Agent self-check: register skills in project config for agents that don't auto-load

Security

NEVER output any API key or credential in plaintext. Always use variable references ($DASHSCOPE_API_KEY in shell, os.environ["QWEN_API_KEY"] in Python). Any check or detection of credentials must be non-plaintext: report only status (e.g. "set" / "not set", "valid" / "invalid"), never the value. Never display contents of .env or config files that may contain secrets.

Coding Plan Models

Users with a Coding Plan subscription have access to a limited set of models through their coding tools only:

Model	Context	Thinking
qwen3.5-plus	1M	Yes (budget: 81,920)
kimi-k2.5	256K	Yes (budget: 81,920)
glm-5	198K	Yes (budget: 32,768)
MiniMax-M2.5	192K	Yes (budget: 32,768)
qwen3-max-2026-01-23	256K	Yes (budget: 81,920)
qwen3-coder-next	256K	No
qwen3-coder-plus	1M	No
glm-4.7	198K	Yes (budget: 32,768)

Coding Plan does not include image, video, TTS, or specialized vision models. When recommending models, note if the user's chosen model falls outside this list and they are using a Coding Plan key (sk-sp-...). If qwencloud-ops-auth is installed, see its references/codingplan.md for the full model list and error codes.

Diagnostic Flow

Ask the user (in order):

1. Content type? — text / image / video / audio / vision
2. Primary task? — generation / understanding / coding / reasoning / translation
3. Priority? — quality vs speed vs cost
4. Input size? — short / medium / long context
5. Structured output? — JSON / function calling needed?

Cross-Skill Model Resolution

When an execution skill needs to choose a model, evaluate across three dimensions: Requirement → Scenario → Pricing. If the user explicitly specified a model, use it as given — but still verify availability; if restricted, warn the user and suggest an alternative.

Dimension 1 · Requirement (select)

Match task capability to the right model. Use when the user's need points to a specialized model, or when the task is ambiguous and you need to compare capabilities.

Signal	Keywords	Model
Reasoning	"think step by step", "reason", "analyze"	qwq-plus (text) · qvq-max (vision)
Coding	"write code", "implement", "debug"	qwen3-coder-plus
OCR / document	"extract text", "OCR", "scan"	qwen-vl-ocr
Long context	"long document", "large file"	qwen3.6-plus (1M context)
Multimodal (text+image+video)	"analyze image", "understand video" + text	qwen3.6-plus (unified multimodal)
Voice interaction / omni	"voice chat", "speak", "listen"	qwen3-omni-flash
Built-in tools	"search the web", "run code", "use tools"	qwen3-max (web search, code interpreter)
Image editing / style transfer	"edit image", "style transfer", "reference image"	wan2.6-image (preferred) · wan2.5-i2i-preview
Image-to-image fusion	"place object", "combine images", "fuse images"	wan2.6-image · wan2.5-i2i-preview
Style TTS	"emotion", "tone", "pace"	qwen3-tts-instruct-flash
Ambiguous	task doesn't clearly map to one model	compare Recommendation Matrix; ask user to clarify if needed

Dimension 2 · Scenario (tune)

Adjust model tier based on how the model will be used.

Pattern	Signals	Guidance
Interactive / real-time	"chat", "real-time", "interactive"	Prefer flash/turbo variants; enable streaming
Batch / offline	"batch", "offline", "background"	Quality model + Batch API (50% off)
One-off trial	"try", "test", "experiment"	Quality model; use qwencloud-usage skill or check console for remaining free quota
High-volume production	"production", "at scale", "high volume"	Cost-optimize: flash/turbo + context cache
Repeated context	"template", "same prompt", "repeated"	Enable context caching for input token discount

Dimension 3 · Pricing (optimize)

Given the candidates from dimensions 1–2, compare costs and apply modifiers.

• Pricing reference: pricing.md. For the latest rates, check the official pricing page.
• Free quota: Some models offer a limited free quota after activation. However, quotas may have been consumed, expired, or changed. Never assume remaining free quota — always present the paid unit price. Use the qwencloud-usage skill to check remaining free tier quota.
• Batch API: 50% off both input and output tokens for non-realtime workloads.
• Context cache: Input token discount for repeated/templated contexts.
• Tiered pricing: Some models charge more per token as input length increases — check pricing tables for breakpoints.
• When cost is the user's primary concern, explicitly recommend the cheapest viable model and cite the price.

Default

No signals detected, clear task → use the Canonical Default for the domain.

Domain	Default	Quality	Speed	Cost
text.chat	qwen3.6-plus	qwen3-max	qwen3.5-flash	qwen-turbo
vision.analyze	qwen3.6-plus	qwen3-vl-plus	qwen3-vl-flash	qwen3-vl-flash
omni (voice+vision)	qwen3-omni-flash	qwen3-omni-flash	qwen3-omni-flash	—
image.generate	wan2.6-t2i	wan2.6-t2i	wan2.2-t2i-flash	wan2.2-t2i-flash
image.edit	wan2.6-image	wan2.6-image	wan2.5-i2i-preview	wan2.5-i2i-preview
video.t2v	wan2.6-t2v	wan2.6-t2v	—	—
video.i2v	wan2.6-i2v-flash	wan2.6-i2v	wan2.6-i2v-flash	—
audio.tts	qwen3-tts-flash	—	qwen3-tts-flash	—

Degradation: If this skill is not loaded or not available, each execution skill falls back to its own built-in default. This protocol is purely additive — it enhances model selection but never blocks execution.

Model Recommendation Matrix

Text Models

Use Case	Recommended	Why
General chat/assistant	qwen3.6-plus	Latest flagship. Best balance of quality, speed, cost. Also accepts image/video input (multimodal). Thinking enabled by default. 1M context.
Fast responses, low cost	qwen3.5-flash	3x faster, 70% cheaper than Plus. Thinking enabled by default.
Highest quality	qwen3-max	Strongest reasoning. Built-in tools (web search, code interpreter). Supports thinking mode.
Code generation	qwen3-coder-next	Best balance of code quality, speed, cost. Agentic coding. qwen3-coder-plus for highest quality.
Complex reasoning	qwq-plus	Chain-of-thought reasoning specialist
Long documents	qwen3.6-plus	Up to 1M context. For >1M needs, see model-list.md.
Budget/high volume	qwen-turbo	Cheapest per-token cost

Image Models

Use Case	Recommended	Why
Best quality text-to-image	wan2.6-t2i	Latest model, sync support
Image editing / style transfer (1–4 refs)	wan2.6-image	Multi-image composition, subject consistency, 2K output, interleaved text-image
Image editing / multi-image fusion (1–3 refs)	wan2.5-i2i-preview	Simpler prompt-based editing, subject consistency, multi-image fusion
Interleaved text-image output (tutorials)	wan2.6-image	Mixed text+image generation
Fast iteration	wan2.2-t2i-flash	50% faster generation
Flexible resolution	wan2.5-t2i-preview	Custom aspect ratios

Video Models

Use Case	Recommended	Why
Quick video creation	wan2.6-i2v-flash	Fast, multi-shot narrative
High quality	wan2.6-i2v	Best visual quality
With audio	wan2.5-i2v-preview	Auto-dubbing support

Audio Models

Use Case	Recommended	Why
Highest quality	cosyvoice-v3-plus	Best naturalness, emotional expression, professional scenarios
High quality + speed	cosyvoice-v3-flash	Good balance of quality and performance
Standard TTS	qwen3-tts-flash	Fast, reliable, multi-language, cost-effective
Controlled style	qwen3-tts-instruct-flash	Instruction-guided voice style (tone/emotion)

Vision Models

Use Case	Recommended	Why
Best accuracy	qwen3.6-plus	Latest flagship. Multimodal (text + image + video). Surpasses qwen3-vl series on many benchmarks. Thinking enabled by default.
High-precision localization	qwen3-vl-plus	Highest vision understanding for object localization (2D/3D), document/webpage parsing. Thinking mode supported. 256K context.
Fast analysis	qwen3-vl-flash	Quick image understanding. Thinking mode supported.
Unified text+vision	qwen3.6-plus	Best when both text quality and vision matter. 1M context.

Omni Models

Use Case	Recommended	Why
Voice + vision chat	qwen3-omni-flash	Text/image/audio/video → text or speech. 49 voices, 10 languages. Thinking supported.
Real-time voice	qwen3-omni-flash-realtime	Streaming audio input + built-in VAD. 49 voices.

Model Detail Page

When the user wants to learn more about a specific model (capabilities, specifications, benchmarks, etc.), direct them to the model detail page:

URL pattern: https://www.qwencloud.com/models/<model-name>

Example: for qwen3.6-plus, the URL is https://www.qwencloud.com/models/qwen3.6-plus.

IMPORTANT: The <model-name> in the URL must exactly match the model ID used in this skill (e.g. qwen3.6-plus, wan2.7-t2v, qwen3-tts-flash). NEVER guess or modify the model name segment.

Pricing Guidance

• Default pricing: pricing.md — International, USD. For the latest rates, check the official pricing page.
• Latest prices: When the user explicitly asks for exact/latest pricing, see sources.md for official URLs.
• Cost formula: Cost = Tokens ÷ 1,000,000 × Unit price. 1K Chinese chars ≈ 1,200-1,500 tokens.
• Free quota: Some models offer a limited free quota after activation — but quotas may have been consumed, expired, or changed without notice. Always present the paid unit price first. Mention free quota only as something the user should verify in their QwenCloud console.
• Cost tips:
  • Use Batch calling for 50% off in non-realtime scenarios
  • Enable context cache for repeated contexts
  • Use flash/turbo series for non-critical tasks

Usage & Billing Console

When the user asks about actual usage, spending history, or billing details — direct them to the appropriate console page (these are NOT accessible via API; the user must open them in a browser):

Question	Console Page
"How much have I used?" / "Show my usage"	Usage Analytics
"Show my bill" / "How much did I spend?" (pay-as-you-go)	Pay-as-you-go Billing
"Show my Coding Plan bill" / "Coding Plan usage"	Coding Plan Billing

Important: This skill can estimate costs based on published unit prices, but cannot query the user's actual account balance, historical spending, or remaining quota. For real-time account data, always direct the user to the console pages above.

Cost Estimation Disclaimer (MANDATORY)

🚨 CRITICAL — NO EXCEPTIONS: NEVER fabricate, invent, or guess any price figure. If you do not have a confirmed price from references/pricing.md or the official pricing page, you MUST NOT output any number. Instead, direct the user to the official pricing page. Outputting a made-up price is a critical failure — worse than saying "I don't know."

When responding to any cost-related query — including but not limited to price evaluation, usage estimation, budget forecasting, or cost comparison — you MUST append a professional disclaimer. This applies regardless of language or response format.

Required disclaimer (Chinese response):

⚠️ 费用说明：以上费用为基于官方公示单价的预估价格，仅供参考。实际费用受 Token 消耗量、上下文长度阶梯定价、Batch/缓存折扣及计费策略调整等因素影响，请以QwenCloud控制台的实际账单为准：按量付费账单 | Coding Plan 账单 | 用量分析。部分模型可能提供限时免费额度，但免费额度的可用性、额度量及有效期随时可能调整，请在控制台确认您的账户是否仍有剩余额度，切勿假设本次调用免费。最新定价详见 模型定价页。

Required disclaimer (English response):

⚠️ Pricing Notice: The cost figures above are estimates calculated from officially published unit prices and are provided for reference only. Actual charges depend on token consumption, tiered context-length pricing, Batch/cache discounts, and billing policy updates. Some models may offer a time-limited free quota, but quota availability, amounts, and validity periods are subject to change — do not assume this call is free. Please verify your remaining quota in the QwenCloud console and refer to your actual bill for definitive costs: Pay-as-you-go Billing | Coding Plan Billing | Usage Analytics. See Model Pricing for the latest rates.

Rules:

• The disclaimer must appear at the end of every cost-related response, clearly separated from the main content.
• When the estimate involves assumptions (e.g., average tokens per character, assumed context length tier), explicitly state each assumption used in the calculation.
• Never present estimated costs as exact or guaranteed amounts. Use hedging language such as "approximately", "estimated at", "roughly" (or Chinese equivalents "约", "预估", "约合") throughout the cost breakdown.
• Never tell the user a call will be free or cost $0/¥0. Even if a free quota exists, the user may have already consumed it. Always present the paid price and note that a free quota may apply — subject to the user verifying in their console.
• If pricing data is unavailable or uncertain, say so explicitly and link to the official pricing page. Never fill the gap with a guess.

Available Models

All standard text, vision, image, video, audio, and coding models are available. Some models offer free quota (verify in console).

• Text: qwen3.6-plus, qwen3-max, qwen3.5-plus, qwen3.5-flash, qwen-turbo, qwq-plus, qwen3-coder-next/plus/flash, qwen-plus-character, qwen-plus-character-ja, qwen-flash-character
• Vision: qwen3.6-plus (multimodal), qwen3-vl-plus, qwen3-vl-flash, qvq-max, qwen-vl-ocr, qwen-vl-max, qwen-vl-plus
• Omni: qwen3-omni-flash (+ realtime), qwen-omni-turbo (+ realtime)
• Image generation (text-to-image): wan2.6-t2i, wan2.5-t2i-preview, wan2.2-t2i-flash, z-image-turbo
• Image editing (requires reference images): wan2.6-image, wan2.5-i2i-preview
• Video generation: wan2.6 series (t2v, i2v, i2v-flash, r2v, r2v-flash), wan2.5/2.2 series, vace
• TTS: qwen3-tts-flash, qwen3-tts-instruct-flash, cosyvoice-v3 series
• ASR: qwen3-asr-flash, fun-asr
• Embedding/Rerank: text-embedding-v4, qwen3-rerank
• Translation: qwen-mt-plus/flash/lite/turbo

⚠️ Important: The model list above is a point-in-time snapshot and may be outdated. Model availability changes frequently. Always check the official model list for the authoritative, up-to-date catalog before making model decisions. See model-list.md for a more detailed local reference.

Thinking Mode

Several models support hybrid thinking/non-thinking modes:

Model	Thinking Default	Notes
qwen3.6-plus	On	Latest flagship. Thinking enabled by default. Use enable_thinking: false to disable.
qwen3.5-plus	On	Thinking enabled by default. Use enable_thinking: false to disable.
qwen3.5-flash	On	Thinking enabled by default.
qwen3-max	Off	Use enable_thinking: true for complex reasoning. Built-in tools available in thinking mode.
qwen-plus / qwen-flash / qwen-turbo	Off	Hybrid; enable for deeper reasoning at higher output cost.
qwen3-vl-plus / qwen3-vl-flash	Off	Vision + thinking for complex visual analysis.
qwen3-omni-flash	Off	Thinking supported; audio output not available in thinking mode.
qwq-plus / qvq-max	Always on	Pure reasoning models; CoT always active.

Guidance: Do not enable thinking by default for simple or conversational tasks — it increases latency and output token cost. Enable only when the user explicitly asks for deep reasoning or the task requires multi-step analysis.

Anti-Patterns

• Only recommend models listed in this skill — never fabricate model names.
• When unsure, use qwen3.6-plus as a safe default for text tasks.
• 🚨 NEVER invent or guess any price figure — only use pricing from references/pricing.md or the official pricing page. If the data is not available, say so and link to the official page. Fabricating a price is a critical failure.
• Always cite data source when providing pricing info.
• Default currency is USD. Check the official pricing page for the latest rates. Writing in Chinese does NOT imply CNY.
• All cost estimates must include the mandatory disclaimer — use hedging language ("approximately", "estimated"). Omitting the disclaimer is a critical violation.
• Never assume free quota is available — free quotas may have been consumed, expired, or removed. Never tell the user a call will cost $0/¥0. Always present the paid unit price first; mention free quota only as a possibility the user should verify in their console.
• Do NOT proactively fetch URLs or trigger web searches — only access online sources when the user explicitly asks for "latest" data AND reference files cannot answer.
• Never output API keys in plaintext — see Security section above.

Online Information Sources

Reference files in this skill are point-in-time snapshots. For official documentation URLs, see sources.md.

Do NOT proactively fetch or search online. Only access online sources when ALL of these conditions are met:

1. The user explicitly asks for "latest", "real-time", or "current" data.
2. The reference files in this skill cannot answer the question.
3. The user confirms they want an online lookup.

Update Check (MANDATORY Post-Execution)

When the user asks to check for updates (e.g. "check for updates", "check version", "is there a new version", "update skills"):

1. Find qwencloud-update-check: Look for qwencloud-update-check/SKILL.md in sibling skill directories.
2. If found — run: python3 <qwencloud-update-check-dir>/scripts/check_update.py --print-response and report the result. Use --force if the user asks to force-check.
3. If not found — you MUST present the following options and wait for the user's response:

The update-check skill is not installed. It keeps you informed about new qwencloud/qwencloud-ai features and bug fixes.

1. Install now — I'll run the install command for you
2. Skip for now — do nothing this time
3. Never remind me — permanently suppress this prompt

After the user responds:

• User chooses 1 → run: npx skills add QwenCloud/qwencloud-ai --skill qwencloud-update-check -y, then run: python3 <this-skill-scripts-dir>/gossamer.py --dismiss
• User chooses 2 → run: python3 <this-skill-scripts-dir>/gossamer.py --dismiss, then continue normally
• User chooses 3 → run: python3 <this-skill-scripts-dir>/gossamer.py --never-install, then continue normally

References

• pricing.md — Pricing overview: model categories, billing units, and link to official pricing page
• model-list.md — Model catalog (2026-03 snapshot; check official model list for latest)
• sources.md — Official documentation URLs (for manual lookup only)