qwencloud-model-selector

[QwenCloud] Recommend the best Qwen model and parameters. TRIGGER when: choosing between Qwen models, comparing Qwen model pricing, understanding Qwen model capabilities, checking usage or billing, viewing cost history, when an execution skill needs model selection advice, or user explicitly invokes this skill by name (e.g. use qwencloud-model-selector). DO NOT TRIGGER when: non-Qwen model discussions (OpenAI, Gemini, etc.), general AI questions unrelated to Qwen.

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 recommendation-matrix.md).

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

Skill directory

Load on demand. Do not fetch external URLs unless the user explicitly asks for the latest data.

Location	Purpose
references/cli-usage.md	CLI-first data strategy: when to use CLI, 3-step login flow, display rules
references/error-handling.md	CLI error classification & recovery actions (auth, not-found, network, ...)
references/recommendation-matrix.md	Full model recommendation tables, Cross-Skill Resolution, Coding Plan, Thinking
references/pricing-disclaimer.md	Pricing guidance + mandatory cost-estimation disclaimer (CN/EN) + console links
references/pricing.md	Pricing structural overview (offline snapshot)
references/model-list.md	Model catalog (offline snapshot)
references/sources.md	Official documentation URLs (manual lookup only)
references/agent-compatibility.md	Agent self-check for skill registration

Prerequisites

QwenCloud CLI is strongly recommended — it is the authoritative real-time data source for model availability, pricing, and quotas. Verify with:

bash

qwencloud version

If not installed:

bash

npm install -g @qwencloud/qwencloud-cli

Node.js >= 18 required. Without CLI you can still answer general navigation questions from offline snapshots, but you cannot answer "latest", "exact price", or "specific model details" questions.

Security & Credential Model

QwenCloud has two independent credential systems — never confuse them:

Credential	Purpose	How to provide
API Key (sk-... / sk-sp-...)	Call model APIs in your code	$DASHSCOPE_API_KEY / $QWEN_API_KEY env var
CLI session	Authorize qwencloud CLI subcommands	qwencloud auth login (browser device flow)

Red lines (apply to both):

• NEVER output any credential value in plaintext. Use variable references; report only status ("set" / "not set", "valid" / "invalid"). Never display .env or config file contents.
• NEVER conflate the two systems. When CLI returns Not authenticated / AUTH_REQUIRED, run the 3-step device-flow login (see cli-usage.md). DO NOT ask the user for an API key, and DO NOT try to set $DASHSCOPE_API_KEY to fix CLI auth.

Data Resolution Order

Match the user's question to the right data source. Do not fall back to a lower tier without trying the recovery actions in the higher tier first.

Question type	Primary source	Notes
General navigation ("which family for text chat?")	SKILL.md Default table + recommendation-matrix.md	Offline-answerable
Latest / exact / specific (price, model details, quota)	CLI MUST be used — see cli-usage.md	Snapshots are stale; never invent numbers
Search by capability ("model that does X")	qwencloud models search "<X>" --format json	Snapshot keyword coverage is incomplete
CLI returned an error	error-handling.md recovery actions, then retry	Auth failure → run 3-step login, do not skip to snapshot
CLI completely unavailable AND user declines install/login	model-list.md, pricing.md (with stale-data caveat)	Only after CLI recovery genuinely failed
All of the above cannot answer AND user confirms online lookup	URLs in sources.md	Never proactively fetch

Diagnostic Flow (Interactive Advisory)

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?

Default Recommendations

No clear signals → use the canonical default for the domain. For specialized cases (reasoning, coding, OCR, role-play, image editing, etc.) and per-domain comparison, see recommendation-matrix.md.

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	cosyvoice-v3-plus	qwen3-tts-flash	qwen3-tts-flash

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

CLI Quick Reference

Auth required. All models and usage commands need an active CLI session (browser device-flow login — NOT the API key). If the command returns Not authenticated / AUTH_REQUIRED:

1. Run the 3-step device-flow login in cli-usage.md (proactively open the verification URL using the OS-appropriate command, then poll immediately).
2. Retry the original command after success.
3. DO NOT ask the user for $DASHSCOPE_API_KEY / $QWEN_API_KEY — those are for model API calls, not CLI session. See Security & Credential Model above.
4. DO NOT silently fall back to snapshots.

Need	Command
Full model catalog	qwencloud models list --all --format json
Filter by modality	qwencloud models list --input image --output text --format json
Single model details	qwencloud models info <model-id> --format json
Keyword search	qwencloud models search "<query>" --format json
Free tier remaining	qwencloud usage free-tier --format json
Auth status	qwencloud auth status --format json

Display rules: Parse --format json output and present a human-readable summary; never dump raw JSON. Display --format text output as-is, then add analysis after ---. See cli-usage.md for details.

CLI Error Handling — Quick Guide

When CLI fails, classify first, recover, then retry. Never silently fall back to snapshots.

Category	Recovery (summary)
auth-failure	Run 3-step login → retry the original command. Fall back only if user declines.
not-installed	Show install command → ask user to install → retry. Do NOT silently use snapshot.
model-not-found	Run qwencloud models search "<keyword>" → propose top 3 → retry with correct ID.
network-timeout	Retry once after 2s; only after second failure ask whether to fall back.
rate-limit	Show Rate Limit Console; user decides.
quota-exhausted	Show Billing Console; do NOT use snapshot.
version-mismatch	Suggest qwencloud version --check or update-check skill → upgrade → retry.
other	Show raw stderr; link to docs; only after user opt-out, fall back.

Full classification, signals, and example flows: error-handling.md.

Pricing & Cost Estimation

• Latest pricing: Run qwencloud models info <model> --format json first; use pricing.md only as offline fallback. Never invent a price.
• Mandatory disclaimer: Every cost-related answer must end with the disclaimer in pricing-disclaimer.md (Chinese or English version, matching the user's response language). Omitting the disclaimer is a critical failure.
• Free quota: Never assume free quota is available — use qwencloud usage free-tier to verify or direct the user to the console.
• Usage / billing queries: Direct the user to the appropriate console page — see the table in pricing-disclaimer.md.

Update Check

When the user asks to check for updates ("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 — run qwencloud version --check and report the result.

Anti-Patterns

• Never fabricate model names — only recommend models listed in this skill or returned by CLI.
• Never invent or guess any price figure — use CLI / pricing.md / official pricing page only. Fabricating a price is a critical failure.
• Never silently fall back to snapshots when CLI errors out — apply error-handling.md recovery actions first.
• Never assume free quota is available — quotas may have been consumed, expired, or removed. Always present the paid unit price first.
• Never output API keys in plaintext — see Security section.
• Never confuse CLI session with API key — CLI auth uses browser device-flow login; never offer $DASHSCOPE_API_KEY or $QWEN_API_KEY as a fix for CLI Not authenticated / AUTH_REQUIRED errors.
• Never proactively fetch URLs or trigger web searches — only access online sources when CLI + snapshots cannot answer AND the user confirms.
• Never construct usage/billing/console URLs — only use the exact links listed in this skill or its references. If a URL is not listed, do not invent one.
• Always include the cost disclaimer for any cost-related answer (see pricing-disclaimer.md).

References

Source	Purpose
cli-usage.md	CLI-first strategy, 3-step login, display rules, model detail URL
error-handling.md	CLI error classification & recovery
recommendation-matrix.md	Full recommendation tables, Cross-Skill Resolution, Coding Plan, Thinking Mode
pricing-disclaimer.md	Pricing guidance + mandatory disclaimer + billing console links
pricing.md	Pricing structural overview (offline snapshot)
model-list.md	Model catalog (offline snapshot)
sources.md	Official documentation URLs
agent-compatibility.md	Agent self-check for skill registration
qwencloud models list --format json	Dynamic: full model catalog with pricing, features, quotas
qwencloud models info <id> --format json	Dynamic: single model details (pricing tiers, context, rate limits)
qwencloud models search "<q>" --format json	Dynamic: keyword-based model discovery
qwencloud usage free-tier --format json	Dynamic: remaining free tier quota per model