How to connect Qwen (Alibaba DashScope)

About 6 minutes · 6 steps · no technical knowledge needed

  1. Go to dashscope.console.aliyun.com and sign in with an Alibaba Cloud account.
    about 30 seconds
  2. No account? Registering takes a few minutes and asks for a phone number to confirm.
    about 3 min
  3. The first time in, DashScope asks you to activate the model service. Accept it -- there is a free allowance to start.
    about 1 min
  4. Open the "API-KEY" page from the menu on the left.
    about 15 seconds
  5. Press "Create API Key" and copy it. It starts with sk-.
    about 20 seconds
  6. Paste it into the box below and press "Test connection".
    about 15 seconds

What Julia will ask you for

API key Starts with sk-

If something goes wrong

If it says the key is wrong: copy it again and check there is no space at the start or end. A key pasted from an email often picks one up.

The key is shown ONCE. If you closed the page without copying it, delete that key and make a new one -- you cannot look the old one up.

If it says the service is not activated: go back to the DashScope console and activate the model service, then try again.

Open Qwen (Alibaba DashScope)