# Qwen Code vs Sculptor (slim)

> Qwen Code scores 68.7 (B) to Sculptor's 53.1 (D) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwen-code-vs-sculptor.md (~5,550 tokens) · this version ~1,980 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwen-code-vs-sculptor.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwen-code-vs-sculptor
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Qwen Code scores 68.7 (B) on agent readiness against Sculptor's 53.1 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harnesses.

- Qwen Code: B 68.7, rank #273 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qwen-code.min.md
- Sculptor: D 53.1, rank #960 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sculptor.min.md
- Qwen Code, good for Developers and CI jobs that want an open-source harness tied to no single model vendor, with run budgets and SDKs. Ahead on Reliability, 69 against 43; Schema & documentation, 91 against 45; Agent ergonomics, 85 against 50; Maintenance & community, 88 against 75; Transparency & trust, 66 against 57. Also Free to start without a card.
- Sculptor, good for Developers who want parallel coding agents in isolated workspaces and are fine with a research preview. Also No key needed to call it; No incidents deducted, where Qwen Code loses 4 points for them.

| Category | Qwen Code | Sculptor |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 69 | 43 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 91 | 45 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 85 | 50 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 53 | 57 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 60 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 88 | 75 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 66 | 57 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Qwen Code | Sculptor |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Alibaba (Qwen team) | Imbue, Inc. |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-06 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-10-01 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-01 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Popularity | 28k stars, 105k npm/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 2.8/5 (4) | none |

Why the edge:
- Schema & documentation, Qwen Code +46: Qwen Code 91 (Framework reading. A settings.schema.json in the repository, a settings reference with the type and default of each key, and an OpenAPI file for the daemon's REST API (25). llms.txt on the docs site lists the pages with a line each, though it links to HTML and the Markdown path we tried returned 404 (8). The approval-mode page says when to use each mode and the sandbox page what each method and Seatbelt profile allows (15). Approval modes, sandbox backends, filesystem and network policies are enums (13). The headless page documents json and stream-json output, and exit codes 41, 42, 44, 52, 53, 55 and 130 are documented (15). A dated changelog generated from releases (15).); Sculptor 45 (Harness reading. A README, specs and agent docs in the repository; no API reference (45).)
- Agent ergonomics, Qwen Code +35: Qwen Code 85 (Framework reading, adapted to a harness driven by a pipeline. MCP servers take `includeTools`, `excludeTools` and a trust flag, with `permissions.allow`, `ask` and `deny` rules and `--exclude-tools` (20). Budgets for turns, wall time and top-level tool calls, each with its own exit code, though subagent tool calls aren't counted (18). Documented exit codes (18). `--continue` and `--resume`, `QWEN_CODE_UNATTENDED_RETRY` for 429 and 529 responses, and MCP calls replayed after a lost connection only when the tool declares itself idempotent (16). A TypeScript SDK on npm at 0.1.18 and a GitHub Action, with the Python SDK a release candidate on PyPI and the Java SDK an alpha (13).); Sculptor 50 (Harness reading. Workspaces as isolated copies, review and merge back, and built-in skills (50).)
- Reliability, Qwen Code +26: Qwen Code 69 (Local-package reading. npm with engines node 22 or newer (re-read in package.json at 0.26.5), Homebrew at 0.26.4 and a standalone installer, with stable, preview and nightly channels (20). Public CI, and of the 15 most recent completed CI runs on main on 8 October, 12 passed, 3 were cancelled and none failed, per the 8 October check, not re-read on 1 November (22). 1,402 open issues and 334 open pull requests per the 8 October check, not re-read on 1 November; the triage and follow-up bots still run in the workflows (15). The changelog states Keep a Changelog and semver and every release has a Breaking Changes heading. Breaking changes shipped in patch releases 0.23.4 and 0.24.1, and again in 0.26.1 (24 October, QQ bot session isolation) and 0.26.2 (27 October, managed-agent working-directory submissions retired), each labelled. All are 0.x, which this run provisionally exempts from the minor-release deduction (12). 0.26.5, pre-1.0 (0). 20 + 22 + 15 + 12 + 0 = 69.); Sculptor 43 (Local software. Desktop downloads for Mac (Apple Silicon), Linux and Linux ARM64 (20). checks.yml and a PR gate run on the repository; pass state not read (15). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). sculptor-v tags up to v0.49.0, no changelog file (8). 0.x and labelled a research preview (0). 20 + 15 + 0 + 8 + 0 = 43.)
- Maintenance & community, Qwen Code +13: Qwen Code 88 (0.26.5 on 1 November 2026 (30). 39 stable releases from 3 August to 1 November (v0.21.4 to v0.26.5), plus previews and nightlies (20). Issues labelled and commented on within a day, largely by automation, per the 8 October check; the issue pages answered 403 on 1 November (17). The TypeScript SDK reached 0.1.26 on 29 October, while the Python SDK's newest tag is still sdk-python-v0.1.0-preview.0 (9 May 2026) and the Java SDK is an alpha (11). CI, CodeQL, a monthly scorecard and Dependabot (10). 30 + 20 + 17 + 11 + 10 = 88.); Sculptor 75 (Commits on 6 November 2026 and frequent tagged versions (30). More than three releases in 90 days (20). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent; the README says Imbue can't take many outside contributions yet (0). Current official downloads (15). CI on pull requests (10). 30 + 20 + 0 + 15 + 10 = 75.)
- Transparency & trust, Qwen Code +9: Qwen Code 66 (Apache-2.0 (30). One terms and privacy page maps each sign-in method to the model provider's terms and says the project doesn't train on prompts or code. Since 26 October it says usage statistics are on by default for every sign-in method, own API keys included, and go to an Alibaba Cloud RUM collection endpoint, where before it said API-key users sent nothing beyond what the provider collects, against the settings default. It still gives no retention period and names no legal entity (20, was 18). The end of the Qwen OAuth free tier is dated 15 April 2026 and `tools.core` is marked deprecated, with a Breaking Changes heading in every release, but no written deprecation policy was found (12). Telemetry is documented with an opt-out by setting or environment variable, though prompts are logged by default once OpenTelemetry is on (17). 30 + 20 + 12 + 17 = 79.); Sculptor 57 (MIT (30). Consent-based telemetry documented in the repository (18 of 30). The README warns of drastic changes during the research preview, with no deprecation policy (5). Opt-in telemetry (20). 30 + 18 + 5 + 20 = 73.)