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Posted on May 3 • Originally published at toolfreebie.com

Alibaba Cloud Bailian API: Free Access to Qwen, DeepSeek and More

#ai #api #opensource

Build a Free AI Agent: Alibaba Bailian API + OpenClaw

Want a personal AI agent that can browse the web, manage files, run commands, and chat with you on WhatsApp or Telegram — all for free? By combining Alibaba Cloud Bailian’s free API with OpenClaw, you can build a fully functional AI assistant without spending a cent.

What You’ll Build

A local AI agent powered by Alibaba’s Qwen models (1 million free tokens per model)
Connected to your favorite chat apps (WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, and more)
Capable of browser automation, file management, shell commands, and scheduled tasks

Part 1: Get Your Free Alibaba Bailian API Key

What is Alibaba Bailian?

Alibaba Cloud Bailian (Model Studio) is Alibaba’s AI platform that provides free API access to powerful Qwen models. Each model comes with an independent free quota of 1 million tokens, so using multiple models gives you millions of total free tokens.

Available Free Models

Model	Highlights	Best For
Qwen3.6-Plus	1M context window, strong coding	Complex tasks, coding
Qwen3.5-Omni	Audio, video, and text	Multimodal tasks
Qwen-Plus	Balanced performance	General use (recommended for OpenClaw)
Qwen-Turbo	Fastest, lowest cost	Quick responses, high volume
GLM-5	Strong reasoning	Logic-heavy tasks

Sign Up Steps

Register at aliyun.com
Visit the Bailian Console and accept the service agreement
Go to the API Key page (top-right corner) → click Create API Key
Save your API key — it starts with sk- and works across all models

Free Tier Limits

1 million tokens per model (independent quotas)
Valid for 90 days from activation
No credit card required
Enable “stop when quota exhausted” to prevent accidental charges

Part 2: Set Up OpenClaw

What is OpenClaw?

OpenClaw is a free, open-source AI agent that runs locally on your machine. It connects any LLM to real software — your browser, file system, terminal, calendar, and chat apps. Think of it as giving your AI model hands and feet.

Key Features

Chat integration: WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, Teams, Signal, Feishu, LINE
Browser automation: Control Chrome, take screenshots, interact with web pages
File management: Read, write, and organize files on your machine
Shell commands: Run terminal commands directly
Scheduled tasks: Set up cron jobs and webhooks
Voice control: Wake-word detection on macOS/iOS

Install OpenClaw

Prerequisites: Node.js 24 (or 22.16+). Windows users need WSL2.

npm install -g openclaw@latest
openclaw onboard --install-daemon

Part 3: Connect Bailian to OpenClaw

OpenClaw uses an OpenAI-compatible API format, which means it works perfectly with Alibaba Bailian’s DashScope endpoint. Here’s how to configure it.

Step 1: Set Your API Key

# Linux/Mac
export DASHSCOPE_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

# Windows (PowerShell)
$env:DASHSCOPE_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

Step 2: Configure OpenClaw

Edit the config file at ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

{
  "models": {
    "mode": "merge",
    "providers": {
      "bailian": {
        "baseUrl": "https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1",
        "apiKey": "DASHSCOPE_API_KEY",
        "api": "openai-completions",
        "models": [
          {
            "id": "qwen3.5-plus",
            "name": "Qwen 3.5 Plus",
            "reasoning": false,
            "input": ["text", "image"],
            "contextWindow": 1000000,
            "maxTokens": 65536
          },
          {
            "id": "qwen-turbo",
            "name": "Qwen Turbo",
            "reasoning": false,
            "input": ["text"],
            "contextWindow": 131072,
            "maxTokens": 8192
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "bailian/qwen3.5-plus"
      },
      "models": {
        "bailian/qwen3.5-plus": {},
        "bailian/qwen-turbo": {}
      }
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Verify the Connection

# List available models
openclaw models list --provider bailian

# Test connectivity
openclaw models status --probe

Important Configuration Notes

Set reasoning to false for all DashScope models — otherwise responses may be empty
Model IDs must match exactly (e.g., qwen3.5-plus, not qwen-3.5-plus)
If you get HTTP 400 errors, add role mapping to convert developer role to system

Regional API Endpoints

Region	Base URL
China (Beijing)	`https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1`
Singapore	`https://dashscope-intl.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1`
US (Virginia)	`https://dashscope-us.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1`
Hong Kong	`https://cn-hongkong.dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1`

Part 4: Use Your Free AI Agent

Once configured, you can interact with your agent through any connected chat app. Here are some examples of what you can do:

Example Commands via Chat

“Summarize the PDF on my desktop” — reads and summarizes local files
“Search Google for the latest AI news and give me a summary” — browses the web automatically
“Create a Python script that converts CSV to JSON” — writes code and saves it
“Every morning at 9am, check Hacker News and send me the top 5 stories” — sets up scheduled tasks
“Open my GitHub repo and create an issue about the login bug” — browser automation

Bonus: Using the API Directly (Python)

You can also use the Bailian API directly in your own projects with the OpenAI SDK:

pip install -U openai

import os
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key=os.getenv("DASHSCOPE_API_KEY"),
    base_url="https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1",
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="qwen-plus",
    messages=[
        {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
        {"role": "user", "content": "Explain quantum computing in simple terms."}
    ]
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

Cost Comparison: Free AI Agent Solutions

Setup	Cost	Free Tokens	Agent Features
Bailian + OpenClaw	$0	1M per model (90 days)	Full (browser, files, chat, scheduling)
OpenAI + ChatGPT	$20/month	Limited free tier	Limited to ChatGPT interface
Claude Pro	$20/month	Limited free tier	Web search, file upload
Self-hosted Ollama + OpenClaw	$0 (need GPU)	Unlimited	Full

Final Thoughts

The combination of Alibaba Bailian and OpenClaw gives you a completely free, fully-featured AI agent. Bailian provides the brains (powerful Qwen models with generous free quotas), while OpenClaw provides the body (browser control, file access, chat integration, and more).

Since each Bailian model has its own independent 1 million token quota, you effectively get millions of free tokens to power your agent. And because both tools use the OpenAI-compatible API standard, setup takes just minutes.

Get started:

Alibaba Bailian: bailian.console.aliyun.com
OpenClaw: openclaw.ai

Originally published at toolfreebie.com.

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