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The only reason I'm stuck with Claude and Chatgpt is because of their tool calling. They do have some pretty useful features like skills etc. I've tried using q

by jxmesth 6mo ago

The only reason I'm stuck with Claude and Chatgpt is because of their tool calling. They do have some pretty useful features like skills etc. I've tried using qwen and deepseek but they can't even output documents. How are you guys handling documents and excels with these tools? I'd love to switch tbh.

ecocentrik 6mo ago
When was the last time you used Qwen models? Their 3.5 and 3.6 models are excellent with tool calling.
- jxmesth 6mo ago
  I gave it a try a few weeks ago tbh, I'll give it another shot tho. I mainly use their Web chats since that's easier to use and previously, qwen, deepseek, kimi, all were unable to output proper docx files or use skills.
  - ecocentrik 6mo ago
    Try loading the models up in a coding harness like Claude Code. There's a few docx skills listed on Vercel's skill index. https://skills.sh/tfriedel/claude-office-skills/docx https://skills.sh/tfriedel/claude-office-skills/docx
  - ycui1986 6mo ago
    outputting docx files does not have much to do with model capability. it is about whether tool calling has be configured .
jwitthuhn 6mo ago
I've been using qwen-code (the software, not to be confused with Qwen Code the service or Qwen Coder the model) which is a fork of gemini-cli and the tool use with Qwen models at least has been great.
embedding-shape 6mo ago
> I've tried using qwen and deepseek but they can't even output documents What agent harness did you use? Usually, "write_file", "shell_exec" or similar is two of the first tools you add to an agent harness, after read_file/list_files. If it doesn't have those tools, unsure if you could even call it a agent harness in the first place.
- jxmesth 6mo ago
  Sorry for the confusion, I was actually talking about their Web based chat. Since most of my work is governance and docs, I just use their Web chats and they just refuse to output proper documents like Claude or Chatgpt do.
  - embedding-shape 6mo ago
    Aha... Well, I let Codex (Claude Code would work too) manage/troubleshoot .xlsx files too, seems to handle it just fine (it tends to un-archive them and browse the resulting XML files without issues), seen it do similar stuff for .app and .docx files too so maybe give that a try with other harnesses/models too, they might get it :)
    - jxmesth 6mo ago
      Yeah, it's just way easier to do via the web/mobile app but I'll give using it via the CLI a try. Thanks :)
  - noduerme 6mo ago
    You're not giving an AI command line access to your work computer? How do you expect to keep up? /s
    - dymk 6mo ago
      You give it command line access in a VM...
      - 6mo ago
sscaryterry 6mo ago
You can use GLM-5.1 with claude code directly, I use ccs, GLM-5.1 setup as plan, but goes via API key.
estimator7292 6mo ago
You can use both codex and Claude CLI with local models. I used codex with Gemma4 and it did pretty well. I did get one weird session where the model got confused and couldn't decide which tools actually existed in its inventory, but usually it could use tools just fine.
NobleLie 6mo ago
Yep Claude Code CLI does A LOT (which is now confirmed even more)
ycui1986 6mo ago
qwen3.5 and qwen3.6 are both good at tool calling.
zrn900 6mo ago
You can just use Cline in VSCode to get most of the tooling you need - it works with all models. Including Xiaomi's new Mimo with 1m context window and blazing fast speed. It's much cheaper than Claude's biggest plan and with much, much more quota.

by jxmesth 6mo ago

ecocentrik 6mo ago

When was the last time you used Qwen models? Their 3.5 and 3.6 models are excellent with tool calling.

jxmesth 6mo ago
I gave it a try a few weeks ago tbh, I'll give it another shot tho. I mainly use their Web chats since that's easier to use and previously, qwen, deepseek, kimi, all were unable to output proper docx files or use skills.
- ecocentrik 6mo ago
  Try loading the models up in a coding harness like Claude Code. There's a few docx skills listed on Vercel's skill index. https://skills.sh/tfriedel/claude-office-skills/docx https://skills.sh/tfriedel/claude-office-skills/docx
- ycui1986 6mo ago
  outputting docx files does not have much to do with model capability. it is about whether tool calling has be configured .

jwitthuhn 6mo ago

I've been using qwen-code (the software, not to be confused with Qwen Code the service or Qwen Coder the model) which is a fork of gemini-cli and the tool use with Qwen models at least has been great.

embedding-shape 6mo ago

> I've tried using qwen and deepseek but they can't even output documents What agent harness did you use? Usually, "write_file", "shell_exec" or similar is two of the first tools you add to an agent harness, after read_file/list_files. If it doesn't have those tools, unsure if you could even call it a agent harness in the first place.

jxmesth 6mo ago
Sorry for the confusion, I was actually talking about their Web based chat. Since most of my work is governance and docs, I just use their Web chats and they just refuse to output proper documents like Claude or Chatgpt do.
- embedding-shape 6mo ago
  Aha... Well, I let Codex (Claude Code would work too) manage/troubleshoot .xlsx files too, seems to handle it just fine (it tends to un-archive them and browse the resulting XML files without issues), seen it do similar stuff for .app and .docx files too so maybe give that a try with other harnesses/models too, they might get it :)
  - jxmesth 6mo ago
    Yeah, it's just way easier to do via the web/mobile app but I'll give using it via the CLI a try. Thanks :)
- noduerme 6mo ago
  You're not giving an AI command line access to your work computer? How do you expect to keep up? /s
  - dymk 6mo ago
    You give it command line access in a VM...
    - 6mo ago

sscaryterry 6mo ago

You can use GLM-5.1 with claude code directly, I use ccs, GLM-5.1 setup as plan, but goes via API key.

estimator7292 6mo ago

You can use both codex and Claude CLI with local models. I used codex with Gemma4 and it did pretty well. I did get one weird session where the model got confused and couldn't decide which tools actually existed in its inventory, but usually it could use tools just fine.

NobleLie 6mo ago

Yep Claude Code CLI does A LOT (which is now confirmed even more)

ycui1986 6mo ago

qwen3.5 and qwen3.6 are both good at tool calling.

zrn900 6mo ago

You can just use Cline in VSCode to get most of the tooling you need - it works with all models. Including Xiaomi's new Mimo with 1m context window and blazing fast speed. It's much cheaper than Claude's biggest plan and with much, much more quota.