The new DataWorks Data Agent, powered by Qwen Code, is now generally available on the public cloud. It provides a dedicated, full-page interactive experience with enhanced reasoning, planning, and coding capabilities. It also comes with a comprehensive set of built-in DataWorks Skills that cover scenarios such as data integration, data development, data governance, and data security.
Overview
The new Data Agent is a next-generation agent for the DataWorks platform, built on Qwen Code. Unlike the original agent (the sidebar chat panel), the new Data Agent provides a dedicated, full-page environment designed for complex data development and data governance tasks requiring deep and continuous interaction.
The new Data Agent provides the following core capabilities:
Enhanced reasoning and planning: Powered by Qwen Code, it accurately understands complex data development and data governance intentions and automatically breaks down tasks into multi-step execution plans.
Enhanced coding capability: It supports high-quality code generation, optimization, and debugging for multiple data development languages, including SQL and Python, helping you quickly produce executable code.
Comprehensive built-in DataWorks Skills: It includes official Skills for data integration, data development, data governance, and data security, letting you call core platform capabilities without extra configuration.
Dual interaction modes and a sandbox environment: It supports both CLI mode and Chat mode. In CLI mode, the agent runs in an isolated sandbox and can directly execute code, manipulate files, and call a toolchain for end-to-end automated task orchestration. This is ideal for complex, multi-step scenarios such as data development and data integration. Chat mode offers a more intuitive, conversational experience.
Access Data Agent
You can access the new Data Agent in the following ways:
Method 1: From the navigation pane on the left of the console
Log on to the DataWorks console and click Data Agent in the navigation pane on the left to open the new Data Agent.
Method 2: From the All Products menu
On the Data Studio page, click All Products on the left. Under the Agent category, click Data Agent to open the new Data Agent.
Method 3: From the original Data Agent panel
In the original Data Agent Chat panel, click the Experience the new DataWorks Data Agent button to navigate to the new Data Agent.
Quick start
Step 1: Select or create an instance
After you open the new Data Agent, select an instance in the Running state from the instance list. Click the target instance to enter its Data Agent session interface. If no instances are available, you can create a new DataAgent instance. Follow these steps:
On the instance list page, click + New Instance.
In the Create DataAgent Instance dialog box, configure the following parameters:
Parameter
Description
Instance Name
Enter a custom name for the DataAgent instance.
Workspace
Select the DataWorks workspace to associate with this instance.
Resource Group
Select the Serverless resource group for the instance.
CU
The computing resources required for the instance. The available CU quota is displayed after you select a resource group.
Click Create Instance. After the instance starts and its status changes to Running, you can click it to start a session.
Step 2: Create a new session
After entering the instance, click + New Session on the left to create a new session. You can also click an existing session in the history list on the left to continue a previous conversation.
Step 3: Switch interaction modes (optional)
The new Data Agent supports CLI mode and Chat mode. On the session page, you can click 
to switch to Chat mode, or click
to switch to CLI mode.
CLI mode (Default): A command-line interface that supports configuration through slash commands. This mode is suitable for scenarios requiring fine-grained control and advanced development.
Chat mode: A simple, intuitive conversational interface. This mode is ideal for interactive scenarios such as quick Q&A and code explanation.
Step 4: Switch models and approval modes (optional)
By default, Data Agent uses the qwen3.6-plus model and the default approval mode. You can switch the model or approval mode as needed. The switching method depends on the interaction mode.
In CLI mode:
To switch models: Enter the
/modelcommand in the input box at the bottom and select a target model from the list that appears.To switch approval modes: Enter the
/approval-mode <mode>command in the input box at the bottom, or press Shift + Tab to quickly cycle through the modes.
In Chat mode:
Use the dropdown menus at the bottom left of the input box to directly switch the approval mode and model.
Data Agent provides the following four approval modes:
Mode | Behavior | Use case |
Default | Requires user confirmation before executing edit operations. | Balances efficiency and security for daily use. |
Plan | Only analyzes and plans the task without performing any operations. | Ideal for security-sensitive scenarios where you must review the execution plan before proceeding. |
Auto-edit | Automatically approves edit operations without requiring step-by-step confirmation. | Use for high-efficiency development in trusted environments. |
Yolo | Automatically executes all tool calls and command operations without any confirmation. | Use in fully automated scenarios where you have high confidence in the execution results. |
For more information about the built-in commands in CLI mode, see Qwen Code Commands.
Step 5: Enter and run a prompt
In the input box at the bottom, describe your data development or data governance needs in natural language and press Enter. Data Agent will automatically plan and execute the task based on its built-in DataWorks Skills.
The following are some example prompts:
"Help me create a data synchronization task from MySQL to MaxCompute."
"In the employee information table my_project.ods_emp_info_d, the department data for employee ID EMP001 is empty. Please investigate the cause and suggest a fix."
"Show me the data lineage for the dws_user_active_di table."
"Generate an SQL script for user activity analysis."
Related documentation
To learn about the overall architecture and core value of Data Agent, see Data Agent Overview.
To learn how to use the original sidebar agent, see Agent.
To learn how to use the Code Assistant, see Code Assistant.
To learn about configuration management in the Data Agent settings center, see System Settings.