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Qwen Route Matrix

This page is the current route truth for Qwen Image and Qwen Image Edit in MLX-Gen. It maps the public mlxgen surface to the upstream Diffusers Qwen pipeline families and points at the exact proof assets that already exist.

Use this page for three questions:

  • which Qwen route does MLX-Gen actually expose;
  • what user inputs select that route;
  • where the current public proof for that route lives.

For exact per-model option support, use:

mlxgen capabilities --model AbstractFramework/qwen-image-edit-2511-8bit

For exact release evidence on one row, use:

mlxgen validation --model AbstractFramework/qwen-image-edit-2511-8bit

Current Route Map

Capability id Upstream parity Typical handles Public inputs Current proof surface
qwen.text QwenImagePipeline Qwen/Qwen-Image, AbstractFramework/qwen-image-8bit, AbstractFramework/qwen-image-2512-8bit --prompt Route is shipped. Current exact LoRA-backed proof rows exist for AbstractFramework/qwen-image-8bit and AbstractFramework/qwen-image-2512-8bit in LoRA.
qwen.latent QwenImageImg2ImgPipeline base Qwen Image handles --image + --image-strength + --prompt Route is shipped. An exact LoRA-backed public proof now exists for AbstractFramework/qwen-image-8bit; see LoRA.
qwen.edit QwenImageEditPipeline Qwen/Qwen-Image-Edit, Qwen/Qwen-Image-Edit-2509, Qwen/Qwen-Image-Edit-2511, prepared q8/q4 variants --image + --prompt Image edit capabilities covers the source/q8/q4 edit matrices.
qwen.inpaint QwenImageEditInpaintPipeline edit-model rows, with the current exact proof on AbstractFramework/qwen-image-edit-2511-8bit --image + --mask-path + --prompt Qwen localized editing links the accepted masked-edit proof.
qwen.base-inpaint QwenImageInpaintPipeline base Qwen rows other than the exact control-inpaint row: Qwen/Qwen-Image, AbstractFramework/qwen-image-4bit, AbstractFramework/qwen-image-2512-8bit --image + --mask-path + --prompt Masked editing links the current visual-smoke proof rows (4bit and 2512-8bit).
qwen.multi-reference QwenImageEditPlusPipeline behavior Qwen/Qwen-Image-Edit-2509, Qwen/Qwen-Image-Edit-2511, prepared q8/q4 variants repeated --image + --prompt Image edit capabilities links the accepted 2509 and 2511 multi-reference matrices, and LoRA covers the exact 2511 q8 multi-angle proof row.
qwen.reframe MLX-Gen canvas expansion on the Qwen edit route original/2509/2511 edit families and prepared variants --image + --reframe-padding + --prompt Reframe and outpaint links the accepted Qwen reframe matrices, and LoRA covers the exact 2511 q8 multi-angle proof row.
qwen.outpaint MLX-Gen canvas expansion on the Qwen edit route original/2509/2511 edit families and prepared variants --image + --outpaint-padding + --prompt Reframe and outpaint links the accepted Qwen outpaint matrices, and LoRA covers the exact 2511 q8 multi-angle proof row.
qwen.control QwenImageControlNetPipeline current exact public row: AbstractFramework/qwen-image-8bit --controlnet-image-path + --prompt Qwen localized editing links the accepted structured-control proof.
qwen.control-inpaint QwenImageControlNetInpaintPipeline current exact public row: AbstractFramework/qwen-image-8bit --image + --mask-path + --prompt Qwen localized editing links the accepted control-inpaint proof.

Important Public-Boundary Choices

MLX-Gen intentionally does not expose every upstream Qwen pipeline name as a separate public route id.

The current choices are:

  • QwenImageEditPlusPipeline behavior is exposed through qwen.multi-reference, not through a separate public qwen.edit-plus id;
  • every base Qwen row exposes exactly one masked route: the exact validated AbstractFramework/qwen-image-8bit row keeps qwen.control-inpaint (its ControlNet sidecar and full-schedule behavior are unchanged), and every other trusted base row exposes native qwen.base-inpaint instead. The same --image + --mask-path + --prompt request selects whichever masked route the row carries; see Masked editing for the behavior differences;
  • QwenImageLayeredPipeline is not a shipped public MLX-Gen route today.

That keeps the user-facing contract smaller while preserving honest route identity through mlxgen capabilities.

Which Qwen Route To Choose

Need Route
Generate from text only qwen.text
Restyle one existing image with explicit --image-strength qwen.latent
Edit one source image with an instruction qwen.edit
Edit only a masked part of one source image on the edit checkpoint qwen.inpaint
Edit only a masked part of one source image on a base checkpoint qwen.base-inpaint (or qwen.control-inpaint on the exact 8bit row)
Combine two or more reference images qwen.multi-reference
Generate from text while fixing layout from a control image qwen.control
Edit a masked source region on base Qwen with the stricter inpaint sidecar qwen.control-inpaint (exact AbstractFramework/qwen-image-8bit row)
Expand the canvas outward qwen.reframe or qwen.outpaint, depending on whether you want zoom-out or canvas extension