> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.salad.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Qwen3.5-9B with SGLang

> Serve Qwen3.5-9B with SGLang as an OpenAI-compatible API for OpenClaw, OpenCode, and other tools.

*Last Updated: March 24, 2026*

<Tip>Deploy from the [SaladCloud Portal](https://portal.salad.com).</Tip>

## Overview

This recipe runs `Qwen3.5-9B` with the official [SGLang](https://docs.sglang.io/) runtime on a Salad GPU. The model is
downloaded automatically on first startup, and the container exposes an OpenAI-compatible API for tools such as
OpenClaw, OpenCode, and other compatible clients.

This recipe is designed to be easy to use:

* the model is already chosen for you
* it is public by default, so you can test it immediately after deployment
* it is preconfigured for Qwen reasoning and tool-calling
* you can connect it to OpenClaw or any other OpenAI-compatible client

## Quick Start

1. Open the [SaladCloud Portal](https://portal.salad.com).
2. Open your Organization and click "Deploy Container Group"
3. Pick **Qwen3.5-9B (SGLang)** from the recipe list.
4. Enter a **Container Group Name**.
5. Decide whether to enable **Require Container Gateway Authentication**:
   * Disabled: public access.
   * Enabled: requests must include your SaladCloud API key.
6. Deploy and wait for the first startup to finish.

<Callout variation="note">
  The model is downloaded from Hugging Face at startup, so it can take several minutes before the deployment becomes
  ready.
</Callout>

Once the container is ready, connect your client to `https://<your-dns>.salad.cloud/v1/chat/completions`.

## Use With OpenClaw

If you want to connect this recipe to OpenClaw, follow this guide:

* [Use OpenClaw with a Salad-hosted LLM](/container-engine/how-to-guides/openclaw/openclaw-ollama-salad-hosted-telegram)

## Current Defaults

The recipe currently defaults to:

* Model source: `Qwen/Qwen3.5-9B`
* Served model name: `qwen3.5-9b`
* Host bind: `::`
* Runtime image: `lmsysorg/sglang:latest-runtime`
* Context length: `131072`
* Tensor parallel size: `1`
* Memory fraction: `0.8`
* Attention backend: `triton`
* Reasoning parser: `qwen3`
* Tool call parser: `qwen3_coder`
* Authentication: disabled by default

This follows the official Qwen SGLang launch pattern for `Qwen/Qwen3.5-9B`, with a `triton` attention backend selected
for better compatibility on Salad GPU nodes.

## Thinking Mode

Qwen thinking is enabled by default.

If you want a direct response for a specific request, include this field in the JSON body:

```json theme={null}
"chat_template_kwargs": {"enable_thinking": false}
```

## Authentication

**Require Container Gateway Authentication** is available in the deployment form and is unchecked by default.

* Disabled: anyone with the URL can call the API.
* Enabled: every request must include the `Salad-Api-Key` header.

If you enable authentication, see [Sending Requests](/container-engine/how-to-guides/gateway/sending-requests) for the
header format.

## Example Request

```bash theme={null}
curl https://<your-dns>.salad.cloud/v1/chat/completions \
  -X POST \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "model": "qwen3.5-9b",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
      {"role": "user", "content": "Write a short explanation of mixture-of-experts models."}
    ],
    "temperature": 0.6,
    "top_p": 0.95,
    "top_k": 20,
    "max_tokens": 512
  }'
```

If you enabled authentication during deployment, add:

```bash theme={null}
-H 'Salad-Api-Key: <api-key>'
```

## For Technical Users

If you want to change the model or runtime settings later, open the container group in the SaladCloud Portal and edit
**Advanced Configuration**.

Useful environment variables include:

* `SGLANG_MODEL_PATH`
* `SGLANG_SERVED_MODEL_NAME`
* `SGLANG_CONTEXT_LENGTH`
* `SGLANG_MEM_FRACTION_STATIC`
* `SGLANG_TP_SIZE`

For more detail, see:

* [Qwen SGLang deployment docs](https://qwen.readthedocs.io/en/v3.0/deployment/sglang.html)
* [SGLang server arguments](https://docs.sglang.io/advanced_features/server_arguments.html)

## Source Code

* [<Icon icon="github" size="24" /> Recipe Source](https://github.com/SaladTechnologies/salad-recipes/tree/master/recipes/qwen3.5-9b-sglang)
* [Qwen3.5-9B model card](https://huggingface.co/Qwen/Qwen3.5-9B)
* [SGLang Project](https://github.com/sgl-project/sglang)