Get started

npm install -g @hermenics/deepseek-code

Then run deepseek inside any project. On first run you'll pick a provider and configure authentication.

Providers & authentication

| Provider | How to authenticate | Env / config keys | | | --------------------------------| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------| --------------------------------------------------| -----| | DeepSeek API (default) | API key from platform.deepseek.com | DEEPSEEK_API_KEY, DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL | | | Amazon Bedrock | AWS IAM credentials via ~/.aws/credentials | AWS_REGION, AWS_PROFILE | | | Google Vertex AI | GCP service account JSON key | GCP_PROJECT, GCP_LOCATION, GCP_CREDENTIALS | | | Local (Ollama / LM Studio) | No auth — just point to your local endpoint | LOCAL_BASE_URL, LOCAL_MODEL |

All config is saved to ~/.deepseek/config.json. You can also set any config key as an environment variable.

Models

Switch between models at any time with /model:

| Model ID | Description | Context | |---|---|---| | deepseek-v4-flash | Fast, general purpose (default) | 128K | | deepseek-v4-pro | Advanced reasoning | 128K |

Each provider also exposes provider-specific models (Bedrock, Vertex, local).

What it does

DeepSeek Code is an agentic coding tool with a TUI that lives in your terminal. It understands your codebase and helps you code faster through natural language — reading and writing files, running shell commands, searching code, fetching URLs, managing git, and more.

TUI behavior

• Runs on the terminal alternate screen so the viewport is clean and scrolling works smoothly without truncation.
• Thinking output is streamed as full multiline blocks and persisted after each response.
• To force main-screen mode (experimental): OTUI_USE_ALTERNATE_SCREEN=0 deepseek

Reporting bugs

File a GitHub issue or use /help inside the TUI.