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DeepCode Quickstart

DeepCode is a coding agent driven by DeepSeek. It ships as a CLI (deepcode) and a macOS desktop app, with VS Code/LSP integrations under active development. The clients reuse @deepcode/core, but some runtime, permission, and recovery behavior is still being unified; see the alignment plan for current gaps.

Requirements: Node ≥ 22 for the CLI. A DeepSeek API key (get one at https://platform.deepseek.com/). macOS 12+ for the desktop app.

CLI (macOS + Linux)

# 1. Install
npm i -g deepcode-cli

# 2. Start the REPL — the first run walks you through setting your DeepSeek key
deepcode

On first launch DeepCode asks for your DeepSeek API key and stores it in the macOS Keychain (or ~/.deepcode/credentials.json, chmod 600, on Linux). You can also set it via environment variable:

export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="sk-..."     # X-Api-Key
# or, for a Bearer token / CI:
export DEEPSEEK_AUTH_TOKEN="..."

Everyday use

deepcode                                   # interactive REPL in the current repo
deepcode -p "fix the bug in src/auth.ts"   # headless one-shot, prints the result
deepcode --mode plan                        # read-only "plan" mode (no writes)
deepcode --model deepseek-reasoner --effort high   # deeper reasoning
  • Models: deepseek-chat (fast, default) · deepseek-reasoner (chain-of-thought).
  • Effort: low | medium | high | xhigh | max — raises the per-turn output budget (DeepSeek caps output at 8192 tokens).
  • Modes: default (ask before risky tools) · acceptEdits · plan · dontAsk · bypassPermissions.

Headless / CI

-p/--print runs a single prompt and exits. Combine with --output-format json for machine-readable output. Exit codes: 0 ok · 1 generic · 2 bad-input · 3 api/auth · 4 max-turns · 5 aborted.

deepcode -p "summarize the architecture" --output-format json

For long-lived CI tokens, run deepcode setup-token once and store the printed token as DEEPSEEK_AUTH_TOKEN in your CI secrets.

macOS desktop app

  1. Download the latest DeepCode-<version>-arm64.dmg from Releases.
  2. Open the DMG and drag DeepCode into Applications.
  3. Launch it. On first run it asks for your DeepSeek key, then prompts you to pick a project folder — everything DeepCode reads, writes, or runs stays inside that folder.
  4. Type a request in the composer and press ⏎. Approve tool calls inline as they appear; switch model / effort / mode from the toolbar. Press ⌘\ to expand the right-hand inspector (plan · context usage · recent files · session info).

The desktop app auto-updates from GitHub Releases ("Relaunch to update").

Configure it

Settings live in ~/.deepcode/settings.json (user) and <project>/.deepcode/ settings.json (project). The desktop app's Settings screen edits the same files (GUI or raw JSON). Common knobs: model, effortLevel, permissions (allow/ask/deny matchers), mcpServers, hooks.

  • Project memory: write a DEEPCODE.md in your repo — DeepCode reads it as durable context (supports @import of other files; interops with AGENTS.md).
  • Permissions: Bash(git diff:*) matches a subcommand; Bash(git diff *) matches a prefix. Manage them in Settings → Permissions or in settings.json.

Next steps

  • docs/MIGRATION_FROM_CLAUDE_CODE.md — what maps 1:1 from Claude Code.
  • docs/cli-flags.md — the full flag reference.
  • docs/security-model.md — sandbox, permissions, and credential storage.