DeepSeek TUI

A terminal-native coding agent built around DeepSeek V4's 1M-token context and prefix cache. Single binary, no Node/Python runtime required — ships an MCP client, sandbox, and durable task queue out of the box.

简体中文 README

npm i -g deepseek-tui

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What is it?

DeepSeek TUI is a coding agent that runs entirely in your terminal. It gives DeepSeek's frontier models direct access to your workspace — reading and editing files, running shell commands, searching the web, managing git, and orchestrating sub-agents — all through a fast, keyboard-driven TUI.

Built for DeepSeek V4 (deepseek-v4-pro / deepseek-v4-flash) with 1M-token context windows and native thinking-mode (chain-of-thought) streaming.

Key Features

• Native RLM (rlm_query) — fans out 1–16 cheap deepseek-v4-flash children in parallel for batched analysis and parallel reasoning, all against the existing API client
• Thinking-mode streaming — watch the model's chain-of-thought unfold in real time as it works through your tasks
• Full tool suite — file ops, shell execution, git, web search/browse, apply-patch, sub-agents, MCP servers
• 1M-token context — automatic intelligent compaction when context fills up; prefix-cache aware for cost efficiency
• Three modes — Plan (read-only explore), Agent (interactive with approval), YOLO (auto-approved)
• Reasoning-effort tiers — cycle through off → high → max with Shift+Tab
• Session save/resume — checkpoint and resume long-running sessions
• Workspace rollback — side-git pre/post-turn snapshots with /restore and revert_turn, without touching your repo's .git
• Durable task queue — background tasks survive restarts; think scheduled automation, long-running reviews
• HTTP/SSE runtime API — deepseek serve --http for headless agent workflows
• MCP protocol — connect to Model Context Protocol servers for extended tooling; see docs/MCP.md
• LSP diagnostics — inline error/warning surfacing after every edit via rust-analyzer, pyright, typescript-language-server, gopls, clangd
• User memory — optional persistent note file injected into the system prompt for cross-session preferences
• Localized UI — en, ja, zh-Hans, pt-BR with auto-detection
• Live cost tracking — per-turn and session-level token usage and cost estimates; cache hit/miss breakdown
• Skills system — composable, installable instruction packs from GitHub with no backend service required

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How it's wired

deepseek (dispatcher CLI) → deepseek-tui (companion binary) → ratatui interface ↔ async engine ↔ OpenAI-compatible streaming client. Tool calls route through a typed registry (shell, file ops, git, web, sub-agents, MCP, RLM) and results stream back into the transcript. The engine manages session state, turn tracking, the durable task queue, and an LSP subsystem that feeds post-edit diagnostics into the model's context before the next reasoning step.

See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md for the full walkthrough.

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Quickstart

npm install -g deepseek-tui
deepseek

Prebuilt binaries are published for Linux x64, Linux ARM64 (v0.8.8+), macOS x64, macOS ARM64, and Windows x64. For other targets (musl, riscv64, FreeBSD, etc.), see Install from source or docs/INSTALL.md.

On first launch you'll be prompted for your DeepSeek API key. The key is saved to ~/.deepseek/config.toml so it works from any directory without OS credential prompts.

You can also set it ahead of time:

deepseek auth set --provider deepseek   # saves to ~/.deepseek/config.toml

export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="YOUR_KEY"      # env var alternative; use ~/.zshenv for non-interactive shells
deepseek

deepseek doctor                          # verify setup

To rotate or remove a saved key: deepseek auth clear --provider deepseek.

Linux ARM64 (Raspberry Pi, Asahi, Graviton, HarmonyOS PC)

npm i -g deepseek-tui works on glibc-based ARM64 Linux from v0.8.8 onward. You can also download prebuilt binaries from the Releases page and place them side by side on your PATH.

China / mirror-friendly install

If GitHub or npm downloads are slow from mainland China, use a Cargo registry mirror:

# ~/.cargo/config.toml
[source.crates-io]
replace-with = "tuna"

[source.tuna]
registry = "sparse+https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/crates.io-index/"

Then install both binaries (the dispatcher delegates to the TUI at runtime):

cargo install deepseek-tui-cli --locked   # provides `deepseek`
cargo install deepseek-tui     --locked   # provides `deepseek-tui`
deepseek --version

Prebuilt binaries can also be downloaded from GitHub Releases. Use DEEPSEEK_TUI_RELEASE_BASE_URL for mirrored release assets.

Install from source

Works on any Tier-1 Rust target — including musl, riscv64, FreeBSD, and older ARM64 distros.

# Linux build deps (Debian/Ubuntu/RHEL):
#   sudo apt-get install -y build-essential pkg-config libdbus-1-dev
#   sudo dnf install -y gcc make pkgconf-pkg-config dbus-devel

git clone https://github.com/Hmbown/DeepSeek-TUI.git
cd DeepSeek-TUI

cargo install --path crates/cli --locked   # requires Rust 1.85+; provides `deepseek`
cargo install --path crates/tui --locked   # provides `deepseek-tui`

Both binaries are required. Cross-compilation and platform-specific notes: docs/INSTALL.md.

Other API providers

# NVIDIA NIM
deepseek auth set --provider nvidia-nim --api-key "YOUR_NVIDIA_API_KEY"
deepseek --provider nvidia-nim

# Fireworks
deepseek auth set --provider fireworks --api-key "YOUR_FIREWORKS_API_KEY"
deepseek --provider fireworks --model deepseek-v4-pro

# Self-hosted SGLang
SGLANG_BASE_URL="http://localhost:30000/v1" deepseek --provider sglang --model deepseek-v4-flash

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What's new in v0.8.10

A patch release: hotfixes, UX polish, and runtime API additions for the whalescale desktop integration. No breaking changes. Full changelog.

• Stacked toast overlay — status toasts queue and render together instead of overwriting each other
• File @-mention frecency — file mention suggestions learn from recent selections (~/.deepseek/file-frecency.jsonl)
• Runtime API expansion — CORS origins config, full thread editing (PATCH /v1/threads/{id}), archived_only query filter, aggregate usage endpoint (GET /v1/usage?group_by=day|model|provider|thread)
• Language picker on first run — new onboarding step selects locale before entering the API key
• OPENCODE shell.env hook — lifecycle hooks can inject shell environment into spawned commands
• Cache-aware compaction — compaction calls reuse cached prompt prefixes, cutting /compact costs significantly
• glibc 2.28 baseline — prebuilts now target glibc 2.28 (via cargo zigbuild), covering older distros; npm postinstall fails fast with a clear source-build message when incompatible
• Better markdown rendering — transcript now handles tables, bold/italic, and horizontal rules; no more infinite loops on unclosed markers
• MCP SIGTERM on shutdown — stdio servers receive SIGTERM with a 2-second grace period instead of SIGKILL
• Shell-child PDEATHSIG on Linux — children auto-SIGTERM when the parent exits, closing a leak window
• Windows Terminal paste fix — Ctrl/Cmd+V during onboarding now works correctly
• Terminal startup repaint — no more stale background rows above the first frame
• Slash-prefix Enter activation — typing /mo and pressing Enter activates the first match
• Shell cwd boundary validation — path escape returns PathEscape on out-of-workspace cwd, consistent with file tools

6 first-time contributors: @staryxchen (#556), @shentoumengxin (#524), @Vishnu1837 (#565), @20bytes (#569), @loongmiaow-pixel (#578), @WyxBUPT-22 (#579). Thanks also to @lloydzhou, @jeoor, @toi500, @xsstomy, and @melody0709 for bug reports.

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Usage

deepseek                                       # interactive TUI
deepseek "explain this function"              # one-shot prompt
deepseek --model deepseek-v4-flash "summarize" # model override
deepseek --yolo                                # auto-approve tools
deepseek auth set --provider deepseek         # save API key
deepseek doctor                                # check setup & connectivity
deepseek doctor --json                         # machine-readable diagnostics
deepseek setup --status                        # read-only setup status
deepseek setup --tools --plugins               # scaffold tool/plugin dirs
deepseek models                                # list live API models
deepseek sessions                              # list saved sessions
deepseek resume --last                         # resume latest session
deepseek serve --http                          # HTTP/SSE API server
deepseek pr <N>                                # fetch PR and pre-seed review prompt
deepseek mcp list                              # list configured MCP servers
deepseek mcp validate                          # validate MCP config/connectivity
deepseek mcp-server                            # run dispatcher MCP stdio server

Keyboard shortcuts

Key	Action
Tab	Complete / or @ entries; while running, queue draft as follow-up; otherwise cycle mode
Shift+Tab	Cycle reasoning-effort: off → high → max
F1	Searchable help overlay
Esc	Back / dismiss
Ctrl+K	Command palette
Ctrl+R	Resume an earlier session
Alt+R	Search prompt history and recover cleared drafts
Ctrl+S	Stash current draft (/stash list, /stash pop to recover)
@path	Attach file/directory context in composer
↑ (at composer start)	Select attachment row for removal
Alt+↑	Edit last queued message

Full shortcut catalog: docs/KEYBINDINGS.md.

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Modes

Mode	Behavior
Plan 🔍	Read-only investigation — model explores and proposes a plan (update_plan + checklist_write) before making changes
Agent 🤖	Default interactive mode — multi-step tool use with approval gates; model outlines work via checklist_write
YOLO ⚡	Auto-approve all tools in a trusted workspace; still maintains plan and checklist for visibility

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Configuration

User config: ~/.deepseek/config.toml. Project overlay: <workspace>/.deepseek/config.toml (denied: api_key, base_url, provider, mcp_config_path). config.example.toml has every option.

Key environment variables:

Variable	Purpose
DEEPSEEK_API_KEY	API key
DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL	API base URL
DEEPSEEK_MODEL	Default model
DEEPSEEK_PROVIDER	deepseek (default), nvidia-nim, fireworks, sglang
DEEPSEEK_PROFILE	Config profile name
DEEPSEEK_MEMORY	Set to on to enable user memory
NVIDIA_API_KEY / FIREWORKS_API_KEY / SGLANG_API_KEY	Provider auth
SGLANG_BASE_URL	Self-hosted SGLang endpoint
NO_ANIMATIONS=1	Force accessibility mode at startup
SSL_CERT_FILE	Custom CA bundle for corporate proxies

UI locale is separate from model language — set locale in settings.toml, use /config locale zh-Hans, or rely on LC_ALL/LANG. See docs/CONFIGURATION.md and docs/MCP.md.

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Models & Pricing

Model	Context	Input (cache hit)	Input (cache miss)	Output
deepseek-v4-pro	1M	$0.003625 / 1M*	$0.435 / 1M*	$0.87 / 1M*
deepseek-v4-flash	1M	$0.0028 / 1M	$0.14 / 1M	$0.28 / 1M

Legacy aliases deepseek-chat / deepseek-reasoner map to deepseek-v4-flash. NVIDIA NIM variants use your NVIDIA account terms.

*DeepSeek Pro rates are a limited-time 75% discount valid until 2026-05-05 15:59 UTC; the TUI cost estimator falls back to base Pro rates after that timestamp.

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Publishing your own skill

DeepSeek TUI discovers skills from workspace directories (.agents/skills → skills → .opencode/skills → .claude/skills) and the global ~/.deepseek/skills. Each skill is a directory with a SKILL.md file:

~/.deepseek/skills/my-skill/
└── SKILL.md

Frontmatter required:

---
name: my-skill
description: Use this when DeepSeek should follow my custom workflow.
---

# My Skill
Instructions for the agent go here.

Commands: /skills (list), /skill <name> (activate), /skill new (scaffold), /skill install github:<owner>/<repo> (community), /skill update / uninstall / trust. Community installs from GitHub require no backend service. Installed skills appear in the model-visible session context; the agent can auto-select relevant skills via the load_skill tool when your task matches their descriptions.

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Documentation

Doc	Topic
ARCHITECTURE.md	Codebase internals
CONFIGURATION.md	Full config reference
MODES.md	Plan / Agent / YOLO modes
MCP.md	Model Context Protocol integration
RUNTIME_API.md	HTTP/SSE API server
INSTALL.md	Platform-specific install guide
MEMORY.md	User memory feature guide
SUBAGENTS.md	Sub-agent role taxonomy and lifecycle
KEYBINDINGS.md	Full shortcut catalog
RELEASE_RUNBOOK.md	Release process
OPERATIONS_RUNBOOK.md	Ops & recovery

Full changelog: CHANGELOG.md.

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Thanks

Earlier releases shipped with help from these contributors:

• Hafeez Pizofreude — SSRF protection in fetch_url and Star History chart
• Unic (YuniqueUnic) — Schema-driven config UI (TUI + web)
• Jason — SSRF security hardening

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Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md. Pull requests welcome — check the open issues for good first contributions.

Not affiliated with DeepSeek Inc.

License

MIT

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