DeepSeek CLI

A powerful command-line interface for interacting with DeepSeek's AI models.

@PierrunoYT/deepseek-cli

Features

• 🤖 Multiple Model Support

  • DeepSeek-V3.2 (deepseek-chat) - Non-thinking Mode
  • DeepSeek-V3.2 (deepseek-reasoner) - Thinking Mode with Chain of Thought
  • DeepSeek-V2.5 Coder (deepseek-coder)

• 🔄 Advanced Conversation Features

  • Multi-round conversations with context preservation
  • System message customization
  • Conversation history tracking
  • Context caching for better performance and cost savings
  • Inline mode for quick queries
  • 128K context window for all models

• 🚀 Advanced Features

  • Prefix Completion: Complete assistant messages from a given prefix (Stable)
  • Fill-in-the-Middle (FIM): Complete content between a prefix and suffix (Stable)
  • Context Caching: Automatic disk-based caching with up to 90% cost savings
  • Anthropic API Compatibility: Use DeepSeek models with Anthropic API format

• 🛠️ Advanced Controls

  • Temperature control with presets
  • JSON output mode
  • Streaming responses (enabled by default)
  • Function calling (up to 128 functions)
  • Stop sequences
  • Top-p sampling
  • Frequency and presence penalties

• 📦 Package Management

  • Automatic version checking
  • Update notifications
  • Easy installation and updates
  • Development mode support

Installation

You can install DeepSeek CLI in two ways:

Option 1: Install from PyPI (Recommended)

pip install deepseek-cli

Option 2: Install from Source (Development)

git clone https://github.com/PierrunoYT/deepseek-cli.git
cd deepseek-cli
pip install -e .

Updating the Package

To update to the latest version:

pip install --upgrade deepseek-cli

For development installation, pull the latest changes and reinstall:

git pull
pip install -e . --upgrade

The CLI will automatically check for updates on startup and notify you when a new version is available.

API Key Setup

Set your DeepSeek API key as an environment variable:

macOS/Linux

export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="your-api-key"

Windows

set DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="your-api-key"

To make it permanent, add it to your environment variables through System Settings.

Usage

DeepSeek CLI supports two modes of operation: interactive mode and inline mode.

Interactive Mode

After installation, you can start the CLI in interactive mode in two ways:

If installed from PyPI:

deepseek

If installed in development mode:

deepseek
# or
python -m deepseek_cli

Inline Mode

You can also use DeepSeek CLI in inline mode to get quick answers without starting an interactive session:

# Basic usage
deepseek -q "What is the capital of France?"

# Specify a model
deepseek -q "Write a Python function to calculate factorial" -m deepseek-coder

# Get raw output without token usage information
deepseek -q "Write a Python function to calculate factorial" -r

# Set a custom system message
deepseek -S "You are a Rust expert." -q "Explain lifetimes"

# Enable JSON output mode
deepseek -q "List 3 European capitals" --json

# Set temperature and a stop sequence
deepseek -q "Tell me a story" --temp 1.3 --stop "The End"

# Multiple stop sequences
deepseek -q "Count to five" --stop "5" --stop "five"

# Start the REPL with prefix completion and a lower temperature
deepseek --prefix --temp 0.0

# Enable Fill-in-the-Middle mode via CLI
deepseek --fim -q "def add(<fim_prefix>):<fim_suffix>    pass"

# Combine options
deepseek -q "Write a Python function to calculate factorial" -m deepseek-coder -r -S "You are an expert Python developer."

Available options (apply to both inline and interactive modes unless noted):

Core

• -q, --query TEXT: Run in inline mode with the given query
• -m, --model MODEL: Model to use (deepseek-chat, deepseek-coder, deepseek-reasoner)
• -r, --raw: Output raw response without token usage information (inline only)
• -S, --system TEXT: Set the system message (default: "You are a helpful assistant.")
• -s, --stream: Enable streaming mode
• --no-stream: Disable streaming mode

Output / Mode

• --json: Enable JSON output mode (response_format: json_object)
• --beta: Enable the beta API endpoint
• --prefix: Enable prefix completion mode (last user message becomes the assistant prefix)
• --fim: Enable Fill-in-the-Middle mode (use <fim_prefix>/<fim_suffix> tags in your query)

Sampling & Penalties

• --temp FLOAT: Set temperature (0–2)
• --freq FLOAT: Set frequency penalty (−2 to 2)
• --pres FLOAT: Set presence penalty (−2 to 2)
• --top-p FLOAT: Set top-p sampling (0–1)

Stop Sequences

• --stop SEQ: Add a stop sequence (can be repeated: --stop A --stop B)

Troubleshooting

• If the API key is not recognized:

  • Make sure you've set the DEEPSEEK_API_KEY environment variable
  • Try closing and reopening your terminal
  • Check if the key is correct with: echo $DEEPSEEK_API_KEY (Unix) or echo %DEEPSEEK_API_KEY% (Windows)

• If you get import errors:

  • Ensure you've installed the package: pip list | grep deepseek-cli
  • Try reinstalling: pip install --force-reinstall deepseek-cli

• For development installation issues:

  • Make sure you're in the correct directory
  • Try: pip install -e . --upgrade

Available Commands

Basic Commands:

• /help - Show help message
• /models - List available models
• /model X - Switch model (deepseek-chat, deepseek-coder, deepseek-reasoner)
• /system X - Set a custom system message mid-session
• /system - Show the current system message
• /clear - Clear conversation history
• /history - Display conversation history
• /about - Show API information
• /balance - Check account balance

Model Settings:

• /temp X - Set temperature (0-2) or use preset (coding/data/chat/translation/creative)
• /freq X - Set frequency penalty (-2 to 2)
• /pres X - Set presence penalty (-2 to 2)
• /top_p X - Set top_p sampling (0 to 1)

Beta Features:

• /beta - Toggle beta features
• /prefix - Toggle prefix completion mode
• /fim - Toggle Fill-in-the-Middle completion
• /cache - Toggle context caching

Output Control:

• /json - Toggle JSON output mode
• /stream - Toggle streaming mode (streaming is enabled by default)
• /stop X - Add stop sequence
• /clearstop - Clear stop sequences

Function Calling:

• /function {} - Add function definition (JSON format)
• /clearfuncs - Clear registered functions

Model-Specific Features

DeepSeek-V3.2 (deepseek-chat)

• Version: DeepSeek-V3.2 (Non-thinking Mode) - Updated December 2025
• Context Length: 128K tokens (128,000 tokens)
• Output Length: Default 4K, Maximum 8K tokens
• Supports all features:
  • JSON Output ✓
  • Function Calling ✓ (up to 128 functions)
  • Chat Prefix Completion ✓
  • Fill-in-the-Middle ✓
• General-purpose chat model
• Latest improvements:
  • Enhanced instruction following (77.6% IFEval accuracy)
  • Improved JSON output (97% parsing rate)
  • Advanced reasoning capabilities
  • Role-playing capabilities
  • Agent capability optimizations (Code Agent, Search Agent)

DeepSeek-V3.2 (deepseek-reasoner)

• Version: DeepSeek-V3.2 (Thinking Mode) - Updated December 2025
• Context Length: 128K tokens (128,000 tokens)
• Output Length: Default 32K, Maximum 64K tokens
• Chain of Thought: Displays reasoning process before final answer
• Supported features:
  • JSON Output ✓
  • Chat Prefix Completion ✓
• Unsupported features:
  • Function Calling ✗ (automatically falls back to deepseek-chat if tools provided)
  • Fill-in-the-Middle ✗
  • Temperature, top_p, presence/frequency penalties ✗
• Excels at complex reasoning and problem-solving tasks
• Enhanced agent capabilities with benchmark improvements

DeepSeek-V2.5 Coder (deepseek-coder)

• Context Length: 128K tokens
• Output Length: Default 4K, Maximum 8K tokens
• Supports all features:
  • JSON Output ✓
  • Function Calling ✓
  • Chat Prefix Completion (Beta) ✓
  • Fill-in-the-Middle (Beta) ✓
• Optimized for code generation and analysis

Feature Details

Fill-in-the-Middle (FIM)

Use XML-style tags to define the gap:

<fim_prefix>def calculate_sum(a, b):</fim_prefix><fim_suffix>    return result</fim_suffix>

JSON Mode

Forces model to output valid JSON. Example system message:

{
    "response": "structured output",
    "data": {
        "field1": "value1",
        "field2": "value2"
    }
}

Context Caching

• Automatic disk-based caching for all users
• No code changes required - works automatically
• Minimum cache size: 64 tokens
• Pricing:
  • Cache hits: $0.014 per million tokens (90% savings)
  • Cache misses: $0.14 per million tokens (standard rate)
• Performance benefits:
  • Significantly reduces first token latency for long, repetitive inputs
  • Example: 128K prompt reduced from 13s to 500ms
• Best use cases:
  • Q&A assistants with long preset prompts
  • Role-play with extensive character settings
  • Data analysis with recurring queries on same documents
  • Code analysis and debugging with repeated repository references
  • Few-shot learning with multiple examples
• Enabled by default

Anthropic API Compatibility

DeepSeek API now supports Anthropic API format, enabling integration with tools like Claude Code:

Setup for Claude Code:

# Install Claude Code
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

# Configure environment variables
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.deepseek.com/anthropic
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=${DEEPSEEK_API_KEY}
export ANTHROPIC_MODEL=deepseek-chat
export ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL=deepseek-chat

# Run in your project
cd my-project
claude

Python SDK Example:

import anthropic

client = anthropic.Anthropic(
    base_url="https://api.deepseek.com/anthropic",
    api_key="your-deepseek-api-key"
)

message = client.messages.create(
    model="deepseek-chat",
    max_tokens=1000,
    system="You are a helpful assistant.",
    messages=[
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": [{"type": "text", "text": "Hi, how are you?"}]
        }
    ]
)
print(message.content)

Supported Fields:

• ✓ model, max_tokens, stop_sequences, stream, system
• ✓ temperature (range 0.0-2.0), top_p
• ✓ tools (function calling)
• ✗ thinking, top_k, mcp_servers (ignored)

Temperature Presets

• coding: 0.0 (deterministic)
• data: 1.0 (balanced)
• chat: 1.3 (creative)
• translation: 1.3 (creative)
• creative: 1.5 (very creative)

Error Handling

• Automatic retry with exponential backoff
• Rate limit handling
• Clear error messages
• API status feedback

Support

For support, please open an issue on the GitHub repository.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.