deepseekcode

Configuration

deepseekcode reads TOML config from two locations, layered in this order (later wins):

  1. Built-in defaults
  2. ~/.deepseek/config.toml (user-wide)
  3. ./.deepseek/config.toml (project-local, optional)
  4. CLI flags

Environment variables referenced as ${VAR} inside string values are expanded at load time. If [api].key is empty, DEEPSEEK_API_KEY is used as a fallback.

Example

# ~/.deepseek/config.toml

[api]
key = "${DEEPSEEK_API_KEY}"
base_url = "https://api.deepseek.com"
first_token_timeout_ms = 45000
chunk_stall_timeout_ms = 20000

[defaults]
model = "deepseek-v4-flash"
thinking = true
reasoning_effort = "max"        # low | medium | high | max
theme = "dark"                  # dark | light
vim_keybindings = true

[duet]
enabled = true
retry_on_failure = true
validator_timeout_ms = 10000
extra_destructive_patterns = [
  # additional regexes — built-ins always apply
  # "^my-deploy-script",
]

[permissions]
# bash patterns auto-allowed (you can append to this by pressing 'a'
# during a permission prompt — the entry is added here).
allow_bash = [
  "git status *",
  "git log *",
  "git diff *",
  "ls *",
  "pwd",
  "cat *",
]
# extra path patterns considered "secret-like" (always prompt to write)
secret_path_patterns = [
  "*.pem",
  "*.key",
  "id_rsa*",
  ".env*",
]

[sessions]
ttl_days = 90
snapshot_keep = 30
auto_resume_age_hours = 24

# MCP servers are NOT enabled by default. Add an entry to opt in.
# [mcp_servers.example]
# command = "node"
# args = ["/path/to/server.js"]
# env = { FOO = "bar" }
# timeout_seconds = 60

[tools]
max_read_bytes = 5_242_880   # 5 MiB
max_write_bytes = 5_242_880  # 5 MiB

# Permission rules: evaluated before the tiered defaults.
# Decision order: deny > ask > allow > tiered default.
# [permissions.rules]
# allow = [{ tool = "read_file", args = ".*" }]
# deny = [{ tool = "bash", args = "rm\\s+-rf" }]
# ask = [{ tool = "write_file", args = ".*secret.*" }]

# Hooks: run shell commands or builtins on agent events.
# [[hooks]]
# event = "PreToolUse"
# type = "subprocess"
# command = "echo '{\"decision\":\"allow\"}'"
# timeout_seconds = 10

# [[hooks]]
# event = "PostToolUse"
# type = "builtin"
# name = "duet"

CLI flags

-version              print version and exit
-yolo                 auto-approve all tool calls (DANGEROUS)
-read-only            block all write/edit/bash tools
-ask-all              prompt for every tool, ignoring allowlist
-no-duet              disable the Two-Model Duet (Pro Validator)
-model <id>           override main-loop model for this session
-effort <level>       override reasoning effort (low|medium|high|max)
-new                  force new session, even if a recent one exists
-c                    continue last session in cwd
-r <id>               resume session by ID
-p "prompt"           one-shot: send prompt to the model, print result, exit

Slash commands

Run inside the TUI:

/help        keymap + commands
/clear       clear scrollback
/quit        exit
/models      list / switch the main-loop model (also: /models <id>)
/effort      show / set DeepSeek reasoning effort (also: /effort <level>)
/tape        open the Reasoning Tape fullscreen view
/sessions    list this project's sessions, switch to one
/undo        revert the last edit step (also: /undo N)

Storage paths

Field reference

[api]

Field Type Default Description
key string "" API key; falls back to DEEPSEEK_API_KEY env var
base_url string "https://api.deepseek.com" API endpoint
user_id string "" Optional DeepSeek user_id for abuse monitoring / enterprise attribution
first_token_timeout_ms int 45000 Timeout for first token (reasoner cold start)
chunk_stall_timeout_ms int 20000 Timeout between streaming chunks

[defaults]

Field Type Default Description
model string "deepseek-v4-flash" Main-loop model
thinking bool true Enable reasoning/thinking mode
reasoning_effort string "max" DeepSeek reasoning effort: low, medium, high, max
theme string "dark" TUI theme
vim_keybindings bool true Enable Vim key bindings
auto_reasoning bool false Per-turn thinking selection based on message keywords (opt-in)

When auto_reasoning is enabled, the agent inspects the user’s most recent message each turn and decides whether to enable thinking:

Matching is case-insensitive for ASCII; CJK matched verbatim. High keywords take priority over low. Note: bug alone does NOT trigger high-effort (only debug / error and the CJK equivalents do).

[tools]

Field Type Default Description
max_read_bytes int64 5242880 (5 MiB) Max bytes for read_file
max_write_bytes int64 5242880 (5 MiB) Max bytes for write_file

[duet]

Field Type Default Description
enabled bool true Enable Two-Model Duet (Pro validator)
retry_on_failure bool true Retry on Pro validation failure
validator_timeout_ms int 10000 Pro validation timeout
extra_destructive_patterns []string [] Additional destructive command patterns

[permissions]

Field Type Default Description
allow_bash []string git/ls/pwd/cat etc. Bash auto-allow patterns
secret_path_patterns []string *.pem, *.key etc. Sensitive path patterns

[permissions.rules]

Each rule item has tool (glob pattern, e.g. *, read_*) and args (regex on JSON string).

List Decision Priority
allow Auto-allow Lowest
ask Prompt user Medium
deny Auto-deny Highest

[sessions]

Field Type Default Description
ttl_days int 90 Session retention days
snapshot_keep int 30 Snapshots to keep
auto_resume_age_hours int 24 Auto-resume window

[[hooks]]

Field Type Default Description
event string required PreToolUse / PostToolUse / PostToolUseFailure / SessionStart / SessionEnd
type string "subprocess" subprocess / builtin
command string — Shell command (subprocess type)
name string — Hook name (builtin type, e.g. duet)
timeout_seconds int 30 Hook timeout

[mcp_servers.<name>]

Field Type Default Description
command string required Command to start the MCP server
args []string [] Command arguments
env map {} Environment variables
timeout_seconds int 60 tools/call timeout

Validation rules

dsc runs ValidateStrict at startup. The following cause exit with error:

Managing agents

Agent definitions live in .deepseek/agent/*.md. The dsc agent subcommand suite manages them from the CLI:

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