deepcode-modes

⚠️ Archived. This fork was an experiment that has concluded. Substantive contributions are being offered upstream:

• PR #57: systemPromptFile config key
• PR #56: English translations of docs

See upstream at https://github.com/lessweb/deepcode-cli

A fork of Deep Code CLI that adds system-prompt replacement and a behavioral tuning layer modeled on claude-code-modes.

Deep Code is a terminal AI coding assistant optimized for the deepseek-v4 model family, with support for deep thinking, reasoning effort control, and Agent Skills. This fork preserves all of those capabilities and adds the ability to replace the system prompt — letting you control how Deep Code behaves on a per-task basis the way Claude Code Modes does for Claude Code.

Status

Archived. The fork's substantive work (systemPromptFile feature, English doc translations) is being offered upstream as separate pull requests. No further development is planned on this fork.

Installation

npm install -g @vegamo/deepcode-cli

(Installation will switch to the fork's own npm package once the new features are implemented and the package is published. For now, install upstream and treat this repo as the source-of-truth for ongoing fork work.)

Run deepcode inside any project directory to start.

Configuration

Create ~/.deepcode/settings.json:

{
  "env": {
    "MODEL": "deepseek-v4-pro",
    "BASE_URL": "https://api.deepseek.com",
    "API_KEY": "sk-..."
  },
  "thinkingEnabled": true,
  "reasoningEffort": "max"
}

The configuration file is shared with the Deep Code VSCode extension — configure once, use everywhere.

See docs/configuration.md for the full configuration reference, and docs/mcp.md for MCP server setup.

Key Features

Skills

Deep Code supports agent skills:

• User-level Skills: discovered and activated from ~/.agents/skills/.
• Project-level Skills: loaded from ./.agents/skills/ for project-specific workflows, with legacy ./.deepcode/skills/ compatibility.

MCP Support

Deep Code can connect to external services (GitHub, browsers, file systems, databases) via the Model Context Protocol. See docs/mcp.md for setup details.

Optimized for DeepSeek

• Specifically tuned for DeepSeek model performance.
• Reduces costs by using Context Caching.
• Natively supports Thinking Mode and Thinking Effort Control.

What This Fork Added

These features were implemented during the fork's active development cycle and are now offered upstream:

System-prompt replacement

A mechanism for replacing Deep Code's base system prompt with operator- provided content via a systemPromptFile config key. The base prompt is otherwise additive-only — AGENTS.md content and matched skills append after it. This fork made the base prompt configurable via a file path.

Modes-style behavioral tuning (planned, not implemented)

A CLI wrapper (deepcode-mode) that would assemble system prompts from behavioral axis fragments (agency / quality / scope) and modifiers, modeled on claude-code-modes. This feature was designed but not implemented before the fork concluded.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
Enter	Send the prompt
Shift+Enter	Insert a newline (also Ctrl+J)
Ctrl+V	Paste an image from the clipboard
Esc	Interrupt the current model turn
/	Open the skills / commands menu
/new	Start a fresh conversation
/resume	Choose a previous conversation to continue
/skills	List available skills
/mcp	Manage MCP server connections
/exit	Quit Deep Code
Ctrl+D twice	Quit Deep Code

Supported Models

• deepseek-v4-pro (recommended)
• deepseek-v4-flash
• Any other OpenAI-compatible model

Relationship to Upstream

This fork was based on lessweb/deepcode-cli and tracked it for the core Deep Code CLI functionality. Fork-specific work (systemPromptFile config key, English doc translations) has been offered upstream as pull requests.

If you're looking for the canonical Deep Code CLI, use upstream directly.

FAQ

Does Deep Code have a VSCode extension?

Yes. Deep Code has a VSCode extension that shares the ~/.deepcode/settings.json configuration file with the CLI. This fork is not currently being developed to be compatible with the extension — the fork-specific features target the CLI only.

Does Deep Code support understanding images?

Deep Code supports multimodal input — you can paste images from the clipboard with Ctrl+V. However, deepseek-v4 does not currently support multimodal. For multimodal input, the Volcano Ark Doubao-Seed-2.0-pro model is recommended.

How do I send a Slack message when a task completes?

Write a shell notification script that calls a Slack webhook, then set the notify field in ~/.deepcode/settings.json to the full path of the script. See docs/configuration.md for details.

How do I enable web search?

Deep Code includes a built-in web search tool that works for most use cases. To use a custom script instead, set the webSearchTool field in ~/.deepcode/settings.json to the full path of your script.

Does it support coding plans (third-party model providers)?

Yes. Set env.BASE_URL in ~/.deepcode/settings.json to any OpenAI-compatible API endpoint. See docs/configuration.md for examples.

How do I configure MCP?

See docs/mcp.md for full MCP setup instructions.

Contributing

This fork is archived and no longer accepting contributions. The substantive work has been offered upstream.

For issues with the underlying Deep Code CLI, please file them with upstream: https://github.com/lessweb/deepcode-cli/issues

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Acknowledgments

• Deep Code CLI by lessweb — the upstream project this fork builds on.
• claude-code-modes by nklisch — the behavioral tuning model this fork's planned features draw from directly.