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DeepSeek’s models — particularly the R1 reasoner — are state-of-the-art on math, code, and multi-step reasoning at a fraction of the cost of comparable frontier models.

Installation

Environment Setup

Get an API key at platform.deepseek.com.

Quick Start

Every DeepSeek model uses the deepseek/ prefix:

Model Names

DeepSeek Chat — The Cheap Workhorse

For day-to-day agents where cost matters:

DeepSeek Reasoner (R1) — Hard Reasoning

R1 is purpose-built for chain-of-thought reasoning. It’s slower than DeepSeek Chat but punches well above its price class on math, code, and planning tasks:
R1 is particularly strong on:
  • Mathematical proofs and derivations
  • Code refactoring and bug-finding across multiple files
  • Multi-step planning where each step constrains the next
  • Logic puzzles and constraint satisfaction

Autonomous Loops with R1

R1 excels in autonomous loops where each iteration builds on the last:

Streaming

Multi-Model Pipelines

A common pattern: use cheap DeepSeek Chat for I/O and the expensive R1 only when reasoning is needed:

Production Defaults

Next Steps