DeepSeek has announced that the model names deepseek-chat and deepseek-reasoner will be deprecated on July 24, 2026, at 15:59 UTC. The company advises users to migrate to the unified deepseek-v4-flash model, which supports both non-thinking and thinking modes corresponding to the old names.
The DeepSeek API remains compatible with OpenAI and Anthropic API formats, allowing users to leverage existing SDKs and tools. Popular AI agent and coding assistant tools such as Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, and OpenCode can directly use DeepSeek as a backend model without additional code changes.
Users can continue to access the DeepSeek model via the OpenAI API format with example scripts provided in the documentation. For those preferring the Anthropic API format, separate examples are available. The deprecation aims to simplify model offerings and improve consistency across the platform.