DSCODE Open source

What it does

DSCODE is a terminal-based AI coding agent built on top of DeepSeek Harness and DSH-Code. Like Claude Code or Codex, it reads your repository, edits files, runs commands and tests, and loops until a task is done, but it is built specifically around DeepSeek models (with OpenRouter and OpenCode Go as alternative providers). Its distinguishing feature is a persistent shell session that multiple terminals can attach to, plus agent-to-agent messaging so parent and child agents can delegate work, check in on each other, and merge results without duplicating context.

What is inside

• A persistent shell that keeps working directory, environment variables and background jobs alive across interactions
• Session bridging (sessions, send, read, watch) so several terminals share one live run
• /delegate to fan work out to child agents in isolated git worktrees (up to 20 at the highest tier), with an independent read-only model reviewing every diff before it is accepted
• Cron-like triggers for event-driven or scheduled runs, plus a non-interactive dscode exec mode for CI
• A six-language terminal UI with cost, token and cache metrics in the footer

Works with

DSCODE loads Agent Skills from .agents/skills and .dsh/skills, reads AGENTS.md files, supports MCP servers (including Chrome DevTools MCP) via config/mcp.local.yml, ships a plugin hub, and supports hooks via config/hooks.local.json. It does not document rules-file support.

How to install

npm install -g @toddzheng024/dscode
cd /path/to/project
dscode

Homebrew and a one-line curl installer are also documented in the README.

Maintenance and safety

MIT-licensed, actively released (v0.7.32 at review time, ~509 stars), with a default workspace-write sandbox and human permission review unless you opt into Auto or Ultra modes. It is explicitly "an independent community project, not an official DeepSeek product," and is macOS 14+ only, requiring Node 22.19+/24+, npm, Git and Chrome.

Who should use it

Developer on macOS who already has a DeepSeek or OpenRouter API key and wants a Claude-Code-style terminal agent with built-in multi-agent delegation, rather than a single-threaded assistant.