Deep Code Configuration

Configuration Hierarchy

Configuration is applied in the following priority order (lower-numbered sources are overridden by higher-numbered ones):

Settings File

Deep Code uses the settings.json file for persistent configuration, supporting two storage locations:

Available Settings in settings.json

The following are all the top-level fields supported in settings.json, along with the sub-fields inside env:

env Sub-fields

thinkingEnabled — Thinking Mode

Whether to enable DeepSeek thinking mode. Set to true to enable, false to disable.

• For deepseek-v4-pro and deepseek-v4-flash, thinking mode is enabled by default.
• For other models, thinking mode is disabled by default.

reasoningEffort — Reasoning Intensity

When thinking mode is enabled, controls the depth of the model's reasoning:

notify — Task Completion Notification

Set a full path to a shell script. When the AI assistant finishes a round of tasks, the script is executed automatically, which can be used to send notifications (e.g., a Slack message).

The following context is injected as environment variables when the notify script runs:

{
  "notify": "/path/to/notify-script.sh"
}

For detailed configuration examples (Slack, Feishu, terminal notifications, system notifications, etc.), see notify_en.md.

webSearchTool — Custom Web Search

Deep Code has a built-in, free-to-use Web Search tool. If you need custom search logic, set webSearchTool to the full path of an executable script:

{
  "webSearchTool": "/path/to/my-search-script.sh"
}

The script receives a search query as an argument and outputs results in JSON format for the AI.

enabledSkills — Skill Enablement

Controls whether skills are included during skill scanning. Keys are resolved skill names, and values must be booleans:

{
  "enabledSkills": {
    "skill-writer": false,
    "code-review": true
  }
}

• Missing entries are enabled by default.
• Setting a skill to false hides every skill with that resolved name, across project and user skill roots.
• Project settings override user settings per skill. If the project setting omits a skill, the user setting is used.

mcpServers — MCP Servers

Configuration for MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers. The value is a key-value pair, where the key is the service name and the value is a server configuration object.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "<service name>": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

When command is npx, Deep Code automatically prepends -y to the arguments.

For detailed MCP usage instructions, refer to mcp.md.

debugLogEnabled — Debug Log

Set to true to enable detailed debug logging (default false), useful for troubleshooting API calls and tool execution.

telemetryEnabled — Anonymous Usage Reporting

Set to false to disable anonymous usage reporting (default true). The report only includes an anonymous machine identifier and does not contain conversation content, code, or API keys.

You can also disable it via environment variable:

DEEPCODE_TELEMETRY_ENABLED=0 deepcode

Environment Variable Priority

Environment variables are a common way to configure applications, especially for sensitive information (such as api-key) or settings that may change between environments.

Priority Principle

Environment variable priority follows the logic of "the more specific and localized the configuration, the higher the priority", and the override rule of "env files protect existing environment by default, system variables override env files". (The env object in settings.json can be thought of as a type of env file.)

Priority levels (from lowest to highest):

1. env defined at the top level of settings.json – this is a general configuration for the entire tool and all its subprocesses (global variables). Can be overridden by outer environment variables, but the environment variable KEY has the DEEPCODE_ prefix removed.
2. env defined inside mcpServers in settings.json – this is the most specific configuration for a particular MCP service (local variables). Can be overridden by outer environment variables, but the KEY has the MCP_ prefix removed.
3. Shell/system environment variables – operating system level.

Scenarios

1. Setting the model's api_key and base_url

Applied in the following priority order (lower-numbered sources are overridden by higher-numbered ones) – using api_key as an example:

1. Hardcoded default: ""
2. User-level settings.json: {"env": {"API_KEY": "abc123"}}
3. Project-level settings.json: {"env": {"API_KEY": "abc123"}}
4. System environment variable: DEEPCODE_API_KEY=abc123 deepcode

2. Setting model, thinkingEnabled, and reasoningEffort

Applied in the following priority order (lower-numbered overridden by higher-numbered) – using thinkingEnabled as an example:

1. Hardcoded default: true
2. User-level settings.json: {"env": {"THINKING_ENABLED": "true"}}
3. User-level settings.json: {"thinkingEnabled": true}
4. Project-level settings.json: {"env": {"THINKING_ENABLED": "true"}}
5. Project-level settings.json: {"thinkingEnabled": true}
6. System environment variable: DEEPCODE_THINKING_ENABLED=true deepcode

3. Setting environment variables for external scripts like notify and webSearchTool

Applied in the following priority order (lower-numbered overridden by higher-numbered) – using notify as an example:

1. Hardcoded default: os.environ.get('WEBHOOK', '...') # notify script code
2. User-level settings.json: {"env": {"WEBHOOK": "..."}}
3. Project-level settings.json: {"env": {"WEBHOOK": "true"}}
4. System environment variable: DEEPCODE_WEBHOOK=... deepcode

4. Setting environment variables for an MCP Service

Applied in the following priority order (lower-numbered overridden by higher-numbered) – using a GitHub MCP server as an example:

1. User-level settings.json: {"mcpServers":{"github":{"env":{"GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN":"..."}}}}
2. User-level settings.json: {"env": {"MCP_GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "..."}}
3. Project-level settings.json: {"mcpServers":{"github":{"env":{"GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN":"..."}}}}
4. Project-level settings.json: {"env": {"MCP_GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "..."}}
5. System environment variable: DEEPCODE_MCP_GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=... deepcode