After experiencing limitations with Gemini CLI’s reduced free tier and frequent API errors, I discovered how to configure Claude Code with DeepSeek v3.1. This setup provides an excellent AI coding experience at a fraction of the cost, though with some trade-offs in context length.
DeepSeek-V3: 671B open-source model matches GPT-4o performance at 3x speed. Complete analysis of capabilities and AI development implications.
DeepSeek’s disk caching slashes LLM API costs 90% while boosting response times. Game-changing innovation for developers using AI APIs regularly.
This article provides a complete guide to setting up and configuring VS Code to use the local DeepSeek Coder V2 model via Ollama, including installation, configuration, and optimization tips.