A VS Code extension that lets you seamlessly switch between Anthropic Claude and Deepseek AI models inside Claude Code — directly from your status bar.

Features

One-click model switching — click the status bar button to open a model picker
Visual theme indicator — status bar turns 🟠 orange for Claude and 🟣 purple for Deepseek so you always know which model is active
Secure API key storage — your Deepseek API key is stored in VS Code's built-in secret store, never in plaintext
Automatic terminal reload — all terminals are recycled after a switch so the new environment variables take effect immediately
Keyboard shortcut — Cmd+Alt+M (Mac) / Ctrl+Alt+M (Windows/Linux)

Requirements

Claude Code CLI installed and available in your PATH
A Deepseek API key (only required when switching to Deepseek)

Getting Started

Install the extension from the VS Code Marketplace
Look for the ✦ Claude button in your status bar (bottom right by default)
Click it and select a model from the dropdown
If switching to Deepseek for the first time, you will be prompted to enter your Deepseek API key

How It Works

When you switch to Deepseek, the extension injects the following environment variables into every new VS Code integrated terminal:

Variable	Value
`ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL`	`https://api.deepseek.com/anthropic`
`ANTHROPIC_MODEL`	`deepseek-v4-pro[1m]`
`ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL`	`deepseek-v4-pro[1m]`
`ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL`	`deepseek-v4-pro[1m]`
`ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL`	`deepseek-v4-flash`
`CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_MODEL`	`deepseek-v4-flash`
`CLAUDE_CODE_EFFORT_LEVEL`	`max`
`ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN`	(your Deepseek API key)

When you switch back to Claude, all of those variables are removed so Claude Code uses its default Anthropic configuration.

Commands

Command	Keyboard Shortcut	Description
`Claude Deepseek Switcher: Switch Model`	`Cmd+Alt+M` / `Ctrl+Alt+M`	Open the model picker
`Claude Deepseek Switcher: Reset Deepseek API Key`	—	Delete the stored key and enter a new one

Extension Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`claudeDeepseekSwitcher.currentModel`	`claude`	The currently active model (`claude` or `deepseek`)
`claudeDeepseekSwitcher.claudeModel`	`claude-sonnet-4-6`	Claude model variant label
`claudeDeepseekSwitcher.deepseekModel`	`deepseek-chat`	Deepseek model variant label
`claudeDeepseekSwitcher.statusBarAlignment`	`right`	Position of the status bar button (`left` or `right`)

Development

Press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host and test the extension locally.

Privacy & Security

Your Deepseek API key is stored using VS Code's SecretStorage API and is never written to disk in plaintext
No telemetry or analytics of any kind are collected