Integrate DeepSeek with LibreChat Guide

Integrate DeepSeek with LibreChat Guide | Generated by AI

Home 2025.09

Here’s the fastest way to get DeepSeek working in LibreChat. I’ll show two options—use the official DeepSeek API (recommended), or go through OpenRouter.

Option A — Use DeepSeek’s official API (recommended)

Get a DeepSeek API key Create one in your DeepSeek account, then note the base URL: https://api.deepseek.com (or OpenAI-compatible https://api.deepseek.com/v1). (DeepSeek API Docs, deepseek.apidog.io)
Add a DeepSeek endpoint in librechat.yaml Put this under endpoints: → custom::

- name: deepseek
  apiKey: ${DEEPSEEK_API_KEY}
  baseURL: https://api.deepseek.com/v1
  models:
    default: deepseek-chat
    fetch: true
    list:
      - deepseek-chat        # V3 (general)
      - deepseek-coder       # code-centric
      - deepseek-reasoner    # R1 reasoning
  titleConvo: true
  dropParams: null

LibreChat ships a DeepSeek config guide and confirms model names (deepseek-chat, deepseek-coder, deepseek-reasoner) and notes about R1 streaming its “thought process.” (LibreChat)

Expose the API key via .env In your LibreChat .env file:

DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=sk-...

LibreChat supports custom OpenAI-compatible providers via librechat.yaml + .env. (LibreChat)

Restart your stack From your LibreChat folder:

docker compose down
docker compose up -d --build

(Needed so the API container reloads librechat.yaml and .env.) If your custom endpoints don’t appear, check the api container logs for config errors. (GitHub)

Option B — Use DeepSeek via OpenRouter

If you already use OpenRouter, just register the DeepSeek models in an OpenRouter endpoint block.

librechat.yaml:

- name: openrouter
  apiKey: ${OPENROUTER_KEY}
  baseURL: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
  models:
    default: deepseek/deepseek-chat
    list:
      - deepseek/deepseek-chat
      - deepseek/deepseek-coder
      - deepseek/deepseek-reasoner

Two important notes from LibreChat docs: • Don’t set OPENROUTER_API_KEY env var name (use a different name like OPENROUTER_KEY) or you’ll accidentally override the OpenAI endpoint. • OpenRouter is first-class in LibreChat’s custom endpoints list. (LibreChat)

OpenRouter exposes DeepSeek models with an OpenAI-compatible surface. (OpenRouter)

Tips & gotchas

R1 / deepseek-reasoner: It can stream its chain-of-thought (“thought process”). Some OpenAI parameters may not apply. If you see odd output, test with deepseek-chat first. (LibreChat)
Model fetching: Setting fetch: true lets LibreChat pull the latest model list when supported; otherwise the list: you specify is used. (LibreChat)
Where these settings live: librechat.yaml is the custom endpoints file; .env carries keys and proxy settings. (LibreChat)

If you want, paste your current librechat.yaml and I’ll patch it to add DeepSeek cleanly (no tables, I promise).

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