Rebrand: DeepSeek TUI → Ghosty

August 28, 2026 · View on GitHub

Starting with v0.8.41, this project ships under a new name: ghosty.

This document explains what changed, what didn't, and how to migrate. None of the DeepSeek provider integration changed — only the local CLI / TUI brand.

TL;DR

# 1. Uninstall the old wrapper or binaries.
npm uninstall -g deepseek-tui      # or:
cargo uninstall deepseek-tui-cli 2>/dev/null || true
cargo uninstall deepseek-tui 2>/dev/null || true
                                    # Homebrew:
                                    # brew upgrade ghosty

# 2. Install under the new name.
npm install -g ghosty            # or:
cargo install ghosty-cli --locked
                                    # Homebrew:
                                    # brew tap blissito/ghostycode
                                    # brew install ghosty

# 3. Run with the new command.
ghosty doctor
ghosty

Your existing ~/.deepseek/config.toml, ~/.deepseek/sessions/, ~/.deepseek/skills/, ~/.deepseek/tasks/, and ~/.deepseek/mcp.json are not deleted. New Ghosty installs prefer ~/.ghosty/, and legacy ~/.deepseek/ state remains a read fallback while you migrate. Existing DEEPSEEK_* environment variables continue to work.

What got renamed

Surface	Before	After
Installed commands	`deepseek` / `deepseek-tui`	`ghosty` / `ghosty-tui`
npm wrapper package	`deepseek-tui`	`ghosty`
Crates.io crates	`deepseek-tui-cli` / `deepseek-tui` / `deepseek-*`	`ghosty-cli` / `ghosty-tui` / `ghosty-*`
Release assets	`deepseek-<platform>` / `deepseek-tui-<platform>`	`ghosty-<platform>` / `ghosty-tui-<platform>`; `ghosty-tui-<platform>` remains a compatibility-only filename
Checksum manifest	`deepseek-artifacts-sha256.txt`	`ghosty-artifacts-sha256.txt`

What changed for local state

New installs write product-owned state under ~/.ghosty/. Existing ~/.deepseek/ config, sessions, skills, tasks, MCP config, memory, and notes remain readable as legacy fallbacks while you migrate. Ghosty never deletes the legacy directory automatically.

What did NOT change

Anything that targets the DeepSeek provider API stays exactly as it was:

Environment variables: DEEPSEEK_API_KEY, DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL, DEEPSEEK_MODEL, DEEPSEEK_PROVIDER, DEEPSEEK_PROFILE, DEEPSEEK_YOLO, DEEPSEEK_LOG_LEVEL, plus the existing DEEPSEEK_TUI_* runtime knobs (DEEPSEEK_TUI_BIN, DEEPSEEK_TUI_RELEASE_BASE_URL, etc.). They're kept for backward compatibility; renaming them would break every shell rc on the planet.
Model IDs: deepseek-v4-pro, deepseek-v4-flash, and the legacy aliases deepseek-chat and deepseek-reasoner.
Hosts: api.deepseek.com (global). The legacy typo host api.deepseeki.com is not an official DeepSeek endpoint; it is only still accepted in URL heuristics for existing configs and is not offered as a fallback (#1079).
GitHub repository URL: https://github.com/blissito/ghostycode. The old Hmbown/DeepSeek-TUI URL redirects there during the transition.
Homebrew tap and formula: the formula is ghosty. The tap GitHub repo is still blissito/homebrew-ghosty until it is renamed; brew tap blissito/ghostycode && brew install ghosty is the current path. The legacy deepseek-tui formula remains a deprecated alias for one overlap release.
Docker image: ghcr.io/blissito/ghostycode.

Deprecation shims (removed in v0.9.0)

To keep existing shell aliases, scripts, and CI working through the rename, v0.8.41 and later v0.8.x releases shipped deprecation shims:

A deepseek binary that prints a one-line warning to stderr and forwards argv to ghosty.
A deepseek-tui binary that does the same for ghosty-tui.
The legacy deepseek-tui npm package is deprecated and no longer receives new releases. Install the ghosty npm package instead.

These binary shims are removed in v0.9.0. DeepSeek provider support, model IDs, DEEPSEEK_* environment variables, and legacy ~/.deepseek/ state fallbacks remain supported.

Migrating in practice

npm

npm uninstall -g deepseek-tui
npm install -g ghosty

Cargo

cargo uninstall deepseek-tui-cli 2>/dev/null || true
cargo uninstall deepseek-tui 2>/dev/null || true
cargo install ghosty-cli --locked

Or in a checkout:

cargo install --path crates/cli --locked --force

Cargo installs the canonical ghosty command. Release/npm/Homebrew installers also provide the byte-identical ghosty-tui short name; Cargo users can add an optional ghosty-tui symlink beside ghosty.

Legacy `deepseek update`

Current v0.8.x compatibility binaries recognize when they are running under a legacy deepseek or deepseek-tui filename. In that case, deepseek update or deepseek-tui update downloads the canonical Ghosty release assets and installs them beside the legacy binary as ghosty and ghosty-tui when the install directory is writable. That describes the historical v0.8 compatibility updater, not the current install surface; after upgrading, use ghosty or ghosty-tui.

If that update path cannot write to the install directory, use the npm, Cargo, Homebrew, or manual reinstall commands above. The legacy npm package deepseek-tui remains deprecated and is not republished; npm users should move to npm install -g ghosty.

Homebrew

Current published state (v0.9.10; workspace source candidate v0.9.11): The formula is ghosty. New installs:

brew tap blissito/ghostycode
brew install ghosty
brew upgrade ghosty

The tap GitHub repo is still blissito/homebrew-ghosty until it is renamed to blissito/homebrew-ghosty (then brew tap Hmbown/ghosty works; the old tap name keeps working through GitHub's redirect). The legacy deepseek-tui formula remains a deprecated alias for this overlap release so existing brew upgrade deepseek-tui crontabs keep working.

Remaining rollout:

Rename the tap repo to blissito/homebrew-ghosty when adding HOMEBREW_TAP_PAT, then tell Ghostybot.
After one more minor release, remove the deepseek-tui alias.

Manual / GitHub Releases

v0.8.41 through v0.8.x Releases attached the canonical ghosty-* / ghosty-tui-* assets (plus ghosty-tui-* from v0.8.66 onward) and compatibility-only deepseek-* / deepseek-tui-* shim assets. Starting in v0.9.0, Releases attach the current ghosty-* / ghosty-tui-* assets, the ghosty-artifacts-sha256.txt checksum manifest, and byte-identical ghosty-tui-* compatibility filenames required by legacy update clients. Those compatibility filenames are not a third installed command. Install or update through ghosty before moving to v0.9.0.

Sessions, skills, and manual workspaces

Renaming the binary does not require starting over:

Config: on first launch, Ghosty copies ~/.deepseek/config.toml to ~/.ghosty/config.toml if the Ghosty file does not already exist. It never overwrites a newer Ghosty config. You can inspect the active path with ghosty doctor.
Sessions and tasks: managed state is read from ~/.ghosty/... when present, with ~/.deepseek/... used as the legacy fallback when only the old directory exists. Existing saved sessions still appear in ghosty sessions and the TUI resume picker.
Skills: Ghosty discovers workspace skills first, then global skills, including both ~/.ghosty/skills and legacy ~/.deepseek/skills. Existing skill directories with SKILL.md do not need to be rewritten.
MCP config: the default path is ~/.ghosty/mcp.json. If that file is absent, Ghosty still reads legacy ~/.deepseek/mcp.json. To use a custom MCP config file, set mcp_config_path in config.toml or DEEPSEEK_MCP_CONFIG.
Manual binary installs: keep the two current command files together on your PATH: ghosty and ghosty-tui. On Windows, the recommended user-local location is %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\GhostyCode\bin. On Unix-like systems, any user-writable PATH directory is fine as long as both commands are present. Do not install a compatibility-only ghosty-tui-* release filename as a third command.
Specified work directories: running ghosty from a project directory, or launching it with a specific workspace path, does not move project files. Ghosty reads <workspace>/.ghosty/config.toml first and falls back to legacy <workspace>/.deepseek/config.toml when the new path is absent.

If both ~/.ghosty/... and ~/.deepseek/... copies exist, the Ghosty path wins. Keep the legacy directory until you have confirmed ghosty doctor, ghosty sessions, and your expected skills all show the same state.

If sessions appear missing after an upgrade

Run ghosty doctor before copying or deleting anything. Doctor compares top-level session JSON filenames and filesystem metadata only between ~/.deepseek/sessions/ and ~/.ghosty/sessions/. It does not read chat contents, traverse checkpoints/, or modify either directory. The JSON form exposes the same result at legacy_state.session_recovery.

If doctor lists recoverable filenames:

Back up both session directories (if present) and close other Ghosty processes.
Run ghosty sessions. This invokes the existing additive migration, which creates only missing destination files, never overwrites a file that already exists under ~/.ghosty/sessions/, skips checkpoint internals, and leaves every legacy original in place.
Rerun ghosty doctor, then confirm the sessions appear with ghosty sessions. If any filenames remain listed, keep both backups and report the listed source/destination filenames without sharing chat contents.

An explicit GHOSTY_HOME intentionally isolates that home and disables the ambient ~/.deepseek fallback. Doctor will not inspect the ambient legacy home in that mode. To diagnose the default home without changing the isolated one, use a separate shell with GHOSTY_HOME unset and rerun ghosty doctor.

Why the name change

Ghosty is a shorter, terminal-friendlier handle for the same terminal coding agent and the longer-term product direction: an agentic terminal for open source and open-weight coding models, with DeepSeek — the provider the project started with — remaining first-class alongside every other provider. The project name, command names, package names, release assets, Docker image, and CNB mirror move to Ghosty; the official DeepSeek provider, model IDs, env vars, and ~/.deepseek/ config surface remain first-class.

Reporting issues with the rename

If your install broke during the migration, please open an issue at https://github.com/blissito/ghostycode/issues and include:

The output of ghosty --version (or deepseek --version if you're still on the shim).
Which install path you used (npm, cargo, brew, manual).
The exact command you ran and the full error output.

We'll prioritize migration regressions.