Full DeepSeek Setup (First Choice in Mainland China)

Step-by-step, screenshot-guided | Written for academic users with no technical background | The recommended path for users in mainland China

If you're in mainland China, or you prefer pay-as-you-go billing where you only spend what you top up, this guide is for you. It walks you all the way from signing up at DeepSeek, topping up, and creating an API key, to getting DeepSeek running inside Scholardo — with a screenshot for every screen.

Why mainland users go with DeepSeek: Mainland Chinese phone numbers and bank cards generally can't sign up or pay for Claude or ChatGPT subscriptions. DeepSeek accepts a domestic phone number for sign-up and common domestic payment methods for top-up, making it the most hassle-free option. For the full reasoning, see P0-2 "Which AI Should I Choose?".

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Prerequisites

• A Mac with Scholardo installed (if you haven't installed it yet, start with Step 1 of P0-1).
• A phone number that can receive verification codes (used to register on the DeepSeek open platform).
• A small budget for your first top-up (a small amount is enough to start; prices as shown on platform.deepseek.com's current page).

One important thing to understand: In Scholardo, third-party models like DeepSeek run on top of Claude Code — Claude Code acts as the "carrier" here. You don't need to buy a Claude subscription for this; what gets installed is just the runtime shell.

⚠️ Must-read for users in mainland China (the carrier-install catch): Scholardo's one-click Install in the chooser runs the official installer from claude.ai, and claude.ai is not directly reachable in mainland China — so that Install button can't install the carrier there.

Instead, install Claude Code manually with npm first (via a domestic mirror): follow only "Step 1: Install Node and Claude Code" in Claude Code in Mainland China. You don't need that guide's later env-var steps — on the app-config route here, Scholardo points the endpoint at DeepSeek for you. Once the carrier is installed, come back and do Steps 4–6 below.

The good news: there's no wall at runtime — once the carrier is in, DeepSeek runs over a China-reachable endpoint, no VPN needed.

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Part 1 · Get an API key from the DeepSeek open platform

Step 1 · Sign up

1. Open platform.deepseek.com in your browser.
2. Register with your phone number and log in.

Step 2 · Top up

1. Go to the platform's top-up / balance page.
2. A small amount is enough (it will last you a few days of trying things out). Prices and billing rules are as shown on platform.deepseek.com's current page.

💡 We suggest starting with a small top-up. After a few days, check the platform's usage page to see your actual spend, then decide whether to add more.

Step 3 · Create an API key and copy it immediately

1. Go to the platform's API keys page and click to create a new key.
2. The platform generates a string starting with sk- — that's your API key.

⚠️ The most important callout: This key is shown in full only once. Click copy immediately and store it somewhere safe (paste it into a note first, for example). Once you close this dialog, the platform will never show you the full key again — if you lose it, your only option is to create a new one.

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Part 2 · Configure DeepSeek in Scholardo

Open Scholardo and go to Settings ▸ AI Agent.

📌 Important change: The key and the service now both live in this single AI Agent tab — AI API and Agent have been merged into one tab, so you no longer have to hunt back and forth across multiple pages.

Step 4 · Add DeepSeek in the AI providers section and paste your key

1. In the AI Agent tab, find the AI providers section.
2. Click that section's + and pick DeepSeek from the dropdown (if it's not in the list, choose Add custom provider to define one yourself).
3. Paste the sk- API key you just copied into DeepSeek's key field.

The section's footnote reads: "Keys live in the AI providers section below and are stored only in your Keychain." — meaning your key is stored only in your Mac's local Keychain and is never uploaded.

Step 5 · Enable DeepSeek in the CLI agents · Third-party section

1. In the same AI Agent tab, scroll down to the CLI agents · Third-party section.
2. Click that section's +. Because you already filled in the key in the previous step, DeepSeek is now ready here (if the key is still missing, it shows DeepSeek (needs API key) to remind you to add the key first).
3. Select DeepSeek to add it to the third-party agent list.

🎯 One sentence to remember these two steps: the AI providers section holds the key; the CLI agents · Third-party section turns it into an agent you can run in the terminal. Both sections live in the same AI Agent tab.

Step 6 · Back to your project: open a new session and launch DeepSeek

1. Close Settings and return to your project.
2. In the terminal area of the right sidebar, start a new session (switching agents means starting a new session).
3. The "Choose an agent" card appears — and this time you'll see a DeepSeek row in it.
4. Click the DeepSeek row to launch.
   • If the row shows "Needs Claude Code installed" with an Install button: the Claude Code carrier isn't installed yet. On an overseas network, click Install and it installs automatically (scrolling output is normal; it returns on its own). In mainland China, this Install fails (claude.ai is blocked) — follow "Must-read for users in mainland China" above to install the carrier via npm first, after which this row turns ready on its own.
   • When ready, the row shows a summary like deepseek-v4-pro · Claude Code (model name · carrier). Click it to launch.
5. Once launched, an empty input box appears at the bottom of the terminal. Type your first academic question, for example:

Summarize the PDF in sources

Press Return, and the AI's answer streams out line by line. 🎉

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Shot list

General rule for captures: vendor UI (DeepSeek open platform's sign-up / top-up / API key pages) must be captured as-is — do not fabricate or redraw, and do not annotate specific price figures. Capture the Scholardo UI from the current release, using the merged single AI Agent tab. In any key screenshot, redact the key — never expose a real one.

#	What to capture	UI source	Key callout / annotation
1	platform.deepseek.com sign-up / login page	Vendor UI (DeepSeek, captured as-is)	Circle the phone-number sign-up entry
2	Top-up / balance page	Vendor UI (DeepSeek, captured as-is)	Caption: "prices as shown on the official site's current page; start with a small top-up"
3	Create-API-key dialog, sk- key + copy button	Vendor UI (DeepSeek, captured as-is, redact the key)	🔴 Circle in red: "shown only once — copy immediately"
4	Scholardo Settings ▸ AI Agent tab overview, with both the AI providers and CLI agents · Third-party sections visible	Scholardo (merged single tab)	Circle that this is one and the same tab; caption: "key and service both live here"
5	AI providers section: click + → pick DeepSeek → the paste-key field	Scholardo	Circle the + and the key field; quote the footnote "stored only in your Keychain"
6	CLI agents · Third-party section: click +, DeepSeek ready (contrast: shows needs API key when no key is set)	Scholardo	Circle: "once the key is in, this lights up"
7	Back in the project, new session, DeepSeek row appears in the "Choose an agent" card	Scholardo	Circle the DeepSeek row
8	The DeepSeek row's two states: Needs Claude Code installed + Install; ready as deepseek-… · Claude Code	Scholardo	Side note: "the carrier auto-installs on first launch; returns on its own when done"
9	After launch, type Summarize the PDF in sources in the bottom input box; the answer streams out	Scholardo	Caption: "your first AI conversation"

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Key callouts at a glance

1. 🔴 The API key is shown only once: copy and save it immediately after creating it; if lost, you can only create a new one.
2. Key and service live in the same AI Agent tab: AI providers holds the key; CLI agents · Third-party turns it into a runnable agent.
3. DeepSeek runs on top of Claude Code: the carrier auto-installs on first launch — no Claude subscription needed.
4. The key is stored only in your local Keychain: never uploaded (backed by the footnote's own wording).

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Common pitfalls (see the full P0-6 Install & Login FAQ)

• The terminal says there's no usable DeepSeek config (verbatim: ⚠️ No DeepSeek config yet. Add it with your API key in Settings ▸ AI Agent, then relaunch.) → The key isn't set up correctly. Go back to Settings ▸ AI Agent ▸ AI providers, confirm DeepSeek's key is filled in, then start a fresh session and launch again.
• The terminal says the key can't be read from the Keychain (verbatim: ⚠️ Couldn't read the DeepSeek key from the Keychain. Re-save it in Settings ▸ AI Agent.) → Return to the same section and paste and save the key once more.
• The DeepSeek row keeps showing Needs Claude Code installed: click Install and let it finish installing the carrier (the first install needs network access to claude.ai to download the Claude Code install script).
• You closed the key dialog and forgot to copy: go back to the DeepSeek platform's API keys page, delete the old key and create a new one, then redo Step 4.

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Data privacy disclosure

When you ask the AI in Scholardo to read, summarize, or polish your PDFs, notes, or drafts, your manuscript content is sent to your chosen AI provider (DeepSeek) for processing. In this guide's setup, the relevant text is transmitted over the network to DeepSeek's servers and handled under DeepSeek's own privacy policy. Your API key is stored only in your Mac's local Keychain and is never uploaded; but how the manuscript content you send is handled is governed by DeepSeek's own privacy policy — we recommend reading the privacy terms on their official site before use. If your research materials involve unpublished data, participant privacy, or confidentiality agreements, confirm first that sending them to a third-party AI service complies with your institution's requirements.