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Vanessa Massey
Vanessa Massey

Posted on Originally published at teamorouter.com

The Ultimate Guide to Connecting DeepSeek Harness to TeamoRouter

#deepseek #ai #agents #api

DeepSeek Harness (dsh) sends model requests to DeepSeek's official API by default. But the model backend is just a seam — point it anywhere with two env vars.

What is DeepSeek Harness (dsh)?

dsh is DeepSeek AI's open-source agent harness — the framework that turns a model into a worker. Built on an "everything is a plugin" architecture, powered by the Cordis runtime, MIT-licensed, in developer preview. Run it with npx @deepseek-ai/dsh web and you get a Web UI at 127.0.0.1:3080. Its model backend defaults to DeepSeek's official API, but that's swappable.

What is TeamoRouter?

TeamoRouter is an OpenAI-compatible API gateway that exposes the DeepSeek V4 family — and much more — behind one key. Its free tier gives 200 requests/day per model with no card; paid tiers are flat-priced. Pointing dsh at it gets you a proxy-free, quota-free way to run agents.

The two-line swap 

export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="sk-teamo-your-key"
export DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL="https://api.teamorouter.com/v1"
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Optionally set the default model:

export DEEPSEEK_DEFAULT_MODEL="deepseek-v4-pro-free"
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Restart dsh and it runs on the new endpoint. That's the whole change.

The three env vars that matter

Variable Purpose Example
DEEPSEEK_API_KEY Auth key sk-teamo-xxxxxx
DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL Model endpoint https://api.teamorouter.com/v1
DEEPSEEK_DEFAULT_MODEL Default model ID deepseek-v4-pro-free
  • DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL is the critical line — it routes every model request through the OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Keep the /v1.
  • DEEPSEEK_API_KEY starts with sk-teamo-. Never hardcode it in the repo — use env vars or .env.
  • DEEPSEEK_DEFAULT_MODEL is only a default; the Web UI's model picker switches per session.

Why point dsh at TeamoRouter

  1. Proxy-free access — direct connections to the official API often time out from some regions.
  2. Free tier — deepseek-v4-pro-free / deepseek-v4-flash-free give 200 requests/day each, no card.
  3. One key, many models — switch between DeepSeek, Claude, GPT, and Gemini without registering each platform.
  4. Flat pricing — paid deepseek-v4-pro is $1.74/$3.48 flat, no peak/off-peak windows.

Verify it works 

npx @deepseek-ai/dsh web
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Open http://127.0.0.1:3080, start a session, and ask:

Introduce yourself in one sentence and tell me your current model ID.
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If the reply mentions deepseek-v4-pro-free (or your chosen model), routing works.

Quick troubleshooting

  • 404 / connection failed → DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL is missing /v1.
  • 401 → key not applied or copied incompletely; echo $DEEPSEEK_API_KEY, confirm sk-teamo- and no whitespace.
  • Free → paid → change deepseek-v4-pro-free to deepseek-v4-pro. One-word migration, no account limit.

Point dsh at the free tier → Register TeamoRouter

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