DeepSeek-TUI/docs/REBRAND.md

Rebrand: DeepSeek TUI → Codewhale

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

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 codewhale

# 2. Install under the new name.
npm install -g codewhale            # or:
cargo install codewhale-cli --locked
cargo install codewhale-tui --locked
                                    # Homebrew:
                                    # brew tap Hmbown/deepseek-tui
                                    # brew install codewhale

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

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

What got renamed

Surface	Before	After
CLI dispatcher binary	deepseek	codewhale
TUI runtime binary	deepseek-tui	codewhale-tui
npm wrapper package	deepseek-tui	codewhale
Crates.io crates	deepseek-tui-cli / deepseek-tui / deepseek-*	codewhale-cli / codewhale-tui / codewhale-*
Release assets	deepseek-<platform> / deepseek-tui-<platform>	codewhale-<platform> / codew-<platform> / codewhale-tui-<platform>
Checksum manifest	deepseek-artifacts-sha256.txt	codewhale-artifacts-sha256.txt

What changed for local state

New installs write product-owned state under ~/.codewhale/. Existing ~/.deepseek/ config, sessions, skills, tasks, MCP config, memory, and notes remain readable as legacy fallbacks while you migrate. Codewhale 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) and api.deepseeki.com (China fallback).
• GitHub repository URL: https://github.com/Hmbown/CodeWhale. The old Hmbown/DeepSeek-TUI URL redirects there during the transition.
• Homebrew tap and formula: the formula is codewhale. The tap GitHub repo is still Hmbown/homebrew-deepseek-tui until it is renamed; brew tap Hmbown/deepseek-tui && brew install codewhale is the current path. The legacy deepseek-tui formula remains a deprecated alias for one overlap release.
• Docker image: ghcr.io/hmbown/codewhale.

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 codewhale.
• A deepseek-tui binary that does the same for codewhale-tui.
• The legacy deepseek-tui npm package is deprecated and no longer receives new releases. Install the codewhale 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 codewhale

Cargo

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

Or in a checkout:

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

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 Codewhale release assets and installs them beside the legacy binary as codewhale and codewhale-tui when the install directory is writable.

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 codewhale.

Homebrew

Current state (v0.9.8): The formula is codewhale. New installs:

brew tap Hmbown/deepseek-tui
brew install codewhale
brew upgrade codewhale

The tap GitHub repo is still Hmbown/homebrew-deepseek-tui until it is renamed to Hmbown/homebrew-codewhale (then brew tap Hmbown/codewhale 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:

1. Rename the tap repo to Hmbown/homebrew-codewhale when adding HOMEBREW_TAP_PAT, then tell Codewhalebot.
2. After one more minor release, remove the deepseek-tui alias.

Manual / GitHub Releases

v0.8.41 through v0.8.x Releases attached the canonical codewhale-* / codewhale-tui-* assets (plus codew-* from v0.8.66 onward) and compatibility-only deepseek-* / deepseek-tui-* shim assets. Starting in v0.9.0, Releases attach only the canonical codewhale-* / codew-* / codewhale-tui-* assets and the codewhale-artifacts-sha256.txt checksum manifest. Install or update through codewhale before moving to v0.9.0.

Sessions, skills, and manual workspaces

Renaming the binary does not require starting over:

• Config: on first launch, Codewhale copies ~/.deepseek/config.toml to ~/.codewhale/config.toml if the Codewhale file does not already exist. It never overwrites a newer Codewhale config. You can inspect the active path with codewhale doctor.
• Sessions and tasks: managed state is read from ~/.codewhale/... when present, with ~/.deepseek/... used as the legacy fallback when only the old directory exists. Existing saved sessions still appear in codewhale sessions and the TUI resume picker.
• Skills: Codewhale discovers workspace skills first, then global skills, including both ~/.codewhale/skills and legacy ~/.deepseek/skills. Existing skill directories with SKILL.md do not need to be rewritten.
• MCP config: the default path is ~/.codewhale/mcp.json. If that file is absent, Codewhale 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 dispatcher and TUI binaries as siblings on your PATH: codewhale, codew, and codewhale-tui. On Windows, the recommended user-local location is %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\CodeWhale\bin. On Unix-like systems, any user-writable PATH directory is fine as long as all three binaries are present.
• Specified work directories: running codewhale from a project directory, or launching it with a specific workspace path, does not move project files. Codewhale reads <workspace>/.codewhale/config.toml first and falls back to legacy <workspace>/.deepseek/config.toml when the new path is absent.

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

If sessions appear missing after an upgrade

Run codewhale doctor before copying or deleting anything. Doctor compares top-level session JSON filenames and filesystem metadata only between ~/.deepseek/sessions/ and ~/.codewhale/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:

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

An explicit CODEWHALE_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 CODEWHALE_HOME unset and rerun codewhale doctor.

Why the name change

Codewhale 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 Codewhale; 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/Hmbown/CodeWhale/issues and include:

• The output of codewhale --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.