DeepSeek desktop app: using chat.deepseek.com in its own window

Popular sites · October 18, 2026 · 6 min read

DeepSeek's own desktop download is DeepSeek Harness, an open-source agent app in public preview, while the everyday chat lives at chat.deepseek.com and in the phone apps. A Pake app gives that chat site its own window and Dock or Start menu icon; the whole job is one address, a few window options and one sign-in.

What DeepSeek ships

The download page offers the DeepSeek app for iOS and Android and a desktop download for macOS, labeled "Apple silicon, macOS 13 or later", with a separate link for Windows. The Harness page calls it "in public preview worldwide and open source, with composable plugins", and lists work such as fixing bugs and running tests, running background jobs and working with documents, data and slides. The chat itself is DeepSeek Web.

	Where DeepSeek offers it	What it is
Chat	chat.deepseek.com	The web chat a Pake app opens
Phone	iOS and Android, from the download page	DeepSeek's assistant app
Desktop	DeepSeek Harness	An agent for background jobs, code and documents

If you want an agent that runs tasks, install Harness. If you want the chat in a window of its own, including on an Intel Mac, which the download page does not list and Pake supports from macOS 14, make a Pake app.

Be careful with other "DeepSeek for PC" downloads

DeepSeek's app announcement asks people to download only from official channels, and its terms of use do not allow others to use the DeepSeek name and logo without permission. An installer from another publisher that calls itself the DeepSeek desktop client is not one of those channels, so compare it with the download page before running it.

A Pake app is not a DeepSeek client either. It is a window you make yourself for the address https://chat.deepseek.com, and the chat inside it is DeepSeek's own website.

Make the window

On the Create tab, type DeepSeek into Search apps or paste a web address to open its gallery tile under AI, or paste https://chat.deepseek.com. If the tile is missing, paste the address instead. The gallery entry carries only the address, name and icon, with no tuned size or injected code, so every option below is yours to choose. Check the Name, leave Incognito off and click Create App. The gallery and Create an app pages explain the options.

With the CLI, after the setup guide:

pake https://chat.deepseek.com --name DeepSeek

Settings worth changing for a chat

The default window is 1200 by 780. A chat reads well in something narrower and taller, so set Size (Window size on Windows) to something like 1000 by 900. Once you resize the window by hand the app remembers that size, and changing Size later from My Apps with Edit and Save Changes clears it.

Long answers are easier to read with the page zoomed. Every Pake app has the same shortcuts: Cmd = to zoom in and Cmd - to zoom out on Mac, Ctrl = and Ctrl - on Windows, with Cmd 0 or Ctrl 0 to reset, and Cmd R or Ctrl R to reload. The shortcut list has the rest. Page search with Cmd F is not on by default; turn on Find in page to get it.

Always on top keeps the window above your editor while you copy answers across, and Keep a web app always on top covers the trade-offs. If you want the chat one click away all day, Hide on close keeps the app running after you close the window and Menu bar icon (Tray icon on Windows) adds an icon; see A website in the menu bar or tray. Leave User agent empty: the app already sends the Safari user agent on Mac and the Chrome one on Windows, and User agents in web apps explains when changing it helps.

For a global key that brings the window forward, build with the CLI and pass --activation-shortcut "CmdOrControl+Shift+D". The shortcut is empty unless you pass one.

Sign in with whatever the page offers. DeepSeek's privacy policy mentions a phone number or email, and Apple or Google where available. Google may refuse to sign in inside an app, as the sign-in guide explains, so a phone number or email is the simpler route. On Windows, if the sign-in opens a pop-up, turn on Open new windows in the app. On a Mac, sign-in other than Sign in with Apple already runs in the app's own window, so the option does not change it.

Incognito starts every session clean, with no sign-ins or cookies, so keep it off. After signing in, quit the app and open it again to confirm you are still signed in. A second account goes in a second app, as in Two accounts on one website.

How it works underneath

A Pake app is a small native shell around the system's web view: WKWebView on Mac, and Microsoft Edge WebView2 on Windows, which Windows 11 already includes. The shell loads the address you gave it, and everything after that is DeepSeek's website running in an engine you did not choose. That explains most behavior. Cookies and site data live in the app's own storage, separate from your browser, so signing in to Safari or Chrome does not sign you in to the app. New models and features appear on the next page load, because nothing about the site is bundled. And the app reopens at the page you last viewed rather than the home address, which Manage your apps notes is cleared when you change the address.

What updates and what does not

The window loads the live site, so there is nothing to reinstall when DeepSeek changes its page. What Pake updates is the app around it: in My Apps, Update available means a newer Pake runtime, and Update keeps the name, icon and sign-in. See Updates.

When something goes wrong

The page looks stale or half loaded. Reload with Cmd R or Ctrl R. If that does not help, the clear-cache-and-restart shortcut is Cmd Shift Delete on Mac and Ctrl Shift Del on Windows; check afterwards that you are still signed in.
You are signed out after every launch. Check whether Incognito is on. If it is, open Edit, turn it off and click Save Changes, which reinstalls the app in place. If it is already off, check whether the site has expired the session or requires sign-in again.
A sign-in pop-up opens in your browser or goes nowhere. On Windows, turn on Open new windows in the app, then try a phone number or email instead of Google.
The window is blank on Windows. The apps need the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, and Pake shows a Get WebView2 link when it is missing.
You need a proxy. The CLI has --proxy-url, which takes HTTP, HTTPS or SOCKS5 addresses, on Windows and Linux and on macOS 14 or later; see the CLI options.

FAQ

Is a Pake app the official DeepSeek desktop app?

No. DeepSeek's desktop app is Harness. A Pake app is a window you build for chat.deepseek.com, and it offers nothing that website does not.

Will it keep my chat history?

Your conversations live in your DeepSeek account, so they appear after you sign in again. The app only needs to keep the sign-in, which depends on Incognito being off.

Can I move the app to another computer?

Export its settings from My Apps, then import them on the other machine. The file never holds sign-ins, so you sign in again; Import and export settings has the details.