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DeepSeek TUI Operations Runbook

This runbook covers practical debugging and incident response for the local CLI/TUI runtime.

Quick Triage

1. Confirm binary + config: - cargo run -- --version - cat ~/.deepseek/config.toml (or inspect configured profile)
2. Enable verbose logs: - RUST_LOG=deepseek_cli=debug cargo run - For HTTP retries/reconnects: RUST_LOG=deepseek_cli::client=debug cargo run
3. Capture current state: - ls ~/.deepseek/sessions - ls ~/.deepseek/sessions/checkpoints - ls ~/.deepseek/tasks

Incident: Turn Hangs or Stream Stops

Symptoms:

• TUI remains in loading state
• partial assistant output with no completion

Checks:

1. Inspect retry/health logs (deepseek_cli::client)
2. Verify endpoint connectivity: - curl -sS https://api.deepseek.com/v1/models -H "Authorization: Bearer $DEEPSEEK_API_KEY"
3. Confirm no local sandbox/permission deadlock in tool output

Actions:

1. If a foreground shell command is running, press Ctrl+B and choose whether to background it or cancel the current turn.
2. If the command was started in the background, ask the assistant to cancel it with exec_shell_cancel and the returned task id.
3. Use Esc or Ctrl+C to interrupt the current turn when you want to stop the request itself.
4. Retry prompt; if still failing, restart TUI.
5. On restart, verify the previous queued/in-flight runtime turn is shown as interrupted rather than left in a running state.

Incident: Network Outage / Offline Behavior

Expected behavior:

• New prompts are queued while offline mode is active
• Queue state persists to ~/.deepseek/sessions/checkpoints/offline_queue.json

Checks:

1. Open queue in TUI: /queue list
2. Confirm persisted queue file exists and updates timestamp

Actions:

1. Restore connectivity
2. Re-send queued entries (from /queue edit <n> + Enter, or normal input flow)
3. Ensure queue file clears when queue is empty

Incident: Crash Recovery Needed

Expected behavior:

• Checkpoint stored at ~/.deepseek/sessions/checkpoints/latest.json
• Startup begins a fresh session unless --resume/--continue is supplied

Actions:

1. Resume prior work explicitly via deepseek --resume <id> or Ctrl+R in TUI
2. If checkpoint inspection is needed, inspect latest.json for schema mismatch/details
3. If schema is newer than binary supports, upgrade binary or remove stale checkpoint

Incident: Persistent State Schema Errors

Symptoms:

• Errors like schema vX is newer than supported vY

Affected stores:

• sessions (~/.deepseek/sessions/*.json)
• runtime thread/turn/item records
• tasks (~/.deepseek/tasks/tasks/*.json)

Actions:

1. Confirm binary version and migration expectations
2. Back up the state directory before editing
3. Either: - run with a newer compatible binary, or - archive incompatible records and regenerate state

Incident: MCP/Tool Execution Failures

Checks:

1. Validate ~/.deepseek/mcp.json schema and server command paths
2. Confirm server process can start manually
3. Check sandbox denials in TUI history / logs

Actions:

1. Retry with required approvals (or YOLO only when appropriate)
2. Temporarily disable failing MCP server and isolate issue
3. Re-enable after verification with /mcp diagnostics

Post-Incident Checklist

1. Preserve logs and relevant state files
2. Record trigger, impact, and mitigation
3. Add or update regression tests (retry/recovery/schema)
4. Update this runbook and architecture docs if behavior changed

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