EPIC: Web version (local web UI and share-link roadmap)

[Hmbown]

Summary

Umbrella for an opencode-style web surface. Option A is a local web UI served by app-server; Option B is a deferred share-link mode; fully cloud-hosted mode is out of scope unless the product direction changes.

Acceptance criteria

• Ship local web UI first.
• Keep share-link work as a design/tracking follow-up.
• Do not expand to multi-tenant cloud hosting in 0.8.8.

Files

apps/web/; crates/app-server/; docs/share-design.md

Size

L

Related

• EPIC: Web UI scaffold (Option A) #471 EPIC: Web UI scaffold (Option A): EPIC: Web UI scaffold (Option A) #471
• WEB: Composer + transcript + tool-call rendering #472 WEB: Composer + transcript + tool-call rendering: WEB: Composer + transcript + tool-call rendering #472
• WEB: File browser + monaco editor pane #473 WEB: File browser + monaco editor pane: WEB: File browser + monaco editor pane #473
• WEB: Approval modal + permission flow #474 WEB: Approval modal + permission flow: WEB: Approval modal + permission flow #474
• WEB: Auth for serve --http #475 WEB: Auth for serve --http: WEB: Auth for serve --http #475
• WEB: Mode + model + provider switcher #476 WEB: Mode + model + provider switcher: WEB: Mode + model + provider switcher #476
• WEB: Theme parity with TUI #477 WEB: Theme parity with TUI: WEB: Theme parity with TUI #477
• WEB: PWA install + service worker #478 WEB: PWA install + service worker: WEB: PWA install + service worker #478
• EPIC: Share-link mode (Option B, follow-up) #479 EPIC: Share-link mode (Option B, follow-up): EPIC: Share-link mode (Option B, follow-up) #479

Filed from 2026-05-02 v0.8.8 intake.

[merchloubna70-dot]

Hey @Hmbown — sharing a product perspective as a contributor who's been sending PRs today.

DeepSeek-TUI's moat is being terminal-native: single binary, zero runtime deps, works over SSH, integrates naturally with pipes and tmux. A web UI moves in the opposite direction.

Concerns:

• Competing with Claude.ai / ChatGPT / every AI chat interface — a race that's hard to win as a solo dev
• Two UI surfaces to maintain indefinitely
• Dilutes the "works anywhere a shell works" value proposition that drew terminal users here

Better fit IMO: VS Code extension (#461) — developer meets TUI in their editor, no browser required. Or deepseek serve for programmatic local access without any UI.

See longer discussion at #471.

Happy to help with anything that keeps TUI as a first-class terminal tool. Feel free to reach out: wangfengcsu@qq.com 🐋

[merchloubna70-dot]

One more thought on this: rather than a web UI, a first-class CLI/API mode would be more valuable long-term.

Why a CLI layer matters:

• CI/CD pipelines can call deepseek exec directly — automated code review, test generation, doc updates on every push
• Other tools can integrate via deepseek serve + ACP protocol — editors, scripts, custom agents
• Developers script their own workflows: git diff | deepseek exec --auto "review this"
• No browser, no auth flow, no UI state — just stdin/stdout, the unix way

The existing deepseek exec --auto is already close. Formalising it with a stable API surface (JSON output, exit codes, streaming) would make it a platform other tools build on — not just an end-user app.

Web UIs come and go. A solid CLI becomes infrastructure.

Happy to contribute toward that direction. wangfengcsu@qq.com 🐋