Skip to content
Hire an AI employee
AI EmployeeSuper-AgentsAgent-to-AgentBenchmarksPricingBlog
Guides 08 Choosing a platform

DeepSeek API Adds Web Search, File Input and Voice Tools

Nitish Garg · Founder & CEO, CellCog · 13 November 2026 · 6 min read · 1,193 words
At a glanceQuick answers
What did DeepSeek announce?
The tools behind its chat app, through its API: web search, file input, link reading, safety checks and voice. It posted the news on X on November 13, 2026.
Which model do the tools work with?
V4.1-Flash, which the thread also calls deepseek-flash, across the Messages, Responses and Chat Completions formats.
What do the tools cost?
Search and fetch cost $0.75 per 1,000 requests and OCR $0.225 per 1,000 pages, per the image in the thread. The fees come on top of token charges.
Is there a demo?
Yes. DeepSeek published an open-source chat app on GitHub under the MIT license. We have not run it.
Editorial illustration on a near-white ground. Large text reads $0.75 per 1,000 searches, DeepSeek's app tools, now in its API. Beside it an open blue toolbox holds a magnifying glass, a document, a chain link, a shield and a microphone. A small line reads: From DeepSeek's thread on X, November 13, 2026.
Fig 0The search price from the image in DeepSeek's thread on X, November 13, 2026. Made by CellCog's image agent, running GPT Image 2.5.

DeepSeek has opened the tools behind its chat app to developers. Web search, file input, link reading, safety checks and voice are now available through its API, for its V4.1-Flash model. The company announced it in a four-post thread on X on November 13, 2026.

This page is read from that thread, from the price image in it, and from the public repository of DeepSeek’s demo app on GitHub. We did not use DeepSeek’s website or its documentation as sources, and we have not called any of these APIs.

On this page · 7 sectionsOpen
  1. What DeepSeek announced
  2. The five built-in tools
  3. What it costs
  4. The demo app
  5. What we did not check
  6. Where CellCog sits
  7. Sources
Key points5 · 6 min full read
  1. A chat bubble with a magnifying glass, a document and a chain link coming out of it.
    DeepSeek opened the tools behind its chat app to developers on November 13, 2026: web search, file input, link reading, safety checks and voice, all through its API.
  2. Three stacked blue layers with a plug going into the top one.
    The built-in tools work with V4.1-Flash across three API formats. DeepSeek says tool calls and context assembly are handled on its servers.
  3. A price tag hanging from a magnifying glass.
    Tools cost extra on top of tokens. Search and fetch are $0.75 per 1,000 requests and OCR is $0.225 per 1,000 pages, per the image in the thread.
  4. A microphone with a small tag on it.
    Speech recognition and text to speech are marked 50% off for a limited time. The image gives no end date.
  5. A browser window with an open box in front of it.
    An open-source demo app is on GitHub under the MIT license. We have not called these APIs or run the demo.

§ 01What DeepSeek announced

  • The post. DeepSeek’s first post is headed “The full DeepSeek App experience, now via API”. It had about 211,000 views when we read it at 15:52 UTC.
  • In one line. It says: “The capabilities behind the DeepSeek App are now available through the DeepSeek API.”
  • Two ways to use them. As built-in features that a developer switches on with a few parameters, or as standalone APIs. The thread names five standalone APIs: Search, Fetch, OCR, ASR and TTS.
  • Which model. The second post says: “V4.1-Flash (deepseek-flash) now supports these capabilities across Messages, Responses, and Chat Completions, with tool calls and context assembly handled server-side”
  • A demo. DeepSeek also published an open-source chat app. The first post says it supports importing DeepSeek conversation history.
  • The pitch. The fourth post says of the app: “Its capabilities are now yours to call and combine freely.”

§ 02The five built-in tools

Tool What the thread says it does
Web Search Search the web or images with citations in non-thinking mode
Deep Thinking Search Search and read pages throughout multi-step reasoning
File Input Parse PDFs, Office files, images, and more into conversation context
URL Reading Automatically fetch links in user messages to inform answers
Safety Checks Screen inputs and outputs, returning refusal indicators when risks are detected
Table 1The built-in tools, in the thread’s words
  • How to switch them on. The thread names two parameters: deepseek_web_search for search and deepseek_read_url for URL reading. It names none for the other three.
  • Where the work happens. DeepSeek says tool calls and context assembly are handled on its servers.
  • A rule for public apps. “Public-facing apps must enable safety checks.”
  • What stays with the developer. “Developers remain responsible for content moderation, applicable model registration, and AI-generated content labeling.”
Animated isometric scene titled DeepSeek: the app's tools, now in its API. On the left a pale slab named The DeepSeek app carries five tools, with the words Built into its app. Orange copies of the five tools lift off and hop one by one onto a teal platform named Your app, where they are named Search, Files, Links, Safety and Voice, with the words Now yours to call. A line reads Tool fees come on top of token charges. Source: DeepSeek's thread on X, November 13 2026. A small CellCog mark sits at the bottom right.
Fig 1DeepSeek's five app tools stay in its app and can now be called from your own app.

§ 03What it costs

The third post says: “Extended capabilities incur tool usage fees in addition to standard token charges.” The prices are in an image attached to that post, and we read them from the image.

Tool Price Note in the image
Search $0.75 per 1,000 requests No discount shown
Fetch $0.75 per 1,000 requests No discount shown
OCR $0.225 per 1,000 pages No discount shown
ASR $0.058 per hour 50% off, limited time; $0.116 struck through
TTS $0.225 per 10,000 characters 50% off, limited time; $0.45 struck through
Table 2DeepSeek’s tool prices, from the image in its thread
Dollars per 1,000 units: requests for Search and Fetch, pages for OCR.Bar chart of three DeepSeek tool prices in dollars per 1,000 units: Search 0.75 per 1,000 requests, Fetch 0.75 per 1,000 requests, OCR 0.225 per 1,000 pages.Search0.75Fetch0.75OCR0.225Dollars per 1,000 units: requests for Search and Fetch, pages for OCR.Bar chart of three DeepSeek tool prices in dollars per 1,000 units: Search 0.75 per 1,000 requests, Fetch 0.75 per 1,000 requests, OCR 0.225 per 1,000 pages.Search0.75Fetch0.75OCR0.225
Fig 2Dollars per 1,000 units: requests for Search and Fetch, pages for OCR.
  • Per unit, by our arithmetic. One search or one fetch comes to $0.00075. One page of OCR comes to $0.000225.
  • On top of tokens. The fees are added to the model’s token charges. The thread gives no token prices.
  • Two discounts with no end date. The image marks the ASR and TTS prices as 50% off for a limited time. It gives no end date.
  • Different units. The five prices use four units: requests, pages, hours and characters. They cannot be ranked against each other.

§ 04The demo app

We read the repository at 15:45 UTC on November 13, 2026.

  • What it is. The README says: “A static chat demo powered by the DeepSeek API.”
  • No server of your own. “No application backend is required: the browser connects directly to the configured API service.”
  • How it calls the model. The README says chat uses deepseek-flash by default through Anthropic-compatible Messages and Files APIs, and that speech features use the ASR and TTS endpoints.
  • Where the key lives. “Your API key and settings are stored in the browser’s localStorage.”
  • The repository. Created on November 12, 2026, under the MIT license, written mainly in TypeScript. It listed two releases, v0.1.0 and v0.1.1, both dated November 13. It had 292 stars and 59 forks when we read it.

§ 05What we did not check

  • We have not called any of these APIs, and we have not opened or run the demo app.
  • We did not read DeepSeek’s documentation or any page of its website. Anything said only there is not on this page.
  • The prices come from one image in the thread. We did not check them against a price page.
  • We did not test the safety checks, the search results or the voice quality.
  • We did not check which countries or accounts can use the tools.
  • We did not read the demo’s source code.

§ 06Where CellCog sits

CellCog is our product, an AI employee platform. CellCog AI employees run on Anthropic’s Claude models. We do not use DeepSeek’s models or these APIs, so we make no claim about how well they work. OpenAI makes the image model behind this page’s pictures.

§ 07Sources

Frequently asked5 questions

Q1Can I use DeepSeek's web search through its API?

DeepSeek says so. Its thread names a parameter, deepseek_web_search, that turns search on for V4.1-Flash, and a standalone Search API.

Q2How much does DeepSeek's search API cost?

$0.75 per 1,000 requests, per the price image in its thread. That is on top of the model’s token charges.

Q3Does DeepSeek's API have speech to text and text to speech?

The thread lists ASR and TTS as standalone APIs. The price image shows $0.058 per hour for ASR and $0.225 per 10,000 characters for TTS, both marked 50% off for a limited time.

Q4Do public apps need DeepSeek's safety checks?

The thread says public-facing apps must enable safety checks, and that developers remain responsible for content moderation and for labeling AI-generated content.

Q5Is DeepSeek's chat demo open source?

Yes. The repository is public on GitHub under the MIT license, and its README says the app needs no application backend.

Published 13 November 2026 All Choosing a platform →