China AI model developer DeepSeek is forming a team to develop an agent coding tool called Code Harness that would compete directly with Anthropic's Claude Code and OpenAI's Codex.

According to a recent report by Decrypt, DeepSeek engineer Deli Chen (델리 첸) posted two job openings on social media platform X (Twitter) for a product manager and an R&D engineer. The positions are based in Beijing. Qualifications for the product manager role include practical experience with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Manus and OpenClaw.

The release schedule for Code Harness has not been disclosed.

DeepSeek's strength is price competitiveness. Its latest model, DeepSeek V4, can already be used directly in Claude Code. The fee is about one-hundredth that of Anthropic's top-end model. That could be an attractive cost structure for development teams that need to run AI agents continuously.

DeepSeek's move appears to be part of an effort to target not only models but also the tools developers use every day. By building a harness, it can control the interface developers actually see and use, as well as checkpoints, terminal commands, rollback functions and integrations. An analysis says this could also help expand user loyalty and revenue.