DeepSeek Cowork: A Windows Desktop Agent Framework Based on Interleaved Chain of Thought

DeepSeek Cowork is an open-source Windows desktop agent framework. Its core is combining DeepSeek-V3.2's Interleaved Chain of Thought (Interleaved CoT) capability with local tool invocation, enabling a closed-loop workflow of thinking → executing → observing → rethinking. It solves the problem of separated reasoning and execution in traditional AI assistants, provides a collaborative experience of thinking while doing, and has featured functions such as skill precipitation and long-term memory, helping AI become a desktop productivity partner.

Most current AI assistants use a question-and-answer mode, with separated reasoning and execution, leading to limited efficiency in complex tasks. Based on the observation of human iterative problem-solving, DeepSeek Cowork proposes the 'Interleaved CoT' concept: allowing the agent to complete the closed loop of thinking, invoking tools, observing results, and adjusting ideas in a continuous reasoning flow, improving task success rate and making the process transparent.

1. Interleaved Chain of Thought: Allows pausing reasoning to invoke tools, making decisions based on real files, dynamically adjusting strategies, and maintaining context coherence; 2. Tool-first Exploration: Observes files/context before taking action to reduce error risks; 3. Skill as Experience Package: Skills are structured experience packages, including SKILL.md (best practices), skill.json (metadata), etc., supporting learning, accumulation, and inheritance.

Key functions include: 1. Hot-reload Skills: New skill folders can be used without restarting; 2. Conversation to Skill: Precipitates collaborative conversations into skill drafts, supporting skill creation/updates; 3. Long-term Memory Management: Automatically scans conversations to update memories.md, which users can review and edit; 4. Feishu Integration: Sends commands via enterprise IM, following workspace restrictions.

Security design: 1. Workspace Isolation: File operations are restricted to the selected directory to prevent access to sensitive files; 2. Human-in-the-loop: Memory updates and skill precipitation require manual confirmation from users; 3. God Mode: Can temporarily lift workspace restrictions, but needs explicit activation to avoid misoperation.

Application scenario examples: 1. Code Maintenance: Scan the project for unused imports and remove them; 2. Document Processing: Summarize PDFs in a folder to generate a report; 3. Skill Development: Guide the creation of a skill for downloading videos using yt-dlp.

Installation and usage: Ordinary users can directly download the exe and run it; developers can install from source: git clone the repository → pip install dependencies → python main.py. First-time users need to configure the API Key (supports DeepSeek or OpenAI protocols) and select a working directory.

DeepSeek Cowork combines powerful reasoning and execution control to unleash AI's productivity potential. Its designs such as skill experience packages and conversation-to-skill provide references for personal AI assistants. We look forward to the progress of domestic large models bringing more innovative frameworks, making AI an indispensable partner on the desktop.