codex-deepseek-vision

Codex vision bridge for DeepSeek V4 Flash and other text-only models. Package/CLI: agent-vision. DeepSeek V4 Flash now speaks the Responses protocol and runs inside Codex/ChatGPT, but the model itself is text-only and cannot see images. agent-vision is a free local vision proxy: pasted images and view_image calls are converted into text through an OpenAI-compatible vision API (free GLM-4V-Flash by default) before DeepSeek reasons. No Ollama, no GPU, no model swap.

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Why

Text-only agents cannot see pasted screenshots, local images, charts, or error dialogs. Replacing the model usually means paying more or changing your whole workflow. agent-vision sits between the agent and its model provider and does the conversion automatically:

• Paste an image in your agent, and the local proxy rewrites it into text before the request reaches the text-only model.
• Ask the agent to inspect a local image, an image URL, or the latest image you pasted (see --latest), and it returns a factual description.
• Keep your existing model, key, and workflow. Everything is local, reversible, and free by default.

Architecture

flowchart LR
  U[User pastes an image] --> A[Any AI agent]
  A -->|request with image| P[agent-vision proxy :19100]
  P --> V[OpenAI-compatible vision API]
  V -->|text description| P
  P -->|text-only request| M[DeepSeek / text-only model]

see mode skips the proxy: the image path is sent directly to the vision API and the returned text is used by the agent.

Supported Agents

Agent	Integration	Status
Codex	Safe auto-patch: rewrites only the active provider's base_url to the local proxy, keeps wire_api and keys, and declares image input for the active model in a local model catalog (e.g. cc-switch) when present so pasted images and view_image are allowed; backup and rollback; see --latest recovers the last pasted image as a fallback	Fully automatic
OpenCode	Auto-patches opencode.json with an OpenAI-compatible provider	Fully automatic
Claude Code	Detected and guided; Claude speaks the Anthropic protocol, so a protocol-compatible gateway is required	Manual steps provided
Cursor	Detected and guided; Cursor exposes the base URL override only through Settings -> Models	Manual steps provided

Supported Vision Providers

agent-vision accepts any OpenAI-compatible vision API. Built-in presets cover the most common ones; custom endpoints work too.

Provider	Model examples	Cost
Zhipu	glm-4v-flash, glm-4.6v-flash	Free
Alibaba DashScope	qwen-vl-max, qwen3-vl-flash	Pay-as-you-go / free quota
OpenAI	gpt-4o-mini, gpt-4o	Pay-as-you-go
Google Gemini	gemini-2.0-flash	Free tier available
Groq	Qwen vision models	Free plan available
SiliconFlow	Qwen2.5-VL series	Free quota for new users
OpenRouter	Free and paid vision models	Mixed
Self-hosted vLLM / Ollama	Any VLM	Hardware only

Click a provider name to open its official sign-up/console page and create an API key.

Install

One-line deploy (recommended)

Paste this into your AI agent:

Deploy agent-vision from https://github.com/SIMON-WORLD/codex-deepseek-vision per AGENT_INSTALL.md. Use the free Zhipu provider. Vision API key: <KEY>. Tell me when I need to restart Codex.

One-line install (recommended)

Install Python 3.9+, then run:

pip install codex-deepseek-vision
agent-vision setup

If PyPI is unreachable, install from the repository instead:

git clone https://github.com/SIMON-WORLD/codex-deepseek-vision.git
cd codex-deepseek-vision
pip install .
agent-vision setup

The wizard detects your agent, lets you pick Free / Quality / Custom vision, writes the config with a backup, starts the local runtime, verifies the connection, and prints the final health status. For Codex it only rewrites the active provider's base_url; model_provider, model, wire_api and API keys are left untouched.

You can also paste this into your agent and let it do the work:

Set up agent-vision for me. Read AGENT_INSTALL.md and follow it end to end. Use the free Zhipu provider unless I choose another one.

All user configuration lives in one directory: ~/.agent-vision/ on Linux/macOS, %USERPROFILE%\.agent-vision\ on Windows. Override it with AGENT_VISION_HOME if you prefer another location. The setup wizard creates and fills this directory automatically.

Runtime management

agent-vision start      # start the local vision proxy in the background
agent-vision status     # show installation, runtime, provider, agent and vision status
agent-vision restart    # restart the local proxy
agent-vision stop       # stop the local proxy
agent-vision autostart --enable                            # Windows: start + guard the proxy at login (watchdog, 10s)
agent-vision autostart --enable --watchdog-interval 30     # custom health-check interval (2-30s)
agent-vision autostart --enable --watchdog-interval 0      # plain start, no watchdog
agent-vision autostart --status                            # show autostart mode and file
agent-vision autostart --disable                           # remove the login autostart entry

Rollback

agent-vision rollback codex
agent-vision rollback opencode

Every auto-patch creates a timestamped backup before modifying anything, and rollback restores it.

Configuration

agent-vision setup writes and manages .env inside the user config directory. For manual configuration, copy .env.example to ~/.agent-vision/.env (Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.agent-vision\.env) and fill in the vision API key. Zhipu keys use the {API Key ID}.{secret} format. Do not add quotes; the loader strips surrounding quotes and whitespace.

API key options

The simplest path is to tell your agent the key directly in the conversation (for example: "the vision API key is ..."). The agent writes it to .env and never prints it. If you do not want the key to appear in chat history, use one of these instead:

1. Pre-fill .env: create %USERPROFILE%\.agent-vision\.env with VISION_API_KEY=<your key>, then ask the agent to run agent-vision setup --agent codex --provider free --yes directly.
2. Environment variable: set VISION_API_KEY for the terminal or agent session; setup reads it automatically.
3. Local key file: put the key in a local file (e.g. C:\Users\<you>\vision-key.txt) and tell the agent: "read this file, write it to ~/.agent-vision/.env, then delete the file".

Keys only live in the local .env; they are never committed or logged. If a key was already shared in a chat you care about, rotate it in the provider console.

If agent-vision is not on your PATH, use the stable launcher written by setup (%USERPROFILE%\.agent-vision\agent-vision.cmd) or python -m agent_vision. When the install sandbox blocks writing user config, setup writes agent-vision-finalize.cmd / .ps1 next to the current directory; run one of them in a normal terminal to finish.

Variable	Default	Description
VISION_API_KEY	-	Vision API key (required)
VISION_BASE_URL	https://open.bigmodel.cn/api/paas/v4	OpenAI-compatible endpoint
VISION_MODEL	glm-4v-flash	Vision model name
VISION_PROXY_UPSTREAM	-	Optional: URL the local proxy forwards to
VISION_PROXY_LISTEN	127.0.0.1:19100	Optional: local proxy listen address

For a custom provider, ask your agent to add one to providers.json in the user config directory; no code changes are needed. Entries there override built-in presets with the same id.

CLI Reference

# Analyze images on demand (local file, image URL, or latest pasted image)
agent-vision see <image-or-url>... [-q "question"] [--task describe|ocr|ui|chart] [--latest] [--provider ID] [--no-cache]

# Run the local image-strip proxy in the foreground
agent-vision proxy --listen 127.0.0.1:19100 --upstream <origin>

# Guided setup
agent-vision setup [--agent codex|opencode|claude|cursor] [--dry-run]
# Fully non-interactive (provider + agent in one line):
agent-vision setup --agent codex --provider free --yes

# Health status
agent-vision status [--test]
agent-vision doctor   # full install checklist (entrypoint, config writable, proxy, Codex, autostart, vision)

# Runtime lifecycle
agent-vision start | restart | stop

# Configuration check
agent-vision doctor

# List vision provider presets
agent-vision providers

Self-test in 3 minutes

Anyone with Python 3.9+ can verify the bridge on a fresh machine:

git clone https://github.com/SIMON-WORLD/codex-deepseek-vision.git
cd codex-deepseek-vision
pip install .
agent-vision setup
agent-vision status

Then paste an image in Codex or ask the agent to call view_image on a local image. For a zero-setup fresh machine, open this repository in GitHub Codespaces: the devcontainer pre-installs the package, and all commands above run the same way.

Testing

python -m unittest discover -s tests -v

FAQ

• Do I need a GPU or Ollama? No. Vision is handled by a remote OpenAI-compatible API; the default Zhipu glm-4v-flash is free.
• Is my agent key exposed? No. The proxy passes the original Authorization header through, so your main model key stays in the agent's existing config.
• Why does Codex still refuse pasted images ("model does not support image input")? Codex decides whether the UI accepts pasted images from its model catalog. When you load models from a local catalog (e.g. cc-switch's model_catalog_json), setup now also declares image input for the active text-only model (with a timestamped backup; rollback codex restores it). If you switch models with cc-switch afterwards, that file may be regenerated — rerun agent-vision setup to re-apply.
• Can the agent call Codex's built-in view_image? Pasted images work through the proxy. The built-in view_image tool, however, is limited on the current Codex desktop build: the client replaces its result with [Unsupported Image] before it reaches the proxy. For local files, use agent-vision see <path> (or agent-vision see --latest for the last pasted image).
• Can I use a paid provider? Yes. Choose Quality or Custom in setup, or edit .env / providers.json.
• What happens if the vision API fails? After retries, the proxy replaces the image with a visible failure marker ([image vision conversion failed: <reason>]) instead of forwarding the raw image, so the agent can ask the user to re-paste. Failure reasons are logged to ~/.agent-vision/logs/proxy.log.
• Codex shows 502 Bad Gateway or Windows says "no internet" after deploy? That is the proxy reporting a transient upstream DNS/network failure; agent-vision never changes your network settings. The proxy now retries the upstream automatically. Run agent-vision doctor to confirm everything is healthy, then retry.
• Codex fails with stream disconnected after a reboot? The local proxy is not running yet. Run agent-vision start, or run agent-vision autostart --enable once so the proxy starts automatically at login and a watchdog (default 10s) restarts it if 19100 is not listening. If you already changed base_url back to the upstream, rerun agent-vision setup to re-enable the vision bridge.
• Are images private? Images are sent only to the provider you configure (Zhipu by default). Review the provider policy before sending sensitive screenshots. see --latest extracts only the image bytes from Codex session files and never reads or sends conversation text. .env is gitignored; never commit or share it.

License

MIT