Build a Personal Website in 5 Minutes with Free VS Code + DeepSeek AI Coding

DeepSeek, a domestic large model, matches Claude 3.5 Sonnet in code generation, prompting many developers to use it for coding. However, copying code from chat windows is tedious, and existing AI coding tools often require a VPN, have limited free quotas, or are paid.

To enable free AI‑assisted development, the article walks through setting up VS Code with the Cline and Continue extensions and configuring the DeepSeek API.

1. Prepare software

Download VS Code from https://code.visualstudio.com/ and install with default options.

Open VS Code; install the Chinese language pack if needed.

2. Connect DeepSeek API

Visit https://www.deepseek.com/, open the API Open Platform, and register an account.

Purchase tokens (≈ 2 CNY per million input tokens, 8 CNY per million output tokens) or use free credits.

Create an API key and note it for later configuration.

3. Configure Cline plugin

Install Cline from the VS Code marketplace; a robot icon appears.

Open the robot panel, enable Auto Approve: Read, Edit… for all options.

In Settings → API Provider select deepseek, paste the API key, choose model deepseek-chat, and set custom instruction “请用中文回答”.

Test by typing “你好” in the chat box; a reply confirms successful configuration.

4. Configure Continue plugin

Install Continue from the marketplace; a new icon appears.

Add a chat model, select DeepSeek, and paste the same API key.

Now Continue can provide smart completions, refactoring, and error fixing.

5. Practical example – generate a personal website

Prompt DeepSeek with a detailed description of the desired site (image carousel, WeChat link, etc.) and obtain a textual design.

In VS Code, open the Cline chat, paste “请帮我按如下要求编写网页：” plus the design prompt, and send.

Accept the generated plan, switch the button to ACT , and Cline creates a folder web‑station with index.html, style.css, script.js and writes the code automatically.

Use Continue’s Fix to correct a Python example ( print('a'+111)) and to resolve any errors during development.

6. Deploy the site with GitHub Pages

Create a GitHub account and a new public repository.

Upload the web‑station folder contents.

In repository Settings → Pages, select the main branch and save.

After a few minutes, the site is available at https://{username}.github.io/aiWeb/.

Conclusion

The combination of VS Code, DeepSeek, Cline, and Continue enables developers—even those unfamiliar with coding—to build and deploy a functional personal website without paying for commercial AI tools.