diff --git a/app/core/__pycache__/config.cpython-313.pyc b/app/core/__pycache__/config.cpython-313.pyc
index eff13df..d387dd5 100644
Binary files a/app/core/__pycache__/config.cpython-313.pyc and b/app/core/__pycache__/config.cpython-313.pyc differ
diff --git a/app/core/__pycache__/deepseek_client.cpython-313.pyc b/app/core/__pycache__/deepseek_client.cpython-313.pyc
index 5d4ceee..5dac047 100644
Binary files a/app/core/__pycache__/deepseek_client.cpython-313.pyc and b/app/core/__pycache__/deepseek_client.cpython-313.pyc differ
diff --git a/app/core/config.py b/app/core/config.py
index 0c13826..b63258c 100644
--- a/app/core/config.py
+++ b/app/core/config.py
@@ -8,3 +8,7 @@ load_dotenv()
 OPENAI_API_KEY = os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY", "")
 OPENAI_MODEL = os.getenv("OPENAI_MODEL", "gpt-3.5-turbo")
 OPENAI_API_BASE = os.getenv("OPENAI_API_BASE", "https://api.openai.com/v1")
+DEEPSEEK_API_KEY = os.getenv("DEEPSEEK_API_KEY", "")
+DEEPSEEK_API_BASE = os.getenv("DEEPSEEK_API_BASE", "https://api.deepseek.com/v1")
+DEEPSEEK_MODEL = os.getenv("DEEPSEEK_MODEL", "deepseek-chat")
+
diff --git a/app/core/deepseek_client.py b/app/core/deepseek_client.py
index 37223c8..cecf17e 100644
--- a/app/core/deepseek_client.py
+++ b/app/core/deepseek_client.py
@@ -1,21 +1,23 @@
 # app/services/openai_service.py
 import openai
+import os
 from openai import OpenAI
-import openai
-from app.core.config import OPENAI_API_KEY, OPENAI_MODEL, OPENAI_API_BASE
+from openai import OpenAIError
+from app.core.config import DEEPSEEK_API_BASE, DEEPSEEK_MODEL, DEEPSEEK_API_KEY
 
-# Initialize OpenAI client with DeepSeek's API
-DEEPSEEK_API_BASE = "https://api.deepseek.com/v1"
-DEEPSEEK_MODEL = "deepseek-chat"
+# Ensure the API key is properly set
+if not DEEPSEEK_API_KEY:
+    raise ValueError("DEEPSEEK_API_KEY is not set in environment variables")
 
-openai.api_key = OPENAI_API_KEY
-openai.api_base = DEEPSEEK_API_BASE
+# Initialize the client with proper configuration
+client = OpenAI(
+    api_key=DEEPSEEK_API_KEY,
+    base_url=DEEPSEEK_API_BASE
+)
 
 async def chat_with_openai(messages: list):
-    client = OpenAI(
-        api_key=openai.api_key,
-        base_url=DEEPSEEK_API_BASE
-    )
+    if not messages:
+        raise ValueError("Messages list cannot be empty")
 
     try:
         response = client.chat.completions.create(
@@ -26,10 +28,16 @@ async def chat_with_openai(messages: list):
             stream=False
         )
         
-        if response.choices and len(response.choices) > 0:
-            return response.choices[0].message.content
-        return "No response from the model"
+        if not response.choices or not response.choices[0].message.content:
+            return "No response content from the model"
+            
+        return response.choices[0].message.content
         
+    except OpenAIError as e:
+        error_msg = f"DeepSeek API Error: {str(e)}"
+        print(error_msg)
+        raise Exception(error_msg) from e
     except Exception as e:
-        print(f"Error calling DeepSeek API: {str(e)}")
-        raise
+        error_msg = f"Unexpected error: {str(e)}"
+        print(error_msg)
+        raise Exception(error_msg) from e