DeepSeek is a new AI model that has stirred the industry with its cost-effective training and inference capabilities, causing significant financial impacts on major tech companies like NVIDIA. The model is open-source and affordable, prompting many to consider switching to it. The guide provides a detailed walkthrough on how to transition production apps to DeepSeek R1 or V3 using Helicone, a platform that facilitates safe testing and transition without user disruption. It includes a cost comparison with other models, highlighting DeepSeek’s performance and efficiency advantages. The guide explains how to set up a Node.js project to manage and log prompts with Helicone, how to test and modify prompts, and how to conduct experiments to compare output performance with existing models. Users are encouraged to evaluate model performance using Helicone's features and are assured of a smooth transition process with minimal downtime.