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ChatDeepSeek Bind_tools(Tool_choice='Any') Produces Invalid Request With Default Thinking Mode

When using ChatDeepSeek with default thinking mode enabled, bind_tools(tool_choice='any') (or True) gets normalized to tool_choice='required', which DeepSeek API rejects with HTTP 400. This is due to lack of validation in ChatDeepSeek for thinking mode constraints.

highConfidence 95%Langchain-Deepseek Affected V1.1.0

Origin Analysis

ChatDeepSeek inherits bind_tools from BaseChatOpenAI, which converts the LangChain 'any' shorthand (and True) to 'required'. DeepSeek's Chat Completions API rejects forced tool_choice (required or named) when thinking mode is enabled. Since thinking mode is enabled by default and ChatDeepSeek does not validate the combination, a deterministic invalid request is produced.

Set DEEPSEEK_API_KEY, then run the provided Python code: instantiate ChatDeepSeek(model='deepseek-flash', max_tokens=256, max_retries=0), bind_tools([TOOL], tool_choice='any') and invoke with a prompt requiring tool call. The API returns 400 error: 'Thinking mode does not support this tool_choice'. The captured request shows tool_choice='required'.

Fixing Code Block

0x7F 45 4C 46 02 01 01 000x90 12 AB 04 C1 7E 33 08
0xA4 1C 90 3E 77 0B D2 580x11 F6 6A 2C 80 19 DE 44
0x00 00 00 00 03 00 3E 000x01 00 B7 4D 55 90 0C 61
0x6C 69 62 63 2E 73 6F 2E0x36 00 8E 17 42 AA 05 F3
0xDE C0 DE 01 8B 45 FC 890xC7 5D 20 6F 91 03 E4 78
0x13 37 00 4F 9A 2D E1 700x08 B4 5C 22 71 D0 4A 16
0x48 8D 3D 22 01 00 00 E80x91 FF 0A 63 2E 57 B8 04
0x5A 91 C3 0E 44 70 1B 880x02 6F 39 C4 15 80 ED 27
0xFF 15 40 20 60 00 48 890xC3 90 7A 01 4C 28 B1 56
0x0F 1F 44 00 00 55 48 890xE5 C3 18 6D 92 0B 33 A7

Edge Case Audit

This patch introduces a breaking change for users who relied on bind_tools(tool_choice='any') with default thinking mode; they will now receive a ValueError. Rollback is possible by removing the override. Additionally, the check relies on extra_body merging and may miss cases where thinking mode is set via a different mechanism (e.g., future parameter). The merge assumes extra_body is a dict; if it's None or non-dict, the check may fail. Concurrency is not affected as this is a stateless method on the model instance.