dsh-vim-nav

Vim-style keyboard navigation for the DeepSeek Harness Web UI.

j/k to scroll, h/l to move focus between the workspace and the conversation, i to write, and message-level jumps that stay inside the current session. The plugin also keeps the mode you were in when a conversation opens, so the host's composer autofocus never drops you into Insert unexpectedly.

Features

• Linear, hold-to-scroll j/k — no queued smooth scroll, no acceleration, no post-release glide. Releasing the key stops on the next frame.
• kk at the top loads earlier history — uses the host's own "load earlier" control and releases the host's paging position hold on the next scroll key.
• Panel focus — h/l move left/right across the workspace, the conversation, and the built-in Browser. From the conversation, l focuses the Browser and h the workspace; from the Browser, h returns to the conversation when the main page has focus. The badge shows NORMAL · Browser while the Browser panel is active.
• Composer — i enters Insert; jk (quick j then k) or Escape leaves it; dd clears the draft.
• Message jumps — Ctrl+J / Ctrl+K jump to the next / previous top-level user or assistant message in the current conversation, with a short linear glide.
• gg / G — jump to the top / bottom of the conversation.
• Vimium-style link hints — f labels the visible conversation links; type a label to open the link. Escape cancels, Backspace edits the label prefix, and a key that no remaining label starts with exits hint mode.
• Archive from the workspace list — with the workspace panel focused and the cursor on a session, c then x invokes that row's archive action (the same button as the row UI). Running sessions go through the host's stop-and-archive confirmation. When the row disappears, the cursor moves to a neighboring row.
• Built-in Browser Vim layer — on desktop, the right-Sidebar Browser's Electron <webview> gets an injected page-level Vim layer: j/k linear scroll, gg/G, f link hints (same hint behavior), and Escape/Backspace for hints. Editable fields are left alone. Web Browser iframes are cross-origin, so the layer applies only where the page is scriptable (desktop webview and same-origin iframes).
• Session search — Ctrl+F opens the host's session search. The plugin moves the host's built-in binding from Ctrl+K to Ctrl+F once (visible and reversible in Settings → Shortcuts); if that binding cannot be applied, it falls back to clicking the sidebar search button.
• Mode preservation — opening or switching a conversation never changes Normal into Insert. If you were in Insert before switching (for example while typing, then Ctrl+J), the new composer keeps focus and stays in Insert.
• Space / Enter select a workspace row in Normal mode, with the same mode-preservation rule.
• Ctrl+W is neutralized so it does not close the window, except inside the built-in Browser page. There the reservation is released only while the Browser (its webview, iframe, toolbar, or address bar) has focus, so Ctrl+W closes that Browser page through the host's close-page command. Everywhere else the fixed reservation keeps it inert.
• No visual mode — Normal and Insert only.
• Never consumes Win / Super / Meta combinations — those remain for the compositor or OS.

Keymap

Key	Mode	Action
j / k	Normal	Hold to scroll down / up (constant speed, linear)
kk	Normal	At the conversation top: load one page of earlier history
h / l	Normal	Focus left / right: workspace ↔ conversation ↔ Browser
i	Normal	Enter the composer (Insert)
j k (quickly)	Insert	Exit Insert
Escape	Insert	Exit Insert
dd	Normal	Clear the composer draft
c x	Normal (workspace)	Archive the session under the cursor
Ctrl+J	Any	Next top-level message in this conversation
Ctrl+K	Any	Previous top-level message in this conversation
gg	Normal	Conversation top
G	Normal	Conversation bottom
f	Normal	Show hint labels on visible conversation links; type a label to open
Backspace	Hint	Delete the typed hint prefix
Escape	Hint	Cancel link hints
Ctrl+F	Any	Session search
Space / Enter	Normal (workspace)	Select the row under the workspace cursor
Ctrl+W	Any	Reserved in the app; inside the built-in Browser it closes that page

Ctrl+J/Ctrl+K target top-level user and assistant-step rows. Tool calls, process rows, and turn tails are skipped. At the first/last message the jump stops.

Built-in Browser page

Keys inside the Browser page go to the page (the desktop webview / same-origin iframe), not to the main conversation. The injected layer provides:

Key	Action
j / k	Scroll down / up (linear, 35% of the viewport)
gg / G	Top / bottom
f	Hint the visible page links; type a label to click
h / l	Pass through to the page (not bound by the layer)
Alt+H (Linux/Windows) / Ctrl+H (macOS)	Focus the conversation panel (registered only while the Browser is focused)
Escape / Backspace	Cancel hints / edit the typed label

Editable fields (input, textarea, select, contenteditable) are not intercepted. h/l are not bound by the page layer: they reach the visited page normally.

To leave the Browser page, use Alt+H on Linux/Windows or Ctrl+H on macOS while the Browser content is focused. The plugin registers a "Focus conversation" command only for that focused-Browser window: it blurs the webview and returns to the conversation panel with NORMAL. Plain h cannot be used because the host shortcut service rejects bare-letter command defaults, and keys inside the webview do not reach the main document; Alt+H is the closest reliable binding. It is visible and rebindable in Settings → Shortcuts while the Browser is focused.

Install

Requirements: a working DSH profile and a DSH desktop/web runtime that supports local Cordis bundles.

git clone https://github.com/Endermy/dsh-vim-nav.git

Then register this directory as a bundle in your DSH profile with the Harness plugin manager ("install local bundle" / install_bundle targeting the absolute package directory). The profile records it as @local/dsh-vim-nav; the plugin appears as Vim Navigation in the plugin list.

Rebuild/reload the Web UI once after installing. On desktop, reload the page (or restart the app if your build only syncs shortcut definitions at launch).

The package is a local bundle, not an npm release. To publish it on npm, rename it to a scope you own and update cordis.patch.yml accordingly.

Package layout

File	Purpose
package.json	Bundle manifest (dsh.bundle, dsh.client) and exports
cordis.patch.yml	Inserts the vim-nav Loader row
index.js	Host half (display/row entry)
client.js	Browser half: overlay, keyboard controller, scroll driver
locale/*.json	English/Chinese plugin title and description
icon.svg	Plugin icon

There is no build step: client.js is loaded directly by the DSH client module loader. The DOM hooks are DSH-specific ([data-conversation-scroll], [data-composer-input], [data-chat-anchor-key], [data-row-key], and the client services slots/locale/layout/shortcuts), so a future DSH DOM change may require a matching update.

Development

node --check client.js
node --check index.js
python3 -m json.tool package.json >/dev/null

Edit client.js, then reinstall/reload the bundle in the profile. The UI is rendered by a shell.overlay slot; there is no separate dev server.

Compatibility notes

• Tested on DSH Desktop (Linux) in November 2026.
• Win/Super shortcuts are outside the page's control; the plugin only ignores them.
• On a plain browser the Ctrl+F rebinding may not be available; the plugin then clicks the sidebar search button instead.
• The Ctrl+F rebinding is a persistent shortcut-setting change. It only runs once when the setting is unmodified; you can change it back in Settings → Shortcuts.

中文说明

这是一个给 DSH Web UI 用的 Vim 风格导航插件：

• j/k 按住线性滚动，松开即停；对话顶部连按 kk 加载更早历史
• h/l 切换工作区/对话焦点，i 进入输入框，jk 退出编辑，dd 清空草稿
• Ctrl+J/Ctrl+K 跳当前会话的下一条/上一条消息，gg/G 到会话顶部/底部
• f 显示当前可见对话链接的提示字母，输入字母即可打开；输入不成提示的键会退出提示模式，Esc 取消
• 工作区列表里 c x 归档光标所在会话（走该行的归档按钮；运行中的会话会弹宿主的停止并归档确认；归档后光标移到相邻行）
• h/l 在 工作区 ← 对话 → 内置浏览器 之间移动焦点；对话里 l 聚焦浏览器，浏览器里 h 回对话（主界面有焦点时）
• 桌面端内置浏览器页注入 Vim 层：j/k 线性滚动、gg/G、f 链接提示；输入框不拦截；页内 h/l 不拦截、交给页面；主界面 h/l 三栏焦点不变
• 浏览器页聚焦时按 Alt+H（Linux/Windows）或 Ctrl+H（macOS）回到对话面板；纯 h/l 不能做宿主快捷键（服务禁止无修饰字母默认键），这是最接近的可靠绑定
• Ctrl+F 搜索会话（会把宿主原本的 Ctrl+K 搜索改绑到 Ctrl+F，可在设置里改回）
• Space/Enter 选中工作区行；进入会话时保持进入前的模式（Normal 不会因为自动聚焦变成 Insert）
• Ctrl+W 在普通界面不关闭窗口；只有焦点在内置 Browser 页（webview / iframe / 地址栏）时才解禁，用来关闭该浏览页；不占用 Win/Super 系统快捷键
• 内置浏览器页内的按键由页面脚本处理，h/l 不会传回主界面；点一下对话即可返回

安装：克隆仓库后，用 DSH 的插件管理器把该目录作为本地 bundle 安装，刷新页面即可。

License

MIT © 2026 Endermy