dsh-serena

One-line value: install this and every DeepSeek Harness agent gains IDE-grade symbolic code intelligence — find_symbol, find_referencing_symbols, rename_symbol, replace_symbol_body, get_symbols_overview and more — via the Serena MCP server, plus session hooks that keep agents actually using it.

Capability category: 工具与能力 (Tools & Capabilities) License: MIT · Compatibility: DSH ≥ 0.2.0-rc.2 (bundles API); Windows/macOS/Linux; Python ≥ 3.11 for the Serena CLI

What it adds to every agent on the profile

Row	Module	Purpose
mcp-serena	@deepseek-ai/dsh-mcp-client	Spawns the Serena MCP server (stdio) → mcp__serena__* tools: symbol search & overview, find references/implementations/declarations, rename & safe-delete symbols, symbolic editing, per-project memories, diagnostics
dsh-hooks-claude-code	@deepseek-ai/dsh-hooks-claude-code (dependency of this bundle)	Runs ~/.dsh/hooks.json: session-start project activation prompt, tool-drift reminders toward Serena's tools, stop cleanup

Launched with --context claude-code --project-from-cwd: each session auto-activates its workspace as the Serena project, and tools that duplicate DSH built-ins (file read/search/shell) stay hidden.

Install

One command (recommended):

dsh plugin --profile web add github:akash-digitavision/dsh-serena

or in Settings → Plugin Market (DSH Plugin Hub), search for dsh-serena.

Prerequisites

1. The Serena CLI — the official install puts serena on your PATH (the bundle's default):

   # install uv first: https://docs.astral.sh/uv/getting-started/installation/
   uv tool install -p 3.13 serena-agent
   

   Custom location? Point the bundle at it:

   setx SERENA_COMMAND "C:\path\to\serena.exe"
   

   Windows note (Smart App Control / WDAC): application-control policies may block uv-managed unsigned Python builds. Workaround: build a venv from a trusted/signed interpreter, pip install serena-agent into it, and setx SERENA_COMMAND to that venv's serena.exe.

2. The hooks file ~/.dsh/hooks.json (Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.dsh\hooks.json) — copy hooks.template.json:

   {
     "SessionStart": [{ "matcher": "", "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "serena-hooks activate --client=claude-code" }] }],
     "PreToolUse":    [{ "matcher": "", "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "serena-hooks remind --client=claude-code" }] }],
     "Stop":          [{ "matcher": "", "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "serena-hooks cleanup --client=claude-code" }] }]
   }
   

   serena-hooks ships with uv tool install serena-agent. If it is not on the DSH process PATH, use the absolute path to the executable in the template.

Then restart DeepSeek Harness. Verify by asking an agent: "activate this project with serena".

Permissions & external services

• Spawns a local serena MCP server process (language servers may download per-language tooling on demand)
• Reads/writes only your activated project workspaces; memories stored per-project in .serena/
• No accounts, no API keys, no telemetry

Known limitations

• The hooks-bridge dependency is version-pinned (@deepseek-ai/dsh-hooks-claude-code 0.2.0-rc.2); if your DSH runtime is newer and install is rejected for peer incompatibility, match the version to your runtime
• First symbol query in a new project downloads that language's language server — first call can be slow

Uninstall

Remove dsh-serena from the profile dsh.profile.bundles + dependencies (or dsh plugin remove), then restart the host. The Serena CLI, venv and hooks file are independent of the bundle.

Credits

Upstream: oraios/serena (MIT / GPL-3.0) — this bundle only wires it into DeepSeek Harness.