DSH Desktop

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A desktop product around the unmodified published DeepSeek Harness packages: the full Web UI running with no Node HTTP server and no port, composed entirely as Cordis plugins over the @deepseek-ai/* family. The desktop shell — the window, tray, and system integration — rides on Electron; every capability (the socketless webserver, the renderer connection, the shell itself) is a plugin row, so each is replaceable from configuration without touching a published package.

• Upstream project: DeepSeek Harness — the open-source agent harness this product wraps.
• Plugin store: dsh-market — the community plugin market, built in.

Features

Full Web UI with a zero-socket host

Runs the complete DeepSeek Harness Web UI (session log, tools, model route, agent loop) in a desktop window. The host never binds a socket: a virtual webServer interceptor provides the official route-registry contract without a port, the renderer wire client rides an Electron IPC bridge instead of HTTP/WebSocket, and every host route (the /api plane, the session-log download, and any plugin route) dispatches in-process. The official modules, ui-theme, web-runtime, and frontend-static rows activate unchanged. The interceptor reports a stable virtual port, and the host-side virtual-host transport serves plugins that read webServer.port and reach the harness from the main process (dsh-im and similar) in-process too.

Built-in plugin market

Ships dshmarket as the default plugin market: open Settings → Plugin Market, browse, search, and one-click install community plugins. The market's /dsh-market/* routes dispatch through the in-process host, and the desktop provides the market's host contract (desktopProfiles + desktopPnpm). Installs run the real dsh plugin --profile desktop … CLI, which drives pnpm from the system PATH — the desktop appends the standard user tool locations (Homebrew, ~/.local/bin, ~/.local/share/pnpm, ~/.npm-global, ~/.volta, and nvm) to that PATH, so installing plugins requires pnpm in one of those standard locations. Installed plugins load at the next boot through a profile-anchored loader hook.

System tray and close-to-tray

A system tray (show / restart host / quit) is always present, and its labels follow the app's actual display language. A General-settings preference controls what closing the window does: quit the app, or hide to the tray and keep the host running in the background.

In-process host reboot

Changes that cannot hot-load (for example a market install that needs a restart) apply through Restart host in the settings General section or the tray's Restart host item: the host disposes and re-boots in-process, the IPC bridge is re-installed, and the renderer reloads — the Electron process, window, and tray stay up.

Agent presets shipped

The desktop composes the shipped agent-preset root, so the roster matches dsh web: the standard, code, minimal, and cordis presets resolve at system trust and session start never fails with preset not found.

Boot self-healing

A broken plugin install never blocks the app from opening: bundles whose packages cannot be resolved are dropped from the profile manifest (with a warning) before mount, and the app recovers on the next clean boot.

Runtime modes

From source (development)

pnpm install         # resolves @deepseek-ai/* from the dist-tags recorded in upstream.json
pnpm build           # compile the TypeScript sources (tsc + esbuild + the verify:upstream gate)
pnpm check           # strict type-check + tests for every package
pnpm start           # build, then launch the Electron app

Packaged app

dsh-plugin-desktop ships installable artifacts through electron-builder:

pnpm package:dir      # unsigned unpacked app for the current host (dist/<platform>-unpacked)
pnpm dist:mac         # macOS DMG (on a macOS host)
pnpm dist:win         # Windows x64 NSIS installer (on a Windows host)
pnpm dist:linux       # Linux AppImage + deb + rpm (on a Linux host)

Headless boot proof

The transport is verified headless — a fake bridge and a profile boot run with no browser, no socket, and no window:

pnpm -r test          # headless boot proof + client carrier tests

The Electron window is the runnable shell over the same in-process host the tests boot.

Continuous integration

GitHub Actions gates every commit and produces installers:

• .github/workflows/ci.yml — on every push to master and every pull request: pnpm check (type-check, compile, and tests for every package) plus a headless package:dir packaging proof.
• .github/workflows/build.yml — on a v* tag, manual dispatch, or a master push touching packaging files: builds mac DMG, Windows x64 NSIS, and Linux AppImage + deb + rpm on native runners and uploads the unsigned artifacts.

CI installs the workspace the same way a local checkout does — resolving @deepseek-ai/* fresh from the dist-tags in upstream.json, since pnpm-lock.yaml is not committed.

Versioning and releases

Versions follow Semantic Versioning, and every release ships a GitHub Release with the installers attached. Commit messages follow Conventional Commits: feat bumps minor, fix bumps patch, a BREAKING CHANGE bumps major.

The flow is automatic:

1. Merge to master — .github/workflows/release-please.yml inspects the commits since the last release and opens a release PR that bumps the version in every package.json and updates CHANGELOG.md.
2. Merge the release PR — release-please creates the vX.Y.Z tag and the GitHub Release.
3. The tag push triggers .github/workflows/build.yml, which builds mac DMG, Windows x64 NSIS, and Linux AppImage + deb + rpm on native runners and attaches them (plus a SHA256SUMS checksum file) to the Release.

Users download the app from the repository's Releases page: macOS picks the DMG, Windows the -Setup.exe, Linux the AppImage/deb/rpm.

Screenshots

Screenshots are added by the maintainer. The blocks below are placeholders — drop the images into docs/screenshots/ and update the paths.

The main window: the full DeepSeek Harness Web UI in the desktop shell.

The built-in plugin market: browse, search, and one-click install.

References

• Upstream project — DeepSeek Harness (dsh): the open-source agent harness this desktop wraps. This repository consumes the published @deepseek-ai/* packages resolved from the dist-tags recorded in upstream.json (next for the dsh family, latest for the cordis framework); there is no upstream source checkout here.
• Plugin store — dsh-market (dshmarket): the community plugin market. The desktop ships it as the default market; third-party plugins published to the awesome-dsh-plugin registry appear there.

Technical overview

Zero-socket transport

Piece	Row / package	Replaces
Socketless webserver	dsh-plugin-desktop/webserver	the official webserver row (disabled)
Renderer wire client	dsh-plugin-desktop-connection	the official connection row (disabled) — node half re-exports upstream, client half rides Electron IPC
Boot manifest	Electron preload (window.__DSH_BOOT__)	the server index tap
RPC dispatch	ipcMain (connection.createSharedFetchHandler + apiProxy)	the HTTP/WebSocket carrier
Virtual-host HTTP proxy	dsh-plugin-desktop-connection client + dispatchHttpRequest (main)	the host HTTP surface — any webserver route dispatches in-process over IPC
Virtual-host WebSocket bridge	dsh-plugin-desktop-connection client + websocket-bridge (main)	the host WebSocket surface — upgrade routes serve in-process over IPC
Host-side virtual-host transport	host-bridge (main)	the host-side surface — plugins that read webServer.port and reach the harness with fetch/WebSocket are served in-process (dsh-im and similar)

Repository layout

upstream.json                    upstream provenance (dist-tags + pinned-copy version/commit)
packages/
  dsh-plugin-desktop/             shell row, virtual webserver, Electron main, packaging
  dsh-plugin-desktop-connection/  renderer wire client over Electron IPC
docs/                            architecture map
.agents/notes/                   Agent Notes (decision records)

Model Experience

The desktop is a presentation and transport surface over the standard DeepSeek Harness agent. It changes no model-facing behavior: the same session log, tools, model route, and agent loop run underneath. The transport (Electron IPC instead of HTTP/WebSocket) and the socketless host are invisible to the model.

Known limitations

• The Electron shell is minimal: one window plus the IPC bridge. Terminal, profile management, updates, and signed releases are deferred.
• The host reboot is manual (a settings action and a tray item); auto-triggering waits on a durable host-readable signal.
• The renderer ConnectionController is a pinned copy of the upstream source; verify:upstream fails the build when the installed family differs, forcing a reapply from the recorded commit.
• The desktop keeps a zero-socket host; the deepseek-harness-desktop project is the alternative loopback-carrier design for comparison.
• The host-side virtual-host transport serves the standard web APIs (fetch/WebSocket); a plugin that reaches the harness through raw node:http/https (e.g. axios without the fetch adapter) has no intercepted path and would need a real socket.