dsh-nightowl

A DeepSeek Harness bundle plugin that keeps your Mac from idle-sleeping while the agent works, so long tasks can finish. The display may still turn off; closing the lid sleeps the Mac as usual.

The package has two halves: a Host half that runs /usr/bin/caffeinate -i while at least one agent turn is running, and a browser half that adds a per-session switch in the Session header and a master switch in Settings → General. No model tools, no session events, no network.

What it does and does not do

While a turn runs	Effect
System idle sleep	prevented (caffeinate -i, assertion PreventUserIdleSystemSleep)
Display sleep	allowed — the screen may turn off, the Mac keeps working
Closing the lid	allowed — the Mac sleeps as normal
Mac on battery	prevented while the turn runs (plain -i semantics)

The assertion exists only while the feature is on, at least one live agent session is running, and that session is not muted. When the last turn settles the caffeinate child is stopped; if the app crashes in the middle of a turn the child exits too (-w <host pid>), so it never outlives DeepSeek Harness.

The two switches

• Session header — a compact crescent-moon icon and switch in the Session header's utilities. On means "keep the Mac awake while this session works". Turning it off writes a per-session mute, so the Mac can sleep while that session runs; the choice is remembered in the profile.
• Settings → General → Keep awake — the master switch. Off disables the whole feature and disables the Session switch. On keeps the default behaviour: every session keeps the Mac awake unless muted.

Installing

From GitHub (recommended)

dsh plugin --profile desktop add git+https://github.com/ihodorchenko/dsh-nightowl.git

Or open Plugins → Add plugin and paste the same spec. A git install only fetches sources, so nothing is built on your machine: lib/client.js is committed and shipped ready to load. Add #v0.1.0 to pin the release tag.

From a local checkout

dsh plugin --profile desktop add link:/absolute/path/to/dsh-nightowl

The bundle patch inserts one Host row (nightowl): the package's dsh.client declaration also serves lib/client.js to the Web client, which is where the two switches come from. Removing the bundle removes both halves:

dsh plugin --profile desktop remove dsh-nightowl

The bundle is macOS-only (dsh.bundle.platforms: ["darwin"]). Requires DeepSeek Harness >=0.2.1-rc.5 (engines.dsh).

Releases

v0.1.0 is the first public release; see CHANGELOG.md for the change list. Releases are tagged on main; the tag matches the git-install spec above.

Configuration

The row's config overrides the schema defaults; both fields are volatile, so Settings edits apply live without a restart.

Field	Default	Meaning
enabled	true	Master switch: allow the Host to keep the Mac awake while sessions run.
mutedSessions	{}	Map of session id → true for sessions the user muted from the Session header.

- insert:
    - id: nightowl
      name: dsh-nightowl
      config:
        enabled: true
        mutedSessions:
          session-01234567-89ab-cdef-0123-456789abcdef: true

A profile override written by the Settings switch replaces the row's config, so keep both fields when you edit the row by hand.

How it works

• Host (index.js): inject: ['agents']. Seeds its running-session set from ctx.agents.list(), then follows agent/status, agent/created, and agent/disposed. On every change it reconciles one /usr/bin/caffeinate -i -w <host pid> child: spawn on the rising edge, SIGTERM on the falling edge, and always on plugin unload. Config references are re-read on loader/volatile-update. Non-macOS hosts and a missing caffeinate leave the plugin inert with one warning.
• Client (src/client/index.tsx → lib/client.js): a Cordis client plugin injecting slots, locale, and configForms. It registers the Session-header switch in conversation.session.header.utilities and the master row in settings.general.item; both read and write the nightowl settings entry through the shared configuration forms.

Development

pnpm install     # devDependencies: esbuild + @deepseek-ai/schemastery
pnpm run build   # rebuilds lib/client.js and lib/client.js.map
pnpm test        # node --test "tests/**/*.mjs" — 25 host tests + 5 client-bundle tests

index.js is authored JavaScript and ships as-is; lib/client.js is the only built artifact. The bundle is the DSH closure-factory format (window.__ModuleLoader__.load({ id, factory })), with React and @deepseek-ai/dsh-client-ui-primitives resolved from the page's shared platform modules.

Limitations

• macOS only. The plugin is inert elsewhere; Linux/Windows wake locks are not implemented.
• Muting a session keys the decision by session id. The map accumulates as you mute sessions; it is harmless but you can prune stale ids in cordis.patch.yml.
• The switch reflects configuration, not a live assertion reading. The assertion follows the running agents; there is no "awake now" badge.

License

MIT © Night Owl contributors