dsh-self-improved

Long-term memory & self-evolving plugin for DeepSeek Harness (fully local).

Status: M0–M6 complete and deployed to a real environment (web profile). Design/research docs stay local only (see .gitignore).

What it is

Adds the two missing capabilities to DSH — "cross-session memory + self-evolution":

• Memory: automatically distills key points from conversations (facts / preferences / events / instructions) into a local memory store; before each new turn, relevant memories are injected to the model — the AI "remembers you".
• Self-evolution: memories are consolidated, decayed and corrected; successful workflows can be distilled into reusable skills; the user persona keeps evolving with conversations.

The architecture follows the four-layer memory pyramid of TencentDB Agent Memory (L0 capture → L1 extraction → L2 scene grouping → L3 persona), but reuses DSH-native services (ctx.llm / session events / agent/pre-step injection / dsh-skill / storageDomain) with a fully local SQLite store (FTS5 + sqlite-vec). No data is uploaded anywhere.

Roadmap

Milestone	Scope	Status
M0	Probe: event capture / recall injection / tool registration / settings namespace	✅ Verified (isolated headless)
M1	Memory store: SQLite + FTS5 + jieba + sqlite-vec; L0 capture to disk; memory/search tools	✅ Verified (unit + headless integration)
M2	Extraction pipeline: ctx.llm L1 extraction + strict JSON validation/fallback + dedup + throttled pump	✅ Unit-tested; running in production
M3	Recall injection: agent/pre-step injection + keyword/vector/hybrid retrieval (RRF)	✅ Unit-tested + end-to-end verified
M4	Self-evolution: L2/L3 consolidation (scenes + versioned persona), decay, correct/forget tools, skill synthesis → dsh-skill	✅ Unit-tested; synthesized skills in production
M5	UI/ops: settings panel (auto-rendered) + hot runtime toggles + /memory command + memory browser	✅ Complete, deployed to web profile
M6	Growth governance (caps/cleanup) + scheduling (nightly review / free maintenance / startup backfill)	✅ Complete: governance caps, nightly review (default 22:00), 15-min loop is maintenance-only, master switch stops all timers

Installation

Since 0.1.1: the package declares dsh.bundle, so dsh plugin add / plugin-marketplace one-click install auto-mounts it (dsh registers it as a profile layer automatically) — no manual cordis.patch.yml edits needed. Just restart dsh after installing.

Option 1: npm (recommended; same as marketplace one-click)

dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-self-improved
# or find dsh-self-improved in the plugin marketplace and click install
# restart dsh — it auto-mounts

Option 2: from GitHub (source snapshot, prepare builds lib/ automatically)

# 1) One-time environment prep (only if you hit store mismatch / blocked build):
#    - point the store back to the directory consistent with node_modules:
#      pnpm config set store-dir E:\dshPro\.pnpm-store --global   # or set store-dir=... in a profile-level .npmrc
#    - allow prepare builds for git-installed packages (pnpm >= 10 blocks by default); in pnpm-workspace.yaml:
#      allowBuilds:
#        dsh-self-improved: true

# 2) Install (dsh plugin forwards to pnpm in the profile; github:owner/repo fetches the snapshot and runs prepare=tsc)
dsh plugin --profile web add github:madage/dsh-self-improved

# 3) Restart dsh (auto-mounts since 0.1.1; if it still doesn't load, add the manual insert below)

Manual mount (legacy versions or special layouts only): add to the insert list of $DSH_HOME/profiles/web/cordis.patch.yml:

- insert:
    - id: dsh-self-improved
      name: dsh-self-improved

Option 3: local development (file: link)

# build, then copy lib/ + client.js + package.json into
# $DSH_HOME/profiles/web/node_modules/dsh-self-improved/
# add "dsh-self-improved": "file:node_modules/dsh-self-improved" to package.json dependencies
# add the cordis.patch.yml insert (above) → restart

⚠️ Install notice: peerDependencies double-instance pitfall (located & fixed)

Symptom: after install, new sessions work but resuming an old session errors — deployment:persona already registered, with a hint "register through that agent's agent.ctx instead".

Root cause (not a plugin bug): pnpm's default autoInstallPeers installs the plugin's @deepseek-ai/* peerDependencies as physical copies inside the profile's node_modules, creating two independent module instances of the same package as the ones embedded in the dsh main install (e.g. dsh-scope). DSH's scoping (preset/persona layers) binds identity via Symbol("dsh.scope"); with two instances the persona registration lands in the global layer and collides with the host's deployment:persona → resume fails. New sessions happen to succeed because the global layer is not yet occupied on first registration.

Fix (verified):

1. Replace the redundant @deepseek-ai/* physical copies in the profile with symlinks to the packages embedded in the dsh main install (dsh's self-healing layout $DSH_HOME/profiles/node_modules);
2. Set auto-install-peers=false in a profile-level .npmrc (or turn off autoInstallPeers in pnpm-workspace.yaml).

Note for users (keep when publishing):

dsh-self-improved's peerDependencies may be auto-installed as physical copies in the profile; use the dsh self-healing symlink layout, or set auto-install-peers=false in the profile's .npmrc.

⚠️ Install notice: duplicate loader entry id (bundle re-mount, instant boot crash)

Symptom: dsh fails to start (window flashes and closes), and dsh --profile web --dump-config shows the same entry id twice.

Root cause: packages declaring dsh.bundle (this plugin since 0.1.1, dsh-plugin-marketplace, etc.) are automatically added to dsh.profile.bundles and their bundled cordis.patch.yml inserts one entry; if the profile-level cordis.patch.yml also manually inserts the same id → the loader throws duplicate loader entry id at boot.

Fix (verified): reset the profile-level cordis.patch.yml to [] — bundle assembly is fully owned by dsh.profile.bundles; do not manually insert bundle plugins at the profile layer.

Debug tip: if dsh crashes at startup, run dsh --profile web --dump-config and count each entry id; more than one occurrence is this problem.

Configuration

# $DSH_HOME/settings.yaml
dsh-self-improved:
  enabled: true
  modules:
    capture: true
    extract: true
    consolidate: true
    evolve: true
    recall: true
    tools: true
  review:
    enabled: true      # nightly review (one full evolution per day)
    time: "22:00"      # HH:MM, 24h

Notes:

• Master switch off = plugin fully dormant: all background timers stop (15-min maintenance loop / nightly review / startup backfill), /memory and memory tools are unregistered; stored memories are kept and everything resumes when re-enabled.
• Scheduling: the 15-minute loop only does extraction + free maintenance (decay/governance, no LLM cost); full evolution (scenes/persona/skills) runs at the nightly review (default 22:00), ~60s after startup, or via manual /memory evolve.
• /memory commands are zero-LLM: they query the local memory store directly; the command declares input, so parameterized input is handled by the command system (trigger via the command menu, /).
• The memory browser (Settings → "Self-evolving memory" → "Memory" tab) lets you view/filter/correct/forget memories, the persona, scenes and synthesized skills.

Compliance

• The plugin's architecture is inspired by TencentDB Agent Memory (MIT); it is an independent implementation with no affiliation with Tencent.
• The plugin and all its dependencies are MIT-licensed and run fully locally.

Acknowledgements

This project references the following open-source projects; many thanks to their authors and communities:

• TencentDB Agent Memory (Tencent Cloud) — the four-layer memory pyramid (L0 capture → L1 extraction → L2 scene grouping → L3 persona) and memory-management ideas are the direct inspiration for this plugin's pipeline;
• self-improving-agent (author pskoett) — a self-evolution skill in the OpenClaw ecosystem: distilling lessons, corrections and reusable flows from experience; this plugin's self-evolution module (memory consolidation / forgetting / correction + skill synthesis) takes design inspiration from it.

Docs

• README.md — this file (English)
• README.zh.md — 中文版说明
• docs/ (install/verify checklists, testing guide, design docs, DSH research) — local only, excluded via .gitignore

Unit tests: node scripts/test-storage.mjs / test-extract.mjs / test-recall.mjs / test-evolve.mjs / test-commands.mjs (all PASS).

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for the full text.

Summary:

• Grant: anyone may obtain a copy of the software and associated docs and use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense and/or sell it;
• Condition: the above copyright notice and permission notice must be included in all copies or substantial portions;
• Disclaimer: the software is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind; in no event shall the authors or copyright holders be liable for any claim, damages or other liability.

Copyright (c) 2026 mashao. package.json declares license: MIT.