dsh-plugin-update-checker
A DeepSeek Harness plugin that adds a Check updates button to the Built-in plugins settings section. Click it and the plugin scans every installed plugin bundle for (1) the latest published version on the npm registry and (2) its compatibility with the running DSH runtime — then shows one row per bundle.
It lives beside the read-only inventory tab, itself contributing no configuration: it only reports. Updating or toggling a bundle is still done in the sidebar Plugins page or via dsh plugin.
✨ What it does
| Check | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Update availability | npm registry (latest dist-tag vs the installed version) |
Registry-only. Bundles installed from a tarball / git / path publish nothing, so they are reported as Unsupported rather than falsely Up to date. |
| Compatibility | the bundle's @deepseek-ai/dsh* peerDependencies vs the running DSH version |
Reuses @deepseek-ai/dsh-app-boot's evaluatePluginCompatibility, the same helper the launcher applies on boot. An exact-version exemption granted in compatibility.json shows as Compatible (exempted). |
Compatibility and update availability are computed independently — a slow or unreachable registry can never hide an incompatible peer range, and a local-only bundle still gets a compatibility verdict.
📸 Where it sits
Open Settings → Built-in plugins. The section now has two tabs:
- Plugin list — the read-only inventory (shipped by DSH).
- Check updates — this plugin. It shows the running DSH version, a Check updates button, and the results table (plugin / installed / latest / compatibility / update).
The check is on demand: click the button, the host scans, and the table fills in. One broken manifest or an unreachable registry is isolated to its own row — it never blanks the whole report.
📦 Install
Option A — from this GitHub repository (recommended)
Open the sidebar Plugins page → Add plugin.
In the source field, enter one of these install specs (the launcher resolves them through
installBundle, the same primitive the GUI uses):github:windrover/dsh-plugin-update-checker # or the full URL: https://github.com/windrover/dsh-plugin-update-checkerRestart to load the new bundle:
dsh check # iron rule #1: preflight before restart dsh restart # reloads the web profile; the new bundle loadsOpen Settings → Built-in plugins → Check updates → Check updates. The Check button's
fetch('/api/plugin-update-checker/scan')runs inside the authenticated browser session, so it needs no manual token.
This repository is public, so installing directly from GitHub works without any extra authentication. On networks where
registry.npmjs.orgis unreachable, the launcher usesregistry.npmmirror.comautomatically.
Option B — local link (for development / editing the plugin)
Clone the package where your profile can link it:
# e.g. inside your DSH workspace git clone https://github.com/windrover/dsh-plugin-update-checker dsh-plugin-update-checkerLink it into your profile. Add a
link:dependency + abundlesentry to the profile manifest:// ~/.dsh/profiles/web/package.json { "dependencies": { "dsh-plugin-update-checker": "link:/abs/path/to/dsh-plugin-update-checker" }, "dsh": { "profile": { "bundles": [ "…", "dsh-plugin-update-checker" ] } } }Then install.
npm installrejects thelink:protocol in this profile — usepnpm(the profile is a pnpm workspace), which is whatdshwires under the hood:cd ~/.dsh/profiles/web pnpm install --registry=https://registry.npmmirror.com # link: deps don't hit the networkdsh'swire_link_plugin_depsauto-symlinks any@deepseek-ai/*the plugin imports into its ownnode_modules, but it does not handle plain npm packages — so pre-link the one real dependency yourself (the documented link-plugin gotcha: alink:plugin can't resolve packages that aren't hoisted into its tree):mkdir -p dsh-plugin-update-checker/node_modules ln -sfn ~/.npm/_npx/<active-dsh-hash>/node_modules/semver \ dsh-plugin-update-checker/node_modules/semverRestart and open it (
dsh check && dsh restart, then the same Settings path as Option A).
🔌 How it is built
One bundle, two halves:
- Host (
lib/index.js→lib/host/update-checker.js) registersPOST /api/plugin-update-checker/scan, which walks the profile's bundles (viactx.remote.pluginManager.listBundles(), falling back to scanningnode_modules), reads each manifest, evaluates peer compatibility, and probes the registry.cordis.patch.ymladds the Loader row. - Browser (
lib/client.js) registers a tab into thesettings.plugins.tabslot of the Built-in-plugins section and renders the result withreact(require("react")) and the design tokens DSH already exposes. The bundleidequals the packagename— the contractdsh-client-modulesenforces.
🧪 Test
node test/client-contract.test.mjs
Pins the browser-half contract (id == package name, one settings.plugins.tab registration, renderable body). The host scan was exercised against the live profile during development and returns { ok, dshVersion, checkedAt, plugins: [...] }.
📝 Limitations
- Read-only — it reports; it does not update or toggle anything.
- Registry reachability — registry checks need network access to the configured registry; offline or firewalled hosts show Unknown per bundle.
- Local / git / tarball bundles — publish no registry version, so their update status is Unsupported. Their compatibility is still evaluated from the local manifest.
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