Preface¶

DeepSeek Harness (dsh) treats models, tools, sessions, sandboxes and interfaces as plugins, with the official slogan “Everything is a plugin”. The developer preview version of the web interface is conversation-focused by default: when an agent reads files or writes code in the workspace, you often need to open a separate terminal or editor to see the directory structure and the content you just modified.

The community plugin dsh-file-explorer does a straightforward job: it adds a folder button to the title bar of a web session. When clicked, a resizable file tree appears on the right side of the page. Markdown can be rendered, common source code is highlighted by extension, and you can edit files in the panel and write changes back to disk. You can also launch VS Code with one click when you need a full IDE.

This article is organized after cross-checking the community plugin directory page, GitHub repository README, package.json and source code. It should be noted that DeepSeek Harness itself is maintained by DeepSeek AI, and its repository is at deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness; the plugin directory used in this article deepseek-harness-plugin.com is an independent community site and has no official affiliation with DeepSeek / 幻方. Do not treat it as an official app store.

What is this¶

dsh-file-explorer is a file explorer plugin for DeepSeek Harness Web Interface, maintained by GitHub user joejojoking-cloud, and categorized under “Tools and Capabilities” in the community directory. The current version of the repository is 0.1.3 (from package.json), and the main language is JavaScript. The directory page shows 14 stars, and the current GitHub repository has 15 stars — these numbers will change over time, so refer to the page when you open it.

It solves the problem of “not being able to see, find, or edit workspace files in a web session”, rather than building another standalone IDE. According to the positioning in the README, after installing and restarting the harness, all sessions will load this plugin: the host side provides the /plugins/file-explorer/* route, and the web client is responsible for the right-side panel and the title bar button.

The package.json marks the license field as MIT, but there is currently no separate LICENSE file in the repository root, and GitHub has not identified the license. You should still check the source code yourself before installing.

Core Features¶

The following capabilities are from the repository README and cross-verified with lib/index.js and lib/client.js, and no undocumented features are included.

Right-side File Tree Panel¶

The plugin attaches the panel to shell.overlay, slides out from the right side of the page, and can be toggled on and off. The left edge of the panel can be dragged to adjust the width, with a recommended range of 260–900px as stated in the README. When the panel is open, there is a “>” collapse button in the middle of the left edge; double-clicking the chat area will also retract the panel.

The left side of the panel title bar reads “Files”, and the right side has five icons with the following functions:
- Open the entire workspace in VS Code
- Expand all / Collapse all
- Refresh
- Enter edit mode
- Close the panel

A “File Explorer” button will appear on the right side of the session title bar to toggle the panel. The file tree takes the current session workspace as the root, which is expanded by default; clicking a directory lazy-loads its child items, and clicking again collapses them.

File Search¶

There is a search box at the top of the panel, with the placeholder “Search files”. The search recursively scans the workspace, skips .git and node_modules, and returns up to 300 results. The host-side implementation also has a scan node limit (4000), and results will have a truncation marker when the limit is reached. Matching is based on substring inclusion in filenames (and directory names), case-insensitively.

Markdown Preview and Syntax Highlighting¶

Single-clicking or double-clicking a file opens a preview:
- .md files will render Markdown, including headings, lists, code blocks, blockquotes and links; fenced code blocks are highlighted by language.
- Other text files are automatically highlighted by extension. The languages listed in the README include JSON, YAML, JS, TS, Python, C, C++, Java, Go, Rust, Shell, SQL, TOML, INI, CSS, HTML, etc. The highlighting logic is written in the client with no additional runtime dependencies.
- Files larger than 1 MB are not supported for preview, and the interface will prompt that the file is too large. The host-side read limit is 1_000_000 bytes, which matches the README.
- Clicking the currently previewed file again will close the preview box.

In-panel Editing¶

Clicking the “Edit” icon in the title bar turns the preview area into editable text. Saving will write back to disk via the host’s write route. This is a real file write, not a temporary draft in the session.

One-click Open VS Code¶

The VS Code icon passes the current workspace path to the native code command. The host side first uses subprocess to directly start the executable; on Windows, if the resolved wrapper script is a .cmd file, it will try to use Code.exe instead. If code cannot be found, it will return “VS Code not found (code command not in PATH)”. Therefore, you need to be able to run code in the terminal on your local machine first.

Installation and Activation¶

The installation command given on the community directory page is as follows, run it in the DeepSeek Harness terminal:

dsh plugin add github:joejojoking-cloud/dsh-file-explorer

This is the original text from the directory page — do not construct the repository name yourself. The package.json marks the client platform as web, and the installation example in the README also includes --profile web. When actually using the web interface, the more reliable way is to install it into the web profile:

dsh plugin --profile web add github:joejojoking-cloud/dsh-file-explorer

You need to restart the harness after installation. The README clearly states that all sessions will load the plugin only after restarting (the host route /plugins/file-explorer/* + web client panel). The cordis.patch.yml will insert id: file-explorer and name: dsh-file-explorer into the host combination of the current profile, so you generally do not need to manually modify the patch.

The directory page recommends pinning the commit hash for reproducible installations, with the template:

dsh plugin add github:joejojoking-cloud/dsh-file-explorer#commit

Replace the trailing commit with the actual hash from the repository. The latest commit on the main branch verified in this article is 9e1f3ea7baa43d737c51ffc68adb5eb95b024c32 (2026-08-15, version bumped to 0.1.3). The fixed installation command can be written as:

dsh plugin --profile web add github:joejojoking-cloud/dsh-file-explorer#9e1f3ea7baa43d737c51ffc68adb5eb95b024c32

The hash will change as the repository is updated, so please confirm it on GitHub before installing.

Typical Usage¶

The following steps are all from the README and the actual interface copy, and can be reproduced in the same order:

Confirm that you can open the DeepSeek Harness web interface (the common entry points from the official repository are npx @deepseek-ai/dsh web or pnpm dsh web in the source code).
Run the dsh plugin command from the previous section in the terminal, then restart the harness.
Open any session. The file explorer button should appear on the right side of the title bar, and clicking it will open the file tree on the right side of the page.
Expand directories in the tree, single-click a .md or source code file, and the right preview area will render Markdown or highlighted text.
When you need to edit a file, click “Edit” in the title bar, make changes, and save to write the content back to the workspace disk. When you no longer need the preview, click the file again to close the preview box.
When there are many files, use “Search files” to filter by name; .git and node_modules paths will not appear in the results.
When you need a full editor, click the VS Code icon. If the native code command is not in the PATH, this button will not successfully open the project.

The plugin is split into two parts, which can help you understand the behavior after installation:
- lib/index.js: Host side, registers five HTTP routes list / search / read / write / open-vscode, and file operations use dsh’s fs service.
- lib/client.js: Web client, registers the shell.overlay panel and the conversation.session.header.actions toggle button.

Applicable Scenarios and Notes¶

It is suitable for these situations:
- You mainly collaborate with agents in DeepSeek Harness web interface and want to easily check the workspace directory and newly generated files.
- You need to quickly glance at README, configuration or source code without switching to VS Code every time.
- You want to modify a few lines of configuration or Markdown and immediately write the changes back to disk, then let the agent continue running.

Please note the following boundaries before use, all from the directory page or repository implementation, not speculation:
- Only for web profile. The dsh.client.platform in package.json is web. Headless / TUI sessions will not show this panel.
- Preview has a size limit. Files larger than 1 MB will not be loaded for preview.
- Search is not full-text search. It matches path names, skips .git and node_modules, and returns up to 300 results.
- Editing writes to disk. The write route passes the content to fs.writeText. The plugin runs with the permissions of the current dsh process, and can modify files that the process has permission to modify.
- VS Code depends on the native code command. If VS Code is not installed, or the command is not in the PATH, this button will be ineffective.
- Community plugin, still in early version. The current version is 0.1.3, the repository was created on 2026-08-14, and the API and interface may continue to change. There are other file browsing plugins in the community with similar names, so please confirm joejojoking-cloud/dsh-file-explorer when installing.

The security prompt on the directory page should be treated seriously: the plugin runs with the permissions of the current dsh process and may execute code during installation. Please check the source code repository and license before installing; for reproducible installations, please pin the commit hash.

Summary¶

dsh-file-explorer integrates file tree, Markdown preview, syntax highlighting, in-panel editing and VS Code launching into the DeepSeek Harness web session, reducing the need to switch windows during the conversation. It is not an official built-in feature, nor is it a full IDE, but it is sufficient for browsing directories, reading documents and editing small files under the web profile.

Directory page: https://deepseek-harness-plugin.com/zh-CN/plugins/dsh-file-explorer/

GitHub: https://github.com/joejojoking-cloud/dsh-file-explorer

DeepSeek Harness official repository: https://github.com/deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness

Add a file explorer to DeepSeek Harness web session with dsh-file-explorer