Foreword

A common scenario when running long tasks with DeepSeek Harness (DSH) is: the Agent modifies code or runs tests in the background, while you switch to VS Code, browser, or terminal to do other things meanwhile. When the WebUI tab is closed or obscured, it’s difficult to tell at a glance whether DSH is thinking, executing, waiting for your confirmation, or has already errored out and stopped.

The community plugin dsh-dafeiyu (DSH Big Fish) addresses exactly this pain point. Developed by maintainer QCYTSN, it is categorized as a “client-side” plugin in the SkillHub plugin repository, with approximately 252 stars and 27 forks on GitHub. The plugin is published as the npm package dsh-dafeiyu, with code under the MIT license.

First, clarify the ecosystem context: DSH’s core philosophy is “everything is a plugin.” Community directories like SkillHub are third-party discovery portals and have no official affiliation with DeepSeek / High-Flyer. Before installing any community plugin, it is recommended to review the source code and license yourself—plugins run with the permissions of the current dsh process.

What It Is

DSH Big Fish is a desktop-native BigFish companion: enabled via the DSH plugin mechanism, its lifecycle follows the DSH Host, and it displays the Agent’s status on the desktop as a transparent, borderless, always-on-top native window.

It is not a standalone desktop pet program that needs to be launched separately, nor does it read the screen or monitor operations in VS Code or browsers. All state changes come from real DSH Agent events; when there is no to-do data, it only displays reliable information such as “Analysis Phase” or “Implementation Phase,” without fabricating completion percentages.

The current README indicates version 0.1.5, supporting Windows 10/11 x64, WSL2 (launching the desktop Helper via Windows interop), Linux x64 desktop (X11 or XWayland), with macOS 12.0+ as experimental support.

Core Features and Highlights

  1. View Status Away from WebUI: Big Fish stays on the top layer of the desktop, so you can still see what DSH is doing even when switched to other software.
  2. Event-Driven, Not Screen Scraping: States like thinking, searching, modifying, executing, verifying, waiting, completed, and error correspond to different animations and text.
  3. Appropriate Information: The status card can display the project directory name, current phase, ongoing steps, and structured to-do progress provided by DSH (e.g., “Completed 3/5 steps”).
  4. Multi-Session Priority: When multiple DSH Sessions run simultaneously, they are prioritized as “Waiting for Confirmation > Error > Working > Thinking > Idle,” and the bubble can list multiple active tasks at once.
  5. Zero Extra Entry Points: Starts and stops with DSH; no need to separately install Python, configure ports, or manually open the Helper; the Helper for Windows / Linux / macOS is packaged in the release.
  6. Configurable Interaction: Character and bubble size, bubble display strategy, idle micro-animations, reduced motion, sound prompts, whether to respond to sub-agents, and more are all adjustable in the WebUI settings.

Installation and Enabling

Before installation, please fully exit the DSH Host (not just close the browser tab) to avoid residual old plugin processes.

Execute the following in the DSH installation directory (in PowerShell or terminal):

dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-dafeiyu

If dsh is not globally exposed on your system, you can use the project’s pnpm to invoke it:

pnpm exec dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-dafeiyu

To try the @alpha test version, change the package name to dsh-dafeiyu@alpha. You can also download dsh-dafeiyu-<version>.tgz from GitHub Releases (do not extract it) and install it locally:

dsh plugin --profile web add "C:\Users\you\Downloads\dsh-dafeiyu-<version>.tgz"

WSL2 users run the same command in the WSL terminal; the plugin will start the Windows Helper packaged within via cmd.exe. Linux x64 users also use the same command; remote headless Linux and containers are not within the display target scope. The installation command for macOS is the same, but as experimental support, you may encounter Gatekeeper interception when downloading the package (ad-hoc signed, not yet notarized).

After installation, start the DSH WebUI as usual. Access the settings here:

Settings → Plugins → Plugin Config → Big Fish Desktop Companion

Ensure “Enable Big Fish” is checked. When updating the plugin, first fully exit DSH, then execute:

dsh plugin --profile web update dsh-dafeiyu

To uninstall:

dsh plugin --profile web remove dsh-dafeiyu

Typical Usage

No extra steps are needed after installation; just use DSH as part of your daily workflow:

  1. Start DSH and begin a project task in the WebUI.
  2. Big Fish switches animations and status cards (thinking, working, waiting for confirmation, completed, error, etc.) based on DSH events.
  3. Switch to other windows to continue working; the companion window stays on top.
  4. After the DSH Host actually exits, Big Fish closes automatically.

For desktop interaction: drag to reposition (auto-saved); single-click or double-click triggers short interactions; the right-click menu allows resizing, hiding the bubble, opening WebUI, “Hide for This Session,” or “Close for This Session.” “Close for This Session” suppresses automatic restart for the duration of the current DSH run; it will reappear when DSH is launched next time.

If you don’t see Big Fish after installation, check sequentially: whether you used --profile web, whether you restarted the DSH Host, whether it’s enabled in settings, and whether you used a release package that includes the pre-built Helper (cloning the source code alone is usually insufficient).

Use Cases and Considerations

Who It’s For:

  • Developers who let DSH Agents run tasks for extended periods while needing to work in parallel in an IDE / browser;
  • Users who want a glanceable desktop indicator of “whether it’s waiting for my confirmation” or “whether an error has occurred”;
  • Primarily Windows / WSL2 desktop environments, or local graphical sessions on Linux x64.

Things to Note:

  • The plugin is bound to the DSH Host lifecycle, not a browser tab; when the web page is closed but the Host is still running, Big Fish will continue to display.
  • Numeric progress is only shown when DSH writes structured to-dos; when there are no to-dos, only phase information is displayed. This is by design to avoid false percentages.
  • Privacy boundaries (per the official README): does not read API keys, does not take screenshots, does not collect telemetry, does not monitor keyboards or other applications, and does not open new network ports.
  • Community plugins require you to audit the code yourself; character visual assets are subject to a separate ASSET_LICENSE.md, distinct from the MIT code license.
  • The same author’s standalone desktop pet project ds-local-pet is different from this plugin: this repository serves only DSH status display.

Summary

If you want DSH’s Agent status to be “visible even away from WebUI,” dsh-dafeiyu maps real events to a desktop-top companion window. It has low installation overhead and reliable information sources, making it one of the more popular choices among client-side plugins.