Introduction

The philosophy of DSH is “everything is a plugin”; the community directory is an independent site, not an official app store, and has no official affiliation with DeepSeek / HuiFang. If you already have a working DSH Web and don’t want to create a new profile, reinstall plugins, and configure for the desktop, you can look at dsh-clean-desktop-shell maintained by Icather. Below introduces its positioning, capabilities, installation methods, and precautions.

What is it

dsh-clean-desktop-shell is a DSH plugin for DeepSeek Harness (DSH). It wraps a configured DSH Web with a native desktop window, providing system tray and single-instance behavior. It does not perform visual modifications: no frosted glass, no interface changes, and no controls added to the main window.

It connects to a local address by default:

127.0.0.1:3080

Remote DSH addresses can also be configured. The license is MIT. The current package.json version is 0.1.7; 0.1.7 fixed the issue where the plugin form could not locate the Electron.app path on macOS.

Core Features

  • DSH Plugin Form: Can be mounted into an existing web profile, reusing the existing profile, zero migration.
  • Native Desktop Window Shell: Provides system tray and single instance; double-click to launch opens the window immediately, waiting for backend readiness; repeated double-clicks only focus the existing window.
  • Backend Health Monitoring: Immediately switches to the offline page when the backend is closed, crashed, or manually stopped; automatically reconnects when the backend recovers.
  • Tray Backend Management: One-click start, restart, and stop backend with progress dialogs; stopping the backend truly shuts down the service on port 3080, including instances started externally.
  • Tray Auxiliary Operations: Auto-detect backend, set backend install folder, refresh window, create desktop shortcuts, check for updates, open repository homepage.
  • Desktop Shortcuts: Automatically created by the installer; the plugin form can ask to create one on first run and supports one-click re-creation via the tray.
  • Two Distribution Forms: Installer version and DSH Plugin version, sharing Electron shell code.
  • Platform Status: Windows has released NSIS installers, supports electron-updater auto-update; macOS has released Intel and Apple Silicon DMGs, manual download; Linux not supported; Mobile/Tablet supported by kernel headless / PWA remote access.

Installation and Usage

DSH Plugin Form

First, confirm that there is a usable dsh web service on the local machine, or prepare to configure a remote DSH address. The plugin installation command is:

dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-clean-desktop-shell

After restarting dsh web, the desktop shell window will pop up automatically. The first run of the plugin form requires an internet connection to prepare the Electron runtime, taking about 1-2 minutes.

Installer Form

Download the corresponding installer from Release:

Windows: DSH-Clean-Desktop-Shell-Setup-<version>.exe
macOS Intel: DSH-Clean-Desktop-Shell-<version>.dmg
macOS Apple Silicon: DSH-Clean-Desktop-Shell-<version>-arm64.dmg

The installer automatically creates desktop shortcuts. The Windows installer supports auto-update; macOS requires manual download.

Typical Usage

  1. After installing the plugin, start dsh from the command line, and the desktop window pops up automatically; you can also double-click the desktop shortcut created by the plugin or installer to launch.
  2. Use the original DSH Web functions within the window. The main window remains a pure shell without added controls.
  3. Backend-related operations are placed in the tray right-click menu: start/restart/stop backend, auto-detect backend, set backend install folder, refresh window, create desktop shortcut, check for updates, open repository homepage.
  4. When the backend is not connected, the window displays the offline page. You can reload, start the backend, auto-detect the backend, and set the backend install folder from the offline page.

Suitable Scenarios and Notes

Suitable for scenarios where DSH Web is already configured, you want to use it via a desktop window, and need to manage the local backend via the tray. It is merely a desktop shell outside of DSH Web and does not replace the dsh web service itself.

Precautions before using and installing:

  • The plugin runs with the permissions of the current dsh process. Before installing, it is recommended to check the source code, license, and dependencies; this project’s license is MIT.
  • The installer is not code-signed. Windows may trigger SmartScreen: when downloading via Edge, select “Keep / Keep anyway”; when double-clicking to install, select “More info / Run anyway”; or right-click the installer properties and select “Unblock”.
  • The macOS .dmg is unsigned and not notarized, opening it for the first time may trigger Gatekeeper, prompting that it is damaged or cannot be verified. You can run:
xattr -cr "/Applications/DSH Clean Desktop Shell.app"

Then right-click the app → Open.

  • The current developer does not have a physical Mac; macOS installation verification, signing/notarization, Electron.app executable bits, and quarantine extended attributes behaviors still rely on Mac users to verify or contribute.
  • Code signing certificates require payment, and individual open-source maintainers have not purchased one yet.
  • “Stop Backend” in the tray will truly shut down the service on port 3080, including instances started externally.

Conclusion

dsh-clean-desktop-shell concentrates on doing a few things: wrapping DSH Web into a clean desktop window, reusing the existing profile, and putting tray, single instance, backend start/stop, and offline reconnection on the desktop side. If you want to continue evaluating, you can first check the directory page and code repository:

  • Directory Page: https://www.skillhub.cn/plugins/Icather/dsh-clean-desktop-shell
  • GitHub: https://github.com/Icather/dsh-clean-desktop-shell