Foreword

In local development environments, developers often configure multiple MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers in agents such as Claude Code, Codex, or CodeBuddy. The configuration files usually contain only command-line arguments and addresses, making it impossible to confirm whether these services are actually available. The DeepSeek Harness (DSH) plugin ecosystem allows us to extend functionality. This article introduces dsh-scan-mcp, which fills this gap.

Plugin Introduction

dsh-scan-mcp is a Windows-only MCP Hub plugin maintained by chenbin-dev. Its core functionality is to automatically discover MCP servers from local coding agent configuration files, probe connection status through a real MCP initialize handshake (supporting both stdio and streamable-http transports), and provide enable/disable and management controls in the UI.

Core Features

  • Automatic Configuration Scanning: Reads MCP configurations from Claude Code (~/.claude.json), Codex (~/.codex/config.toml), and CodeBuddy (~/.codebuddy/mcp.json), and deduplicates across agents so that the same MCP is shown only once.
  • Real Connection Probing: For stdio transports, it starts the actual process; for streamable-http transports, it sends a real HTTP POST request, parses JSON and SSE responses, and verifies the server’s online status.
  • Probe Enabled Items Only: Only MCP servers in the enabled state are connection-probed; disabled servers are shown as offline and are not probed.
  • Interactive Management: Provides a /mcp popup panel and sliding switches on the settings page, supporting reconnect tests for individual servers.
  • Tool Exposure: Exposes the mcp_discovered_catalog tool to the model for reading scan results and connectivity information.

Installation and Enabling

Before installation, make sure the environment meets the requirements: Windows, DeepSeek Harness (DSH) with a web profile (dsh web), and Node.js >= 20.

  1. Run the installation command (replace <profile-name> with your DSH profile name, for example, web):
dsh plugin --profile <profile-name> add dsh-scan-mcp
  1. After installation, restart the profile (for example, run dsh web again). The plugin exists as a static package and does not require approval for each session.

Typical Usage

  • Control Panel: Type /mcp in any session to open the MCP control panel. The panel displays the deduplicated MCP count, online/offline/disabled status, endpoint information, and failure reasons.
  • Settings Page: Go to Settings → Windows MCP Control Center to view all MCP servers in a card layout.
  • Model Tool: In model conversations, the model can directly call the mcp_discovered_catalog tool to retrieve the full MCP catalog information.

Use Cases and Notes

  • Use Cases: Developers on Windows who use Claude Code, Codex, CodeBuddy, or other agents and need to manage the connectivity of their MCP services in a unified way.
  • Notes:
    • The plugin runs with the permissions of the current DSH process. Review the source code and license (MIT) before installation.
    • Privacy and Security: The plugin displays only the names of environment variables and headers; it never reads or displays the actual credential values.
    • Probing Behavior: Probing is limited to the MCP initialize handshake. It does not invoke MCP tools and does not leave any running processes behind.
    • Status Persistence: Enable/disable switch states are persisted to ~/.dsh/dsh-scan-mcp.json.

Conclusion

dsh-scan-mcp provides DSH users on Windows with visual management capabilities for MCP services. Through real handshake probing and UI control, it resolves the disconnect between configured entries and actual connectivity. For more details, visit GitHub or the Community Directory.