Introduction

DeepSeek Harness (DSH) adopts an “everything is a plugin” architecture. For developers who prefer working in the terminal, directly using a Web interface or basic command line for managing sessions, switching models, and configuring providers is often inefficient. dsh-native-tui is a community-maintained TUI plugin that wraps the core capabilities of DeepSeek Harness in a terminal interface, providing a complete experience for session, provider, and model management as well as terminal interaction.

Installation and Activation

  1. Ensure Node.js 22+ and npm are installed in the environment.
  2. Clone the repository and run the installation script.
git clone https://github.com/hanlinlibham/dsh-native-tui.git
cd dsh-native-tui
./install.sh
deepseek .

The installer pins @deepseek-ai/dsh@0.1.0-rc.6, creates an abletui profile, and installs the launcher to ~/.local/bin/deepseek. If ~/.local/bin/deepseek is already in use, the installer stops and does not overwrite the existing file.

Core Features

Session Management

  • New and Continue: Start a new session in the current directory, or continue the most recent session.
  • History Recovery: Select a historical session from the list, or restore a session by exact session ID.
  • Persistence: All messages are persisted, and after recovery they are replayed in the original event order.
  • Renaming: Supports renaming sessions.

Provider Management

  • Status View: View providers and their active, configured, and dormant states.
  • Credential Entry: Enter an API key with masking inside the TUI. The key is written to the Harness credential service, not to general settings.
  • Manual Refresh: Supports manual refresh and responds to changes in providers, settings, and credentials.

Model Management

  • Browse and Switch: Browse models grouped by provider and switch the currently used model.
  • Reasoning Effort: Supports adjusting reasoning effort when switching models.
  • Persistent Settings: The model selection is written to default settings and continues to be used by subsequent requests and new sessions.

Terminal Interaction

  • Official Logo: Uses the official DeepSeek Harness gradient wordmark.
  • Tool Calls: Tool calls expand progressively, supporting recursive tool tree, diff, error, and full result viewing.
  • Layout Modes: Supports full-screen mode (PgUp / PgDn) and inline mode (native terminal scrolling, selection, and copying).
  • Input Enhancement: Provides / command completion, @ path completion, input history, and ! local commands.

Harness Capabilities

  • Code Mode and Workflow: Supports Code Mode and Workflow.
  • Subagents and Jobs: View subagents (agents) and background jobs (jobs).
  • HITL Interaction: Supports human-in-the-loop (HITL) interactions such as tool approval, batch questions, and plan review.
  • Context Management: Supports viewing token count, context usage, and compression status.
  • MCP and Attachments: Supports viewing loaded MCP services and tools, as well as the attachment list and workspace text preview.

Usage

Startup Commands

deepseek .                      # 在当前目录新建会话
deepseek --continue .           # 继续当前项目最近一次会话
deepseek --resume .             # 打开历史会话选择器
deepseek --resume=SESSION_ID .  # 精确恢复指定会话

TUI Internal Commands

Command Description
/new Create a new session
/clear Clear the current session
/provider Manage providers and credentials
/model Switch model and reasoning effort
/permission Switch permission presets
/context View token and context details
/agents View subagents
/jobs View background jobs
/tools View tools
/theme Switch and save color theme
/mcp View loaded MCP services and tools

Common Shortcuts

  • Enter: Send a message or confirm a selection
  • Alt+Enter: Insert a line break
  • Tab / ↑ / ↓: Completion and history selection
  • Shift+Tab: Open the permission selector
  • Esc: Close a popup or interrupt the current turn
  • PgUp / PgDn: Navigate history in full-screen mode
  • Ctrl+L: Clear the screen
  • Ctrl+C / Ctrl+D: Interrupt or exit

Notes

  • Community Project: dsh-native-tui is a community project, not an official DeepSeek release, and does not represent DeepSeek.
  • License: The project is licensed under the MIT License.
  • Runtime Mechanism: The plugin runs through the public Harness service, event, and presenter interfaces and does not modify the Harness kernel.
  • Source Review: It is recommended to review the source code and license before installation.

Conclusion

dsh-native-tui provides a solution for using DeepSeek Harness fully in the terminal, suitable for developers who need efficient session management and model invocation in a command-line environment.