Introduction

DeepSeek Harness（DSH）loads skills from the file system by default, such as ~/.agents/skills or the project-level .dsh/skills. However, DSH does not provide a UI for viewing installed skills or switching their status. dsh-skill-manager fills this gap by providing the ability to list skills, view their status, and enable/disable them instantly.

Features

This plugin provides the following capabilities:

  • List skills: Lists all skills in the file system, along with their enabled status and a one-line description.
  • Instant toggling: Enables or disables any skill without restarting the DSH process.
  • Settings UI: Includes a built-in “Skills” page, allowing toggling via the UI.
  • Disable mechanism: Disables a skill by renaming SKILL.md to SKILL.md.disabled. A disabled skill immediately disappears from the model-visible directory.

Installation

This plugin is a dsh bundle (it declares dsh.bundle.patch), so it is installed the same way as other profile-based plugins.

Prerequisites

  • Node.js ≥ 22.19 (check version: node --version)
  • A dsh web profile (dsh plugin command points to a profile directory, e.g. --profile web)

Installation Steps

Before installing, please note:

  1. Name conflict warning: An npm package with the same name exists (published by a different author). It must be installed from this repository.
  2. pnpm workspace: The profile directory is the pnpm workspace root. The installation command must include the -w flag.

Installation command:

dsh plugin --profile web add -w Thomas-key/dsh-skill-manager

If installing from a local checkout:

  1. Enter the plugin directory.
  2. Install dependencies:
npm install
  1. Return to the parent directory and install the plugin:
cd ..
dsh plugin --profile web add -w ./dsh-skill-manager

Usage

After installation, restart dsh web, then use it in the following ways:

  1. Settings UI: Open Settings → Skills. This lists all skills and allows toggling them.
  2. Agent commands: Ask the agent:
    • “List my skills.”
    • “Disable the skill read.”

The agent will call the skills_list or skills_toggle tool. Toggling takes effect immediately; you can ask the agent again to verify the change in the skill list.

How It Works and Limits

Workflow

  1. The agent calls skills_list or skills_toggle.
  2. The host plugin bridges via node -e (stdin: JSON operation, stdout: JSON result).
  3. The plugin scans skill root directories or renames SKILL.md <-> SKILL.md.disabled.
  4. DSH’s file-system skill provider detects the change and immediately updates the model-visible directory.

Limits

  • Scan scope: Only the four standard skill root directories are scanned; other locations are ignored.
  • Content modification: Only renames SKILL.md or SKILL.md.disabled files; it does not read, edit, or delete skill content.
  • Visibility: Disabling only hides the skill; the file remains present, so disabling is reversible.

Notes

  • Maintenance status: This plugin was built by AI deepseek-v4-flash. No updates are planned; it was built only to solve a personal pain point. PRs are welcome.
  • Permissions: The plugin runs under the permissions of the DSH process.
  • Source code review: Review the source code and license before installing.

Conclusion

dsh-skill-manager addresses the gap in DSH’s skill management. To learn more or submit changes, visit the GitHub repository.