Preface

DeepSeek Harness (DSH) uses a plugin-based architecture and supports extending core capabilities through plugins. In real development or long-context conversation scenarios, it is often necessary to independently analyze, think through, or iteratively validate specific fragments while handling the main task flow, without interrupting the current conversation progress. dsh-sidechat aims to provide DSH with a Codex-style side chat panel, allowing users to run an independent agent session outside the main conversation.

Plugin Introduction

This is a standalone, autonomous chat plugin for DeepSeek Harness (DSH). It creates an isolated chat instance for each main conversation through a right-side panel. This plugin is forked from heartmove/dsh-side-chat and uses the MIT license. It inherits the context of the main session (tool set, model, thinking level, permission presets) but runs as an independent Agent.

Core Features

  • Standalone Right-Side Panel: Provides a Codex-style side chat interface. The panel width can be adjusted between 280px and 720px and supports collapsing.
  • Context Inheritance: The side chat automatically inherits the tool set, model selection, thinking level, and permission presets from the main session, and supports adjusting them independently within the sidebar.
  • Selected Text and Staging: In the main conversation, select any text and click “Ask in side chat”. The text is written into the input box and is not sent automatically. Users can manually send it after confirming in the input box.
  • One-Click New Chat: The panel header provides a “+” button to immediately create a new empty side chat.
  • Result Bring-Back: Replies from the side chat can be “inserted directly” or “inserted after summarization” into the main conversation’s draft area or a collapsed context line.
  • Question Dialog Support: When the main Agent asks a question, the question and options can be imported into the side chat for analysis, and the answer can be brought back after thinking is complete.
  • Language Follow: The interface language automatically follows the DSH language setting (supports Chinese/English).

Installation and Enablement

Install the plugin using the official command:

dsh plugin --profile web add github:realpkuasule/dsh-sidechat

Please note the following limitations during installation:
1. The plugin depends on pnpm >= 10.
2. On the first installation, because pnpm ignores build scripts by default, the installation may fail and show an ignore prompt. In this case, add the package key shown in the prompt (usually dsh-sidechat) to the pnpm-workspace.yaml configuration file of the current profile:

onlyBuiltDependencies:
  - dsh-sidechat

After adding it, rerun the installation command and restart the dsh web service.

Typical Usage

  1. Start Side Chat: In the main conversation, select a piece of text and click “Ask in side chat”. The text will appear in the side chat input box, waiting for confirmation to send. Alternatively, open the panel directly and click “+” to create a new session.
  2. Run Independently: In the side panel, you can adjust the model, thinking difficulty, or permissions, and you can also enable the “Look up workspace / parent when needed” switch to obtain more context.
  3. Bring Back Results: After the side chat returns a reply, click “Insert directly” to place the content directly into the main conversation input box, or click “Summarize & insert” to generate a summary and insert it.
  4. Notify Main Session: If you need to directly notify the main Agent of the side chat conclusion, use the /notify or /to-main command.

Notes

  • Dependency Requirements: Ensure that the pnpm version in the environment satisfies >= 10.
  • Permissions and Security: The side chat runs with the permissions of the current DSH process. Check the source code and license before any sensitive operations.
  • Installation Configuration: On the first installation from GitHub, you must configure pnpm-workspace.yaml according to the steps above; otherwise, the build cannot be completed.

Conclusion

dsh-sidechat provides a non-intrusive parallel thinking mode for DSH. By isolating complex analysis tasks in the right-side panel, it maintains the coherence of the main conversation while using an independent Agent for in-depth processing. For users who frequently need code review, solution validation, or multi-round verification, this is a practical tool.