Introduction

When using DeepSeek Harness (DSH), sessions often run in the background. When a browser tab is inactive, it can be difficult to tell the current session state at a glance: idle, running, or waiting for user confirmation. dsh-web-icon-indicator aims to solve this information asymmetry problem by changing the browser tab’s favicon to map DSH session states to visual feedback in real time.

Plugin Overview

The plugin is maintained by waknow and open-sourced under the MIT license. It uses a single SVG template to generate favicons with different colors and animation effects on the browser side, without relying on frequent backend rendering, directly reflecting four core DSH session states: idle, running, asking, and completed.

Core Features

  1. Real-Time State Reflection
    The plugin updates the browser tab icon according to the session state. The state priority is: asking > running > completed > idle. This means that when user interaction is required (such as a prompt or approval residency), the icon preferentially displays the “asking” state.

  2. Dynamic Visual Feedback
    Using a single SVG file, the plugin dynamically re-colors and animates it in the browser. It includes six built-in effects: static, blink, breathing, rainbow, heartbeat, and bounce. These effects are driven by JavaScript because browser favicons do not support SVG CSS animation natively.

  3. Multi-Agent Count Display
    When the number of active agents exceeds 1, the icon switches from the whale pattern to a numeric block, displaying the number of active agents in real time (up to 99+). The numeric block inherits the current state’s color and animation effects.

  4. Fully Configurable
    The plugin provides a built-in settings UI, allowing users to modify colors, effects, periods, and residency durations without manually editing YAML configuration files. Configuration changes are usually applied in real time to the current tab within 1 second.

  5. Background Protection and Recovery
    To address browser tab visibility limitations, the plugin uses a wall-clock fallback mechanism to ensure that animations play smoothly in the background. It also has self-healing capabilities: when DSH restarts or state changes, it quickly refreshes the state via the visibilitychange event, ensuring the icon is accurate when switching back to the tab.

Installation and Dependencies

Installing this plugin requires the following environment conditions:

  • DSH version: DSH ≥ 0.1.2-rc.1 is required.
  • Settings compatibility: Supports settings generation for modern versions (≥ 0.1.7-alpha.1) and legacy versions (≤ 0.1.6-alpha.1).
  • Dependency: Depends on @deepseek-ai/schemastery (version ^3.18.2).

Typical Usage

After enabling the plugin, it can be configured through the DSH Web GUI:

  1. Open the DSH Web GUI and go to the Settings/Plugins menu.
  2. Find the dsh-web-icon-indicator plugin and open it, then click the Configure button.
  3. On the configuration page, first set the default icon color (used for the idle state).
  4. Expand state rows such as running and asking, and set the corresponding effect (such as blink), color, and period for each.
  5. Set the asking residency and completed residency durations to determine how long the state is retained.

Use Cases and Notes

This plugin is suitable for scenarios that require long-term monitoring of DSH session progress, especially in multi-agent collaboration or long-running tasks, where a quick status overview can be obtained from the tab icon.

Note: The plugin runs with the permissions of the current DSH process. It is recommended to review its source code and license before installation. The plugin depends on specific DSH versions and external libraries, so make sure the environment meets the requirements before deployment.

Conclusion

dsh-web-icon-indicator is a lightweight but practical status monitoring tool. It transforms dry background process states into intuitive visual signals, reducing the mental burden of managing multiple sessions. More details and source code can be found in the GitHub repository.

References