DSH Harness is a plugin-driven development tool. In daily use, frequently starting, restarting, and stopping the server requires multiple switches between terminal and browser windows. The dsh-dock plugin creates a native program icon on the desktop, maintains a persistent status in the system tray, and provides a sidebar quick menu, consolidating the above operations into a “double-click the whale” interaction.

What Is It

A DSH Harness desktop launcher that opens a window by double-clicking the desktop whale, remains in the system tray to report status, and restarts the server with one click.

  • Maintainer: UnknowCao
  • Category: Client
  • License: MIT

Installation and Enabling

This plugin depends on DSH’s web profile to run. After installation, the DSH Harness.exe icon (a black whale icon) appears on the desktop automatically.

dsh plugin --profile web add github:UnknowCao/dsh-dock#v0.8.0

Core Features

  1. One-click startup: Supports hot path (silently opens a full-screen window when the server is running) and cold path (shows a startup card when the server is not running, then automatically opens the window when ready).
  2. System tray persistence: After the window opens, the whale icon remains in the system tray; hovering displays the running status, and a left-click opens it instantly.
  3. Sidebar “Whale Bay” menu: Provides three actions: “Breathe” (reload the interface), “Migrate” (restart the server), and “Return to Bay” (quit completely).
  4. One-click server restart: Completed via right-click in the system tray or the sidebar menu; automatically closes the old window and restarts the service.
  5. Start on boot: Can be configured on the plugin settings page or in the tray menu.
  6. Multi-environment support: Supports multiple DSH environments running simultaneously; when cold-starting, you can choose the target environment.
  7. Standalone window: Runs as an independent Edge app window and does not mix with the main browser tabs.
  8. Plugin settings page: Integrated into DSH system settings; tray persistence, start on boot, and additional installation paths can be configured.

Typical Usage

  • Install: Run the installation command above.
  • Start: Double-click DSH Harness.exe on the desktop.
  • Restart: Right-click in the system tray, or click “Migrate” in the “Whale Bay” sidebar menu.
  • Exit: Click “Return to Bay” in the sidebar and confirm, or single-click “Fully Exit” in the tray.

Notes

  • Platform limit: Windows only.
  • Runtime dependency: It depends on the DSH Web Profile at runtime.
  • Communication: It communicates only over the local loopback and has no installation hooks.
  • Uninstall behavior: Uninstalling does not automatically clean up the installation directory.
  • Cold-start dependency: Cold start requires Node >= 22.19.