Foreword

The plugin ecosystem for DeepSeek Harness (DSH) aims to meet various development and creative needs through modular extensions. When creating long-form content or managing agent documents, relying solely on the context window of the chat interface often makes it difficult to accommodate complete content, and mixing reference materials with the main text can easily lead to context confusion. Local-first writing tools are a common solution to this pain point.

dsh-writing-desk is a local-first writing workbench plugin for DSH, maintained by nousag. It uses Markdown notes in the workspace’s .dsh-notes/ directory as a reference library, includes built-in volume/chapter file management and a main text editor, and supports calling local reference materials directly within the DSH interface for writing.

Plugin Positioning

As a DSH plugin, dsh-writing-desk aims to provide a lightweight writing environment. It is presented as a half-window panel; after opening, it occupies the right half of the window, leaving the left side for the DSH chat window, thereby enabling parallel operations of browsing reference materials and collaborating with AI.

Installation and Activation

Before installation, ensure that the dsh CLI has been installed and that the target profile is web.

  1. Install from the official source:
dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-writing-desk
  1. Install for local development (an absolute path is required):
dsh plugin --profile web add <本目录绝对路径>

After installation completes, you need to restart dsh web for the change to take effect. The uninstall command is as follows:

dsh plugin --profile web remove dsh-writing-desk

Core Features

The plugin mainly includes the following feature modules:

  1. Volume/Chapter File Management
    The main text is organized into two levels, “Volume → Chapter”, under the <工作区>/写作/ directory. Creating a new volume automatically generates names such as “Volume 1” and “Volume 2”. Creating a new chapter automatically generates names such as “Chapter 1” and “Chapter 2”, with numbering independently reset for each volume. Volumes and chapters can be renamed by clicking ✎.

  2. Main Text Editor
    Provides Markdown formatting and editing capabilities, with support for font size and font settings. Includes automatic saving and manual saving (Ctrl/Cmd+S), and provides real-time word count and writing goal check-ins.

  3. Reference Material Preview and Citation
    The sidebar provides a dual-pane view with a reference list and real-time preview. Supports full-text search. The core interaction is “select to quote”: select a passage in the preview area, click the pop-up “Add to main text”, and it will be inserted at the current chapter’s cursor position as a blockquote.

  4. Books and Export
    Supports independent saving and management of multiple books. Provides export functionality, supporting formats such as Markdown, TXT, Word, and PDF.

  5. Data Safety
    Uses an atomic write mechanism and automatic saving strategy to prevent data loss caused by switching or crashes.

Usage

  1. Edit the main text
    Click the “Writing Workbench” entry at the bottom of the sidebar and switch to the “Writing” tab. Click a specific volume or chapter file. After the editor loads, save with Ctrl/Cmd+S or wait for it to automatically save after a pause.

  2. Cite reference materials
    View local notes in the “Reference Materials” tab. After selecting a passage, click the pop-up “Add to main text” button with the mouse. The text will be inserted directly at the cursor position in the chapter being edited, in blockquote format.

  3. Search and invoke
    Enter a keyword in the “Insert Reference Material” search box below the editor to quickly find and invoke local notes.

Permissions and Data

The plugin has explicit permission restrictions for the file system and network:

  1. File system permissions
    Reads only reference files under the workspace’s .dsh-notes/; reads and writes volume directories and .md chapter files under the workspace’s 写作/ directory.

  2. Network permissions
    Only establishes a local loopback HTTP API. There are no external network requests or telemetry data transmissions.

  3. Credential management
    Does not collect or transmit any user credentials.

Conclusion

dsh-writing-desk provides DSH users with a closed-loop local workflow from reference material management to main text writing, and finally to export. It is suitable for scenarios that require frequent access to local notes and leverage AI for assisted creation. See the project source code and documentation at the GitHub repository.