Introduction

DeepSeek Harness (DSH) uses a plugin-based architecture. When handling Word document files directly in the Web interface, a native editing experience is usually unavailable. The dsh-sidebar-superdoc-docx plugin integrates SuperDoc to provide browser-native DOCX editing capabilities in DSH’s better-sidebar.

What It Is

This is a DSH Web plugin that allows users to open and edit .docx files in the sidebar.

  • Maintainer: chendefine
  • Core capabilities:
    • Browser-native DOCX editing (with comments and revisions)
    • Saving back to disk (atomic writes)
    • Following external edits (supports AI context synchronization)
    • Fully self-hosted and available offline
    • Download fallback
    • Responsive sidebar layout
  • Required dependency: dsh-better-sidebar >= 0.13.0. This plugin registers itself only as a file viewer into this component; without it, the viewer will not appear.

Installation and Enablement

Before installing, ensure the environment meets the following prerequisites:
* Node.js >= 20
* DSH Web GUI and its web configuration profile
* dsh-better-sidebar >= 0.13.0 installed in the same configuration profile

Use the official installation command:

dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-better-sidebar dsh-sidebar-superdoc-docx

After installation, restart the dsh web service and refresh the browser to use it.

Typical Usage

  1. Open a Document
    Click any .docx file in the sidebar file tree. The system invokes the “DOCX (SuperDoc)” viewer instead of the built-in code or download viewer.

  2. Switch Editing Mode
    In the settings page under Side cards → File preview → DOCX (SuperDoc), the gear icon exposes an “open mode” selection: Edit / Suggest / View. Selecting “View” hides the Save button.

  3. Saving and Status

    • The top toolbar is the native SuperDoc toolbar and automatically collapses as the sidebar width changes.
    • When editing is complete, click Save. The system exports the document and atomically overwrites the original file on disk via a dedicated route.
    • Unsaved changes are shown in the title bar as ● Unsaved changes.

  4. Follow External Edits
    If an AI agent or another process modifies the file on disk, the plugin detects changes via 3-second polling:

    • Clean editor: Automatically updated to the new version.
    • Dirty editor: Only a banner is displayed; click Reload manually to load the new version (current unsaved edits are not silently discarded).

Use Cases

  • Human-AI collaboration: The AI modifies files, and users immediately review and fine-tune them in the sidebar, enabling an uninterrupted bidirectional loop.
  • Intranet / offline / compliance environments: Deployment environments prohibit access to CDNs or SaaS document services. The plugin serves all resources via same-origin self-hosting, so it can run fully offline after pnpm install.
  • Quick preview: Provides paginated document preview as an alternative to the built-in code/download viewer.

Notes

  • Licensing: The plugin code itself is under the MIT license, but at runtime it integrates superdoc under AGPL-3.0 and the proprietary @superdoc/docx-engine. Installing it indicates acceptance of these third-party licenses.
  • Permission limitations: The plugin runs under the permissions of the current DSH process. Saving depends on that process’s read/write permissions for the target file path.

Conclusion

This plugin provides zero-service-dependency document editing within the DSH ecosystem, making it suitable for developers who need to handle Word files in local or strictly compliant environments.