In the DeepSeek Harness ecosystem, plugins are the primary way to extend system functionality. jo32/dsh-hackernews-reader is a Host/Client bundle that adds a focused Hacker News reader to Harness. The plugin relies on the runtime environment provided by DeepDeck and is designed to give HN users and developers content access and AI interaction capabilities without leaving Harness.

Installation and Activation

To install this plugin, use the app plugin installation flow in DeepDeck.

  1. Open Settings → Apps in DeepDeck.
  2. Paste the plugin source URL into the Install an App plugin input field:
    https://github.com/jo32/dsh-hackernews-reader.git
  1. Choose Inspect source, verify that the detected package information and build command are correct, and then choose Confirm install.
  2. DeepDeck will prompt you to restart. After restarting, open Apps → Hacker News from the sidebar to launch the reader.

Core Features

The plugin primarily provides the following capabilities:

  • Multi-feed subscriptions and search: Supports feeds such as Top, New, Best, Ask HN, Show HN, and Jobs. You can search stories by relevance or recency.
  • In-depth reading: Supports reading stories, text posts, nested comments, and user profiles.
  • Standalone window: Provides a same-origin standalone desktop window, distinct from browser tabs, for a more native experience.
  • App-scoped toolset: The plugin exposes a set of App-scoped tools to Harness, including hackernews_stories, hackernews_search, hackernews_read_story, hackernews_user, and current UI context tools.
  • Optional login: Supports Hacker News login authentication. The password is forwarded to HN only once and is not persisted; only the returned user session cookie and public username are stored in Harness’s credential store.

Typical Usage

  • Browsing and reading: Open any feed (such as Top or Best) and click a story link to read the full nested discussion.
  • Search operations: Search for keywords inside the reader (for example, local-first AI) and open entries directly from the results page without switching context.
  • AI interaction:
    • Click Summarize next to a story title, or click Explain with AI on a comment. The system opens a canonical session in the ~/DeepDeck/Apps/hackernews-reader directory.
    • Give instructions to the DeepDeck agent, for example: Read today's top Hacker News stories and group them by topic. The plugin uses the exposed read-only tools to perform this operation.

Technical Notes

  • Environment dependencies: DeepDeck provides the app launcher, standalone app windows, App-scoped Workspaces, and canonical AI conversations for Summarize and Explain. The plugin expects DeepDeck’s App runtime service to be present when it is mounted.
  • Read-only limitation: Because the official Hacker News API does not expose supported write endpoints, the reader remains read-only.

This plugin is ideal for workflows that require direct Hacker News reading inside DeepSeek Harness and collaboration with DeepDeck agents.