Introduction

The plugin ecosystem of DeepSeek Harness (DSH) enables developers to extend its capabilities through a standard interface. In Chinese knowledge-base retrieval scenarios, especially those involving experience sharing and industry discussions in the Zhihu community, reliable source citations are usually required. dsh-zhihu-search is a plugin maintained by dsh-plugin-lab. It uses the official Zhihu Open Platform API to provide three tools for the model: in-site search, global index search, and direct answer, ensuring that the output can be traced back to its sources.

Core Capabilities

After installing the plugin, the model can use the following three tools:

  • In-site search (zhihu_search): Searches questions/answers and articles on Zhihu, and supports sorting by upvote count, comment count, or time.
  • Global index search (zhihu_global_search): Searches using Zhihu’s global index and supports filtering results by specific domains.
  • Direct answer (zhihu_zhida): Calls the Zhihu Direct Answer API to obtain a comprehensive answer to a question.

Installation and Configuration

The installation command must specify --profile web to match the plugin configuration:

dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-zhihu-search

Prerequisites:
* Node.js version >= 20.
* Obtain an Access Secret from your personal center on the Zhihu Open Platform.

Configuration steps:
1. Open “Plugins” in the DSH sidebar.
2. Go to the “Installed” group and click “Zhihu Search”.
3. Enter the Access Secret in the configuration area and save it. It takes effect immediately without requiring a restart.

Usage

When the model is in use, it selects the appropriate tool based on the type of question.

In-site search (zhihu_search)
* Parameters:
* query: Search keyword, required.
* sortField: Sorting field; supports voteUpCount (upvotes), commentCount (comments), and editTime (time).
* count: Number of results to return, 1–10.
* Note: In-site search does not support filtering by site domain.

Global index search (zhihu_global_search)
* Parameters:
* query: Search keyword, required.
* site: Domain to use for filtering, for example github.com.
* count: Number of results to return, 1–20.
* Note: The domain must be an exact match; Zhihu domains are not accepted.

Direct answer (zhihu_zhida)
* Parameters:
* question: Question content, required.
* mode: Answer mode; supports thinking (deep thinking), fast (fast answer), and agent (agent multi-step search).
* Note: Direct answer returns generated content rather than a search list; important conclusions must be verified independently.

Notes

  • Citations and sources: Search results include citable original links, and the result text is a summary that does not include images in the body content.
  • Tool boundaries: In-site search does not support filtering by site domain; use global index search for that capability. Direct answer returns generated content, and conclusions should be verified independently.
  • Permissions: The configured Access Secret is stored in DSH’s credential store and is not written to the configuration file.

References