In the DeepSeek Harness (DSH) environment, asking follow-up questions about selected text usually requires interrupting the main conversation flow or manually copying and pasting. dsh-sidecard-ask solves this problem, allowing instant questions when text is selected. It presents answers in a side card with streaming, keeping the main conversation clean.

Installation and Enablement

Run the installation command in the profile directory (default: %USERPROFILE%\.dsh\profiles\web):

pnpm add dsh-sidecard-ask

After installation, add the package name to the dsh.profile.bundles array in the profile’s package.json, then restart DSH. After restarting, the plugin row, client artifacts, and settings page will take effect.

Core Features

The plugin provides the following capabilities:

  1. In-place follow-up: After selecting text in the chat area or task area, a follow-up entry point is displayed directly.
  2. Independent side card answering (default): A separate sub-agent answers in a dedicated session, without inheriting the parent context or interfering with the main conversation. Answers support streaming rendering, collapsible thinking process, and rendering of links/italics/quotes/tables.
  3. Main conversation answering: The follow-up content can be sent back into the main conversation as a blockquote, and the answer is streamed into the conversation normally.
  4. Shortcut-triggered: The default Alt+Q shortcut directly opens the question box.
  5. Graceful fallback: If the side answering engine is unavailable, it automatically falls back to the built-in floating card or main conversation mode.
  6. LocalStorage persistence: Card content is written to local storage, so it is not lost after refreshing the page.
  7. Custom quick action chips: After selection, you can directly click chips such as “Explain/Translate/Summarize” to start a question; custom actions are supported.
  8. Floating capsule mode: The built-in floating layer is in capsule form by default, minimizing obstruction of the main conversation.

Upgrade and Notes

  • Old package name migration: The old npm package name dsh-selection-followup has been deprecated and points to the new name. To upgrade, uninstall the old package first, then install the new package dsh-sidecard-ask.
  • Plugin name change: The plugin name changed twice to avoid name collisions. The current name has no conflicts on npm or GitHub.
  • Dependencies and changes: The plugin introduces no external dependencies. After modifying client.js, refresh the browser; after modifying index.js, restart DSH.
  • Catalog page: https://www.skillhub.cn/plugins/HERO476/dsh-sidecard-ask
  • GitHub: https://github.com/HERO476/dsh-sidecard-ask