DSH for VS Code (Welcome everyone to develop together)

Use DeepSeek Harness (DSH) inside VS Code the way Codex / Claude Code extensions work: the extension manages a local dsh web server and embeds the full DSH web GUI in a sidebar panel, so every DSH capability — agent chat, tool execution, sessions, approval prompts, and any plugins installed in your web profile (SSH, task board, preview/SCM panels, …) — is available right inside the editor.

Features

• Native Secondary Sidebar embedding the complete DSH web GUI (dsh web on 127.0.0.1).
• Editor title shortcut: click the DSH icon in the editor's upper-right corner to start DSH and focus its sidebar.
• VS Code versions before 1.106 automatically use the legacy Activity Bar location instead.
• Lifecycle management: auto-start on activation, Start / Stop / Restart commands, status-bar indicator with the live port.
• Workspace-aware: managed DSH automatically registers and selects the workspace/session matching the active local VS Code workspace folder.
• Optional editor context: visible and pinned local file metadata can be exposed to managed DSH without copying file contents or changing VS Code workspace folders.
• Notebook context: local .ipynb and other VS Code Notebooks expose the active/selected cells, language, cell kind, dirty state, and one-based selection coordinates without exposing cell source or outputs.
• Verified fixed-port reuse: with dsh.port set (non-zero), the extension attaches only after the existing endpoint identifies itself as DSH.
• Open in Browser, output-channel logging, and a start/error screen with actionable hints when dsh is missing.
• DSH binds to loopback only. When dsh.dshHome is empty, the DSH process uses its normal profile directory (typically ~/.dsh).

Requirements

• VS Code >= 1.90 (desktop) with a trusted local workspace folder. VS Code >= 1.106 uses the native Secondary Sidebar; older supported versions use the Activity Bar fallback.
• Node.js >= 18 on PATH.
• A dsh installation, either:
  • global npm install: npm install -g @deepseek-ai/dsh (auto-detected), or
  • dsh.executablePath pointing at @deepseek-ai/dsh/lib/bin.js or a dsh.cmd shim.

Install

From the packaged .vsix

1. Run npm run package (produces dsh-for-vscode-<version>.vsix), then in VS Code: Extensions → … → Install from VSIX… and pick the file.
2. Open a workspace folder, then click the DSH icon in the editor title, select the DSH sidebar icon, or run DSH: Open Sidebar.

From source (development)

1. npm install && npm run build.
2. Press F5 (Run Extension) in this folder.
3. npm test runs the unit tests; npm run smoke runs an end-to-end check against your real dsh binary (discovery → spawn → port parse → health → tree kill).

Configuration

Commands

• DSH: Open Sidebar — start DSH if needed and focus the right sidebar (or the legacy left sidebar on VS Code before 1.106).

• DSH: Start Server / DSH: Stop Server / DSH: Restart Server

• DSH: Open in Browser — open the GUI in your default browser.

• DSH: Show Logs — the DSH output channel.

• DSH: Pin Current File / DSH: Unpin Current File persist or remove a file from editor context.

• DSH: Manage Context Files inspects visible, pinned, and session-authorized external files; pinned items can be removed.

Editor context contains paths, workspace-relative paths, language IDs, dirty flags, and one-based selections only. For a visible Notebook, it also contains up to 100 active/selected cell records with one-based cell indexes, code/Markdown kind, language, and selection coordinates. Closing the Notebook removes its automatic record; pinning it keeps only the .ipynb path until it is visible again. Unsaved file and cell contents are not sent. External files require one session-only confirmation, and existing DSH write approvals still apply. The feature is unavailable when a fixed port attaches to a DSH process that this extension did not start.

How it works

1. Discovery — dsh.executablePath, then the global npm @deepseek-ai/dsh/lib/bin.js (spawned via node), then dsh on PATH.
2. Spawn — dsh --profile web [--patch <vscode-integration-patch>] --host 127.0.0.1 --port <port> with the active local workspace root as cwd, and with the VS Code host's own environment variables scrubbed (NODE_OPTIONS points at VS Code bootstrap files and must never leak into the child).
3. Readiness — the dsh web: http://127.0.0.1:PORT line is parsed from stdout and confirmed by HTTP health probes.
4. Embed — the sidebar webview loads that loopback URL in a sandboxed iframe. The bundled DSH client adapter registers the active VS Code root, reuses or creates its blank session, and selects it without deleting history.
5. Teardown — Windows uses taskkill /T /F (whole-tree kill); POSIX uses process-group SIGTERM→SIGKILL.

Troubleshooting

• "Could not find the dsh executable" — run npm install -g @deepseek-ai/dsh, or set dsh.executablePath.
• Port in use / won't start — keep dsh.port at 0, or make sure the fixed port really serves DSH (the extension attaches only after it verifies the endpoint is DSH).
• Blank panel — check the DSH output channel (DSH: Show Logs) and the status-bar tooltip; restart with DSH: Restart Server.
• Workspace sync unavailable — it only applies to a DSH process started by this extension. Fixed-port attachment to an external DSH instance is left unchanged.

Roadmap

• File-path deep-links: click a path in the embedded GUI to open the file in the VS Code editor.
• Editor-selection → DSH ("Explain / Improve with DSH" context menu).
• Headless task runner with a per-file git-diff accept/reject panel (built on dsh --profile headless + DSH_TOOLS_MODE).
• Native streaming chat client speaking the DSH host protocol.

License

MIT — see the LICENSE file in this repository.