DeepSeek Harness run modes
Official materials describe four named presets so you do not invent a config on day one. Names stay in English across locales because they appear in the product UI. A mode is a default plugin surface, not a personality and not a quality score. Pick the job first, then load community packages. Flags still follow the GitHub README when this page lags.
Standard
Full coding-agent surface
File edits, shell, search, skills, planning, goals, sub-agents, and workflows. This is the default after you trust the workspace permissions and you have watched Trajectory on a disposable folder. It is the profile that most “just code this repo” prompts expect. Pair it with the workspace warning on the [install](/en/install/) page: your entire home directory is the wrong first target.
Use when: Day-to-day patches, tests, and refactors in a repository whose root you chose on purpose.
Avoid when: First hour on a machine, or any tree that mixes secrets, photos, and payroll with the project.
PTC
Code-mode multi-step tools
Keeps Standard-class capabilities but presents tools through a Code Mode SDK so the model can author a TypeScript program that composes several operations in one shot. Reach for it when the pain is orchestration — many tool hops that should be one program — not a single chatty call. If preview docs for Code Mode moved, believe GitHub over a blog date on this site.
Use when: Pipelines that should be a short TypeScript script rather than twenty chat turns.
Avoid when: Simple one-file edits where Standard already finishes in two tool calls.
Minimal
Two-tool evaluation harness
Public notes describe persistent bash plus str_replace_editor only. That tiny surface is how you stop lying to yourself during model evals. If web-search, marketplace UIs, and appearance packs stay loaded, you are measuring the harness cocktail. Keep secrets out of the eval folder anyway; bash is still bash.
Use when: Benchmarks, regression of a pinned model, or teaching the difference between model skill and plugin luck.
Avoid when: Shipping product features that need search, browsers, or a rich skill set.
Creative
Preset authoring lab
Standard powers plus runtime inspection and in-memory Cordis experiments so you can design and document new agent presets without pretending the session is production. Plugin authors and skin authors should live here until unload is boring. See [contribute](/en/contribute/) if you intend to publish a dsh-plugin rather than screenshot a theme.
Use when: Building presets, inspecting Cordis, trying UI skins, writing plugins.
Avoid when: The folder that deploys Friday. Labs leak; isolation is the point.
A one-line chooser
Daily repository edits after you trust the folder → Standard. Multi-step programs that should be one TypeScript composition → PTC. Measuring the model rather than the plugin soup → Minimal. Authoring presets, skins, or Cordis experiments → Creative. If the UI came up in the wrong profile, see troubleshoot. Chapter form: tutorials · modes.
FAQ
Can I mix all four at once?
Not as four simultaneous personalities. You pick a preset for a session or profile. Stacking every community plugin on Standard is how previews feel haunted. Unload what you do not need; the plugin guide assumes you can reverse an add.
Does Minimal mean the model is weaker?
No. Minimal shrinks the tool surface (persistent bash plus str_replace_editor in public notes) so an evaluation measures the LLM, not web search plus skins plus marketplaces. If you leave those on, you are scoring soup. Details also in the modes blog.
Is Creative safe for production code?
Treat it as a lab. Runtime inspection and in-memory Cordis experiments are for people who will unload what they load. Payroll repositories belong in Standard only after workspace roots and secrets are boring. UI skins belong in Creative first.
After you pick a mode, launch from install, then add capabilities only from packages you would run as software. The curated directory is a navigator, not a shopping spree. This site is independent; preset names follow official copy, not a private ranking.
Apply your mode choice
Install DSH with npx, walk the tutorial chapters on architecture and plugins, or browse curated dsh-plugin packages once Standard is boringly safe.