DeepSeek Harness plugin guide

Cordis is the kernel: it mounts, unmounts, and wires dependencies. Agent behavior lives in plugins that talk through services and events. That is why you can swap a model adapter or a tool surface in configuration instead of forking deepseek-harness.

Typical plugin families you will meet:

• Model providers — DeepSeek and other OpenAI-compatible endpoints.
• Tools & skills — shell, files, search, document parsers, device bridges.
• Session & storage — logs, credentials, workspace roots.
• UI / skins / managers — Web UI appearance, in-app catalogs, skill toggles.

If a README promises “one click marketplace”, treat it as a community UI on top of GitHub/npm — still review permissions.

1. Get a working CLI via Install (npx @deepseek-ai/dsh web or a source pnpm dsh entry).
2. Confirm Node.js ^22.19.0 or >=24.0.0 as documented upstream.
3. Copy a command of the form:

dsh plugin add github:owner/repo

npm-scoped packages may use dsh plugin add @scope/name when the README says so.

4. Restart or reload the profile the plugin patches.
5. Run a low-risk prompt in a disposable workspace and open Trajectory / session logs.

Plugin management internally often calls pnpm. If add fails with a missing pnpm message, install pnpm globally first. Registry timeouts: retry with the official npm registry.

Full card-level commands live on Community Plugins. For the narrative discover → add loop, see Discover and add a DSH plugin.

Authors tag repositories with GitHub topic dsh-plugin so humans and catalogs can find them. This portal keeps a curated subset so each summary can be rewritten and each install line can be copied. We do not mirror thousands of thin cards.

When you outgrow the subset:

• github.com/topics/dsh-plugin
• Other community full-sync directories (verify dates and whether they claim “tested on rc.x”)

Never assume a star count equals a security review. Permissions mindset: plugin security checklist.

Official developer docs and the Cordis primer are the source of truth. A practical first loop:

1. Clone a template or follow the in-repo plugin tutorial (preview layouts change — read current docs).
2. Register tools or services on the Cordis context; return disposers so unload is clean.
3. Document configuration keys, required secrets, filesystem scope, and network calls.
4. Add topic dsh-plugin only when the package is intended for public discovery.
5. Test under Minimal or Creative before promoting a preset to Standard.
6. Keep example configs free of real API keys.

If you are evaluating someone else’s plugin, invert the list: missing permission docs is a reason to skip.

Plugins that can run shell or write files are equivalent to installing software. Prefer least-privilege workspaces, disable unused tools, and use Trajectory to audit unexpected calls. This independent site does not execute plugins in your browser and does not issue “verified” badges.

Next: curated list, modes, troubleshoot.