DSH Desk

DeepSeek Harness in 60 seconds. No Node.js. No terminal. No runtime roulette.

An installable desktop distribution that keeps the official Harness UI, pins the runtime, and checks upstream compatibility every day.

Download preview · Compatibility radar · Verification evidence · 中文

From download to first task

1. Download the build for your platform from Releases.
2. Install and open DSH Desk. The pinned Harness runtime starts automatically.
3. Choose a model provider in the official Harness onboarding dialog and send your first task.

No system Node.js installation, npm setup, port selection, or terminal command is required.

📺 Video slot: a clean-machine, uncut download-to-first-task recording is the next launch gate and will be embedded here once published. Until then, “60 seconds” is a product target rather than a benchmark claim.

Why this distribution exists

DeepSeek Harness already provides the agent runtime, web UI, sessions, tools, approvals, settings, and plugin protocol. DSH Desk does not fork those product surfaces. It owns the desktop responsibilities that should be boring and dependable:

• bundles Node 24 and the exact @deepseek-ai/dsh@0.1.0-rc.8 runtime;
• isolates state in a private DSH_HOME instead of modifying an existing CLI setup;
• waits for a real HTTP health check on a random loopback port;
• grants the remote Harness page no Tauri IPC, shell, or filesystem capability;
• constrains navigation to the exact runtime origin and opens external links in the system browser;
• supervises only the process group it started;
• checks the pinned version and the newest upstream candidate every day;
• reviews plugin source, integrity, lifecycle scripts, and rollback boundaries before installation.

Current availability

Platform	Public status	Signing status
macOS Apple Silicon & Intel	v0.1.0-alpha.12 DMG (both architectures)	Developer ID signed, notarized, stapled
Windows x64	v0.1.0-alpha.12 NSIS installer	Unsigned alpha (SmartScreen notice); updater payloads independently signed
Linux x64	v0.1.0-alpha.12 AppImage & deb	Updater signatures included

The v0.1.0-alpha.12 release run completed preflight, the four platform bundles (including macOS signing, notarization, and verify-from-DMG), Publish atomic release, and the nested update-channel validate/publish jobs. It published 18 installer, updater, signature, SHA-256, and latest.json assets; the alpha channel was then updated atomically to 0.1.0-alpha.12. Acceptance evidence is in issue #34. Windows alpha releases may be published without Authenticode and say so in their Release Notes. See the live compatibility radar, compatibility evidence, and individual Actions runs for the latest facts.

What is different

	Official Harness CLI	Typical desktop wrapper	DSH Desk
Runtime setup	User manages Node/npm	Varies; may resolve latest	Exact bundled runtime
Official UI	Yes	Sometimes modified	Unmodified
Desktop IPC from runtime page	Browser-only	Project-dependent	None
Upstream drift detection	User-managed	Project-dependent	Daily public checks
Failed update recovery	User-managed	Project-dependent	Signed updater contract and explicit recovery path

DSH Desk does not claim to have the smallest installer. The offline runtime increases package size. “Lightweight” here means no bundled Chromium and no fork of the official product UI.

Trusted plugin workflow

Open DSH Desk → Plugins… to inspect a plugin before installation:

• exact package, resolved version, source, and integrity;
• lifecycle scripts and declared file/network/command/credential needs;
• compatibility with the pinned Desktop and Harness versions;
• disable, removal, and profile restoration boundaries.

Catalog failure never falls back to an unreviewed global search. The Plugins window can open the community registry at plugin.dshdesk.com; copied dsh plugin add commands are parsed into the same review flow, and that site is not the trusted catalog. Plugin authors can use the minimal template, run the reusable candidate compatibility check, and submit the verification form only after it passes.

Compatibility is a release artifact

Every push and pull request tests macOS arm64, Windows x64, and Linux x64 for:

• TypeScript build and Rust checks/tests;
• real Harness startup, strict loopback URL, and HTTP readiness;
• an offline runtime that does not depend on system Node.js;
• plugin add/why/update/remove parity with the original CLI;
• onboarding and signed-updater contracts.

A scheduled workflow also installs the newest npm candidate in an isolated CI workspace. It reports drift without silently changing the runtime on user machines. Read the public matrix for evidence and precise definitions.

Development

The development toolchain uses pnpm 12.3.4:

npx --yes pnpm@12.3.4 install
npx --yes pnpm@12.3.4 exec tauri dev

Run the complete local verification suite:

pnpm check
pnpm test:rust
pnpm test:harness-contract
pnpm test:onboarding-contract
pnpm prepare:runtime       # requires Node 24
pnpm test:packaged-runtime
pnpm test:plugin-parity
pnpm test:plugin-template
pnpm test:plugin-catalog
pnpm test:plugin-source
pnpm test:updater-contract

Set an initial workspace with DSH_DESKTOP_WORKSPACE=/path/to/project. Create a minimal plugin bundle with:

pnpm create:plugin ./my-dsh-plugin @your-scope/my-dsh-plugin

Project documents

• Desktop architecture and security boundary
• Runtime distribution and rollback contract
• Compatibility matrix
• Release signing gates
• Plugin trust model
• Plugin compatibility verification and badge rules
• Product metrics and privacy gates
• 30-day execution plan
• Launch kit
• Launch posts 2026-08
• Ecosystem review v1
• Contributing · Support · Security policy · Code of Conduct

License

DSH Desk's own code is available under the MIT License. DeepSeek Harness and other dependencies remain under their respective licenses.