DeepSeek Harness Desktop

English | 中文

An Electron shell that turns the DeepSeek Harness Web GUI into a real Windows desktop app: double-click an icon and the GUI opens in its own window while the checkout's dsh web service starts in the background. This directory is the out-of-repo shell — it never modifies the deepseek-harness checkout (the only optional, separately distributed change is the start-at-login row in share/, see Optional checkout patch).

Current version: 0.2.6 (Windows x64; NSIS installer + portable exe under release/). UI language: English / 中文 (follows the OS by default, switchable from the tray).

Features

• Automatic runtime setup (two channels) — regular users no longer install Node.js or deepseek-harness manually. First run guides them through:
  • online source build: portable Node.js + a pinned source zip of the checkout → pnpm install → build, or
  • prebuilt runtime pack: a zip produced on the release machine, downloaded and extracted as-is (no pnpm/build on the user's side; see Packaging).
    Mirrors for CN networks, live progress + logs, cancel and resume included.
• Works without admin rights — no Administrator or Windows Developer Mode needed: when tar.exe cannot create symlinks the engine falls back to a built-in zip reader, pack aliases are rebuilt as junctions, and git-less source zips get a ref-derived build commit. A machine-installed old Node.js cannot hijack the build (portable Node is pinned first on PATH).
• Standalone window — no browser tabs/chrome; window is the app.
• Tray resident — closing the window hides to the tray and keeps the service running; tray menu can reopen the window, open the GUI in the system browser, restart the service, switch language, or quit (stop service).
• Start at login — runs --hidden in the background after sign-in; the tray checkbox and the GUI's Settings → General row share one setting.
• Single instance — a second launch focuses the existing window instead of duplicating.
• Automatic port — default port: 0 lets the OS pick a free port; never collides with other dsh web instances.
• Hardened shell — contextIsolation + sandbox, no nodeIntegration; external http(s) links open in the system browser; navigation is locked to the GUI origin.
• Visible failures — main-process crashes are written to desktop.log + crashes.log and shown in an error dialog (0.2.1+); a failing window icon falls back to the exe icon so the taskbar never shows a blank button (0.2.6+).
• Self-tests — smoke / e2e / probe / provision:selftest (see Automated checks).

How it works

The harness GUI is not a static page — only the dsh web process serves it (injecting window.__DSH_BOOT__ and owning /api and RPC). The shell therefore:

1. Resolves resources — reads settings.json/environment for the checkout and node.exe and validates the checkout (apps/cli/src/bin.ts, node_modules/tsx). No checkout at all → opens the setup wizard (autoProvision, default on) or the legacy directory picker (autoProvision: false).

2. Starts the backend in the checkout directory (hidden window, PATH pinned to the resolved Node dir so a machine-wide old Node cannot interfere):

   node --import tsx/esm apps/cli/src/bin.ts web --no-open --port <port> [extraArgs…]

   Same launch path as pnpm dsh web; --no-open keeps the CLI from opening a browser; --port 0 asks the OS for a free port.

3. Waits for readiness — parses dsh web: http://127.0.0.1:<port>/?token=... from stdout (90 s timeout, recent log tail on failure).
4. Loads the GUI — the main window loads the authenticated URL; the preload exposes window.__dshDesktopShell (get/setAutoStart) so the GUI registers the "Start at login" row only inside the shell; the wizard window uses a separate window.__dshProvision bridge.
5. Lifecycle — closing the window hides to the tray (service keeps running); real quit (tray → Quit or Ctrl+Q) terminates the backend process tree with taskkill /T /F. Session data is persisted per event, so quitting is safe. An unexpected backend exit offers "Restart service / Quit" (tray balloon when the window is hidden).

First-run automatic setup

When no usable checkout is found (no settings.json repoPath, no DSH_DESKTOP_REPO, no sibling deepseek-harness folder), the shell opens the runtime setup wizard and provisions:

On success the shell writes settings.json (repoPath/nodePath pointing at the provisioned runtime) and boots the GUI. The wizard offers:

• three source modes — Automatic (probes the network), China mirrors (preferred), Direct official — switchable at any time;
• live progress and logs (collapsible); closing the window continues in the background;
• cancel + resume: interrupted runs skip finished steps; downloads resume from partial files;
• "Choose an existing checkout…" for developers/intranet setups;
• Quit (cancels and stops).

Artifacts live under the user-data directory (survive app upgrades/uninstalls):

%APPDATA%\DeepSeek Harness Desktop\
├─ settings.json                   runtime config
├─ runtime.manifest.json           (optional) manifest override
└─ runtime\
   ├─ node\…                       portable Node.js
   ├─ harness\<ref>\               checkout (deps installed + built)
   ├─ provisioned.json             provisioning record
   ├─ .downloads\                  downloaded zips (reusable, deletable)
   └─ .cache\                      npm / pnpm caches

Roughly 3 GB disk and 10–40 minutes depending on the network. Notes:

• network required; fully offline machines should use "Choose an existing checkout…";
• the pinned source is the upstream tag (default dsh-v0.1.2-alpha.5) and does not contain the local optional patch — tray start-at-login always works regardless;
• newer refs install into separate directories (isolated by ref); old ones can be deleted manually.

Configuration

Where settings.json lives

• Packaged builds (installer / portable / win-unpacked) run from the read-only app.asar: settings always live at %APPDATA%\DeepSeek Harness Desktop\settings.json.
• Source/zip layout: beside the app folder when it is writable, else %APPDATA%\DeepSeek Harness Desktop\settings.json.

Fields

Changes to port/extraArgs/repoPath apply after tray → Restart service.

Manifest overrides (runtime.manifest.json)

The default manifest ships inside the app; placing a runtime.manifest.json next to settings.json merges over it (top-level and dsh/node/pnpm nodes). Commonly edited fields: dsh.ref/dsh.url/dsh.sha256, node.version/node.url/node.sha256, pnpm.version, registry/registryMirror, optional pack.url/pack.sha256 (prebuilt runtime pack channel).

Dev testing: start with DSH_DESKTOP_FORCE_PROVISION=1 to open the wizard even when a checkout exists.

Switching the provisioned Node.js version

Constraint: the harness engines accept ^22.19.0 || >=24.0.0 only (20/23 are rejected). The portable Node is independent of any system Node/nvm.

• Edit the manifest override (node.version, node.url, node.sha256 from the SHASUMS file on nodejs.org/npmmirror);
• delete %APPDATA%\DeepSeek Harness Desktop\runtime\node — the engine reuses any existing Node that passes the version gate, so removal forces a re-download;
• restart the wizard: it resumes and only redoes "new Node → build";
• prebuilt packs embed their Node: rebuild with npm run pack:runtime -- --node-version 24.8.0 and switch pack.url;
• dev/zip layout: point settings.json nodePath or DSH_DESKTOP_NODE at any node.exe, then Restart service (provisioning always uses its own portable Node — use "Choose an existing checkout…" to run your own).

Quick start (dev / zip layout)

Prerequisites: Windows 10/11, Node.js ≥ 22.19, and a sibling deepseek-harness checkout that has run pnpm install && pnpm run build.

cd <repo>\dsh-desktop-app
npm install                          # installs Electron (~200 MB, needs network)
npm run smoke                        # optional headless boot check
npm run e2e                          # optional real-window regression
npm run probe                        # optional UI probe of the autostart row
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\make-icon.ps1
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\create-shortcuts.ps1

Then launch the DeepSeek Harness shortcut. If the checkout is not the sibling folder, write settings.json or set DSH_DESKTOP_REPO.

Daily use

Logs: main process + dsh web output go to %USERPROFILE%\.dsh-desktop-logs\desktop.log (2 MB cap); tray → Open log folder.

Automated checks

probe expects the optional checkout patch + rebuilt web client; without it the row does not exist and probe exits 1 by design.

Debug environment variables

DSH_DESKTOP_REPO, DSH_DESKTOP_NODE, DSH_DESKTOP_FORCE_PROVISION=1, DSH_PROVISION_FILELOG=1, DSH_FORCE_NODE_UNZIP=1, DSH_PACK_DEBUG=1, ELECTRON_MIRROR/ELECTRON_BUILDER_BINARIES_MIRROR.

Optional checkout patch

To show a "Start at login" switch inside the GUI (Settings → General), the checkout needs a small feature in packages/client/ui-settings-general (row component + controller + bridge contract + tests; registered only when window.__dshDesktopShell exists — plain browsers are untouched). The checkout contains no OS login logic; the shell owns it.

git apply <repo>\dsh-desktop-app\share\dsh-settings-autostart-row.patch
pnpm run build:lib:client
pnpm run build:web

Without the patch everything works; only that row is missing (the tray toggle is equivalent). Want to upstream it? See share/PR-INSTRUCTIONS.md.

Packaging

npm run dist        # NSIS installer + portable exe (win x64)
npm run dist:cn     # same, downloads Electron/tools via npmmirror
npm run dist:dir    # only release/win-unpacked

Outputs (installer flow: welcome → license → per-user/all-users → folder → options → done; silent /S keeps both options on; uninstall removes program, shortcuts and the autostart entry but keeps %APPDATA% data):

• DeepSeek-Harness-Desktop-Setup-<version>.exe — assisted installer;
• DeepSeek-Harness-Desktop-Portable-<version>.exe — portable single exe;
• win-unpacked/ — unpacked layout.

Version comes from package.json; artifacts use ${version}. On GitHub, the build workflow packages every push and publishes a GitHub Release for v* tags.

Prebuilt runtime pack (optional channel)

On a release machine with a built checkout:

npm run pack:runtime   # options: --repo <path> --ref <tag> --node-version <v> --out <dir>

Produces dsh-runtime-<ref>-win-x64.zip (portable Node + full checkout with deps and built frontend, no .git) plus a .sha256 file. Publish both, then enable the channel via the manifest override:

{ "pack": { "url": "<zip download url>", "sha256": "<from .sha256>" } }

Users then only download → verify → extract (minutes), no pnpm/build on their machine. Remove the entry to fall back to the online source build. Notes: the archive is large (≈500 MB+ deflate; 7-Zip compresses faster/smaller), one pack per ref, and it ships the official sources (no share/ patch). node_modules symlinks are recorded as an alias manifest in pack.json and rebuilt as junctions after extraction — no admin required.

Sharing with others

• Regular users (recommended): hand out the installer/portable from npm run dist; first run auto-provisions (needs network, 10–40 min).
• Developers/intranet (Node + built checkout available): share the source zip (no node_modules/, release/, settings.json) and have them run setup.ps1 -RepoPath <checkout>.
• Network-restricted machines: switch the wizard to "China mirrors", or ship the prebuilt runtime pack.

Troubleshooting

• Double-click does nothing / no window: usually an older instance still holds the single-instance lock (e.g. started at login with --hidden). End all DeepSeek Harness Desktop processes, uninstall the old version, then run the new one.
• Old Node on PATH broke the build (Node.js v20.x … globSync): fixed since 0.2.5 (portable Node pinned on PATH) — upgrade.
• Extraction fails with Can't create … / tar errors: machines without symlink privileges — fixed since 0.2.3 (built-in zip fallback); upgrade.
• Blank taskbar icon: 0.2.6+ falls back to the exe icon when the window icon cannot be read; if it is still blank, refresh the Windows icon cache (restart explorer.exe) or unpin/repin the taskbar icon.
• Startup timeout / backend failure: check %USERPROFILE%\.dsh-desktop-logs\desktop.log.
• Two instances share session data: don't run the shell while another dsh web (browser GUI) uses the same ~/.dsh.
• Antivirus/firewall: first-run provisioning downloads and runs node/pnpm — allow %APPDATA%\DeepSeek Harness Desktop\runtime if blocked.
• Uninstall residue: the installer keeps %APPDATA%\DeepSeek Harness Desktop (settings + runtime, ≈3 GB). Uninstall first, then delete the folder for a full cleanup.

Version history

License

MIT © 2026 DeepSeek Harness Desktop contributors. Third-party components keep their own licenses.