dsh-workspace-explorer-picker

A DeepSeek Harness Desktop plugin that opens the native Windows Explorer folder picker directly when you add a workspace - no more in-app directory browser.

Clicking Add workspace in DeepSeek Harness Desktop normally opens a directory
browser rendered inside the web GUI. This plugin skips that dialog entirely and
opens the real Windows Explorer folder chooser immediately - the same native
dialog the shell already uses for its "Choose with Windows" action.

Features

• Opens the native Windows Explorer folder dialog directly from "Add workspace"
  (both the conversation hero and the sidebar).
• Renderless client plugin - no UI of its own to maintain.
• Uses the desktop shell's own picker (Electron dialog.showOpenDialog) - full
  Explorer experience (Quick Access, breadcrumbs, search, New folder).
• Survives DSH Desktop updates: installed under $DSH_HOME (user profile),
  never inside Program Files.
• Idempotent installer (install.ps1) for quick setup on any machine.
• No volume restrictions: pick any accessible folder, including exFAT/FAT32
  and network volumes.
• Market-ready: declares dsh.bundle.patch, so it can be installed from the
  DSH Community Market / npm.

Table of Contents

• Requirements
• Install
• Market & npm
• How it works
• Uninstall
• Troubleshooting
• Development
• Publishing
• License

Requirements

Outside the desktop shell, the plugin falls back to the host directory-picker seam.

Install

Automatic (recommended)

Requires PowerShell. From the repository root:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install.ps1

What it does:

1. Copies the plugin into $DSH_HOME\profiles\node_modules\dsh-workspace-explorer-picker\
   ($DSH_HOME defaults to ~/.dsh).
2. Appends the activation rows to $DSH_HOME\profiles\desktop\cordis.patch.yml.
3. Prints a confirmation - then restart DeepSeek Harness Desktop.

The script is idempotent: re-running it is safe.

Manual

1. Copy the lib folder, cordis.patch.yml and package.json to
   $DSH_HOME\profiles\node_modules\dsh-workspace-explorer-picker\.
2. Append to $DSH_HOME\profiles\desktop\cordis.patch.yml:

- id: directory-picker
  disabled: true
- insert:
    - id: directory-picker-explorer
      name: 'dsh-workspace-explorer-picker'

3. Restart DeepSeek Harness Desktop.

Verify

After restarting, click Add workspace - the Windows Explorer folder dialog
should open immediately. If nothing happens, check the logs under
%APPDATA%\DSH Desktop\logs\ (see Troubleshooting).

Market & npm

DeepSeek Harness Desktop's Community Market installs plugins from npm when the
package declares a dsh.bundle.patch (this plugin does - see
cordis.patch.yml). The bundle patch disables the stock adaptive picker and
inserts this plugin, so the manual profile patch above is not needed when the
plugin is installed as a bundle.

1. Publish to npm so the market can resolve an install target:

   npm login
   npm publish

2. Get listed in a catalog (e.g. dshfind): submit your package at
   https://dshfind.com following their submission flow. The catalog verifies
   the repository backlink (repository in package.json points to your
   GitHub repo) before accepting structured install evidence.

3. Users install it from the market (Plugins / Market in DSH Desktop
   settings): the Host runs pnpm add dsh-workspace-explorer-picker, applies
   the bundle patch, and adds it to the profile bundles.

How it works

DeepSeek Harness Desktop composes its web GUI from Cordis bundles and applies a
user patch layer from $DSH_HOME/profiles/<profile>/cordis.patch.yml. The stock
"add workspace" flow fills a UI slot with the in-app directory browser.

This plugin is a renderless client plugin that occupies the same directory-flow
slots (conversation.hero.workspace.directoryFlow and
sidebar.workspaces.directoryFlow) and, on each open, picks a folder:

1. window.__DSH_DESKTOP_PICK_DIRECTORY__ - the DSH Desktop shell bridge
   (Electron dialog.showOpenDialog with openDirectory) - the Windows Explorer
   folder dialog.
2. Fallback: the host workspaces.pickDirectory() directory-picker seam.

The patch row directory-picker (the stock adaptive picker) is disabled so the
in-app browser never appears.

Because everything lives under $DSH_HOME, updates to DSH Desktop (which replace
Program Files) never touch the plugin.

Uninstall

1. Remove the patch rows from cordis.patch.yml (see Manual install).
2. Delete $DSH_HOME\profiles\node_modules\dsh-workspace-explorer-picker.
3. Restart DeepSeek Harness Desktop.

Troubleshooting

Development

The loader only needs package.json (with the dsh.client and
dsh.bundle.patch declarations) and lib/. There is no build step:
lib/client.js is a window.__ModuleLoader__.load bundle mirroring the
structure of the official @deepseek-ai/dsh-client-ui-directory-picker-native
plugin.

dsh-workspace-explorer-picker/
|-- lib/
|   |-- index.js        # host half (no-op; the plugin is client-only)
|   |-- client.js       # browser half: renderless directory-flow occupant
|   `-- types/          # TypeScript declarations
|-- cordis.patch.yml    # bundle patch (dsh.bundle.patch) - activates the plugin
|-- install.ps1         # idempotent installer for the profile
|-- package.json        # dsh.client + dsh.bundle.patch declarations
|-- README.md
`-- LICENSE

Publishing

npm

npm login
npm pack          # produce the .tgz (verify the contents)
npm publish
git tag v1.0.0

GitHub

git remote add origin https://github.com/liell/dsh-workspace-explorer-picker.git
git push -u origin main

License

MIT - see LICENSE.