deepseek-harness/docs/cookbook/extension-cookbook.md

Cookbook: extension plugin shapes

The three plugin shapes you write against the harness extension surface, as illustrative snippets (elided imports and helper stubs — not copy-paste-complete). For the full step-by-step guides see adding a package, adding a tool, and adding an LLM adapter; for the seams these hook into see docs/architecture.md.

A tool plugin

A tool registers on ctx.tools. The annotated defineTool example (typed execute args, result shaping, the run_in_background pattern) lives in adding-a-tool.md — that guide is the source of truth for the tool shape. Raw JSON-Schema ToolDefinitions are also accepted by ctx.tools.register() directly (that is how MCP-sourced tools arrive); defineTool is the typed sugar for first-party tools.

A hook plugin (permission gate)

A hook returns a typed decision from the tools/pre-execute gate to allow or deny a call — the seam where sandbox, permission, and plan-mode plugins live. (A "native hook" is just this: an ordinary cordis plugin on the interception seams, returning typed decisions — no external protocol needed.)

import type { Context } from 'cordis'
import type { PreToolDecision, ToolExecution } from '@deepseek-ai/dsh-tools'

declare function isAllowed(exec: ToolExecution): Promise<boolean>

export const name = 'permission-gate'

export function apply(ctx: Context) {
  ctx.on('tools/pre-execute', async (exec, next): Promise<PreToolDecision> => {
    if (!(await isAllowed(exec))) {
      return { kind: 'deny', reason: 'Denied by policy.' }
    }
    return next()
  })
}

A UI plugin

A UI plugin renders from the session/event feed (the assistant token stream as assistant/chunk, plus turn/step boundaries and tool activity), and drives input back in via agent.send() / agent.steer().

import type { Context } from 'cordis'
import { AgentId } from '@deepseek-ai/dsh-agent'

declare function render(text: string): void
declare function onUserInput(handler: (text: string) => void): void

export const name = 'my-ui'
export const inject = ['agents']

export function apply(ctx: Context) {
  ctx.on('session/event', (_session, event) => {
    if (event.type === 'assistant/chunk' && event.data.chunk.type === 'text-delta') {
      render(event.data.chunk.text)
    }
  })
  onUserInput(text => ctx.agents.get(AgentId('main'))?.send([{ type: 'text', text }]))
}

A client-driver plugin (external protocol bridge)

A client driver is a UI plugin whose "user" is another program speaking a wire protocol rather than a human at a terminal. It owns the process's stdio (so it must run with no stdout logger — every non-protocol byte corrupts the stream), creates/resumes agents on demand through the dsh-agent factory seam, translates harness events (session/event, agent/*) into outbound protocol messages, and translates inbound requests back into agent.send() / agent.cancel(). Two harness-specific contracts make it correct: resolve each request exactly once off a settle signal (settle from the durable turn/end session event — the boundary is a session event, not an agent/* mirror — with agent/status as the fallback if a peer listener starved yours), and tear each agent down through its AgentHandle.dispose() (which stops the loop, awaits its exit, and unregisters), not just cancel() — disposal must reach quiescence, not merely request it.

packages/ui/acp is the worked example: it bridges the agent to the Agent Client Protocol (JSON-RPC over stdio) so Zed and other ACP editors can drive it. See its README for the full method surface and the permission-prompt answerer it registers on the approval seam.

import type { Context } from 'cordis'

export const name = 'my-protocol-bridge'
export const inject = ['agents', 'sessions', 'sessionPersistence']

export function apply(ctx: Context) {
  // Stream every logged assistant text/reasoning delta out to the client.
  ctx.on('session/event', (_session, event) => {
    if (event.type === 'assistant/chunk') {
      const chunk = event.data.chunk
      if (chunk.type === 'text-delta') {
        // sendToClient({ kind: 'message_chunk', text: chunk.text })
      }
    }
  })
  // Inbound "prompt": create/resume an agent and feed it; settle on turn end.
  // Teardown reaches quiescence via AgentHandle.dispose() (stop + await exit).
}

Runnable wirings

Three complete examples load their plugin trees from cordis.yml: examples/echo-agent (mock model + echo tool — the all-mock skeleton check, pnpm run demo:echo), examples/coding-agent (DeepSeek V4 + the bash tool suite behind a terminal REPL UI, pnpm run demo:repl), and examples/acp-agent (an agent exposed as an ACP server over JSON-RPC stdio — the client-driver shape, pnpm run demo:acp). Each leaf is just its swappable backends plus an app-package entry: the stdio demos load @deepseek-ai/dsh-stdio-agent, the ACP demo loads @deepseek-ai/dsh-acp-agent, and both app packages share the spine via the @deepseek-ai/dsh-agent-core bundle.

The feature → mechanism map

Every product feature maps to a listener on a documented extension seam — the microkernel claim made checkable (microkernel RFC). No row modifies the loop.

Product feature	Plugin mechanism
Hook system (user + project level)	listeners on agent/session-start, agent/prompt-submit, agent/request, agent/step-result, tools/pre-execute, tools/post-execute, agent/turn-continuation — each interception waterfall returns a typed Decision; the dsh-hooks-claude / dsh-hooks-codex bridges map hook config files onto these seams
/goal	force-continue via agent/turn-continuation + steer() reminders
/loop	on the turn/end session event, send() the next iteration; or force-continue
Dynamic workflow	orchestrator plugin on turn/end (or step/end) driving send/steer + subagents
Queued + steering messages	core Agent.send() / Agent.steer()
Context compaction (auto + manual)	the ctx.compact seam + a backend (dsh-compact-basic) on the serial agent/pre-step seam; auto = token-pressure check before each step; a manual trigger invokes the same ctx.compact routine (compaction RFC — the model-facing /compact consumer tool is deferred)
System prompt configurability	ctx.systemPrompt.section() with ordering
AGENTS.md (root)	a section provider reading the file
AGENTS.md (subdir, on-touch) + file-change notices	agent.inject() from a watcher / tool-result listener
Built-in tools	ctx.tools.register(); schemas flow into the assembly automatically — the dsh-tool-* families (bash, fs, web, subagent, todo) are the shipped examples
ToolSearch / progressive disclosure	filter tools at system-prompt/assemble (the assembly carries the schemas; the loop logs the result as the request header, so disclosure stays reconstructable)
Subprocess sandbox (landlock / sandbox-exec)	tools/pre-execute (deny), or a sandboxing BashExecutor on the dsh-bash seam
Permission system / AskUserQuestion	tools/pre-execute (deny/ask); register an ask tool
Plan mode	tools/pre-execute (deny writes) + a mode prompt section via ctx.systemPrompt.section() or agent.inject() (model-visible ⟺ logged: agent/request shapes call config only)
Sub-agent delegation	the ctx.subagents provider registry (dsh-subagent-spawn/-fork/-acp) + dsh-tool-subagent exposing one configured provider to the model
MCP	one plugin per server: discover tools → ctx.tools.register()
Skills	section + tool registration; inject() skill content on invocation
Memory	section provider + tool
Scheduled tasks (cron)	a plugin registers model-callable scheduling tools; timer fires → send(…, {source: {kind: 'cron', …}}) when idle / inject() notification when busy
UI (GUI; CLI emits JSONL)	listen session/event (assistant chunks, boundaries, tool activity); input → send()
Telemetry / replayable trace	session/event → JSONL; replay = sessions.create(id, { seed })
Model adapters	LlmAdapter subclass via registerAdapter (dsh-llm-deepseek, dsh-llm-pi-ai)
Plugin hot-reload	every registration is a ctx.effect → vendored HMR just works