10 Must‑Have Plugins to Supercharge DeepSeek Harness

DeepSeek Harness gained rapid popularity, reaching 10 000 stars within two hours and 50 000 stars within 12 hours after release. The default web UI provides only a chat box without file tree, terminal, Git panel, or task board.

Harness follows the philosophy “everything is a plugin,” offering 1 117 curated plugins, 1 521 ecosystem repositories, and 301 295 stars as of 2026‑08‑15.

Installing plugins

All plugins are installed with a single command:

dsh plugin --profile web add "github:owner/repo#ref"

Example to add a visual plugin:

dsh plugin --profile web add "github:liustack/modlens#main"

The command pulls the code from GitHub, registers it via dsh.bundle, and the plugin becomes active after restarting the dsh web service. The web UI must be started with the --patch flag; otherwise many plugins and skills will not work: npx @deepseek-ai/dsh web --patch Official repositories should be tagged with #dsh so that the community index can automatically include them. Additional plugins can be discovered by searching the dsh-plugin topic on GitHub.

Recommended plugins

ModLens

Repository: https://github.com/liustack/modlens (905+ stars). Adds a modlens_read_image tool that converts images to structured text for the pure‑text model.

Install (lock version):

dsh plugin --profile web add "@liustack/[email protected]"

Scenario: paste error screenshots, UI mockups, or flow‑chart images for analysis.

dsh-web-ui

Repository: https://github.com/zhu1090093659/dsh-web-ui (1 013+ stars). Turns the bare UI into a full‑featured workspace with task board, Git graph, side panel, mobile UI, pet, token stats, and skin center.

Install:

dsh plugin --profile web add "github:zhu1090093659/dsh-web-ui#main"

After installation the left sidebar shows new panels; the UI becomes a “refined house.” The task board (five columns) can dispatch tasks to real DSH sessions, update status automatically, and supports cron scheduling.

dsh-better-sidebar

Repository: https://github.com/omdsh-dev/DSH-better-sidebar (684+ stars). Provides a Codex‑style workbench with file tree, terminal, Git, and extensible tabs.

Install:

dsh plugin --profile web add "github:omdsh-dev/DSH-better-sidebar#main"

Comparison: better‑sidebar focuses on IDE‑style layout, while dsh‑web‑ui focuses on functional collections; they can be installed together without conflict.

dsh-TUI

Repository: https://github.com/ccch1mneyyy/dsh-TUI (793+ stars). Provides a full‑screen terminal interface for Harness.

Install the plugin, then run: dsh --profile cc-tui Scenario: developers who prefer CLI workflows or need remote‑server access.

deepseek-harness-desktop

Repository: https://github.com/anywhere-labs/deepseek-harness-desktop (4 545+ stars). Packages Harness as an Electron desktop app, eliminating the need for Node.js or manual commands.

Installation: download the appropriate release package from GitHub Releases and double‑click to install.

Scenario: users who want a click‑to‑run desktop client.

dsh-at-file

Repository: https://github.com/omdsh-dev/dsh-at-file. Allows referencing workspace files with @ syntax, automatically inserting file contents into prompts.

Install:

dsh plugin --profile web add "github:omdsh-dev/dsh-at-file#main"

Scenario: frequent file‑referencing during conversations.

dsh-agent-teams

Repository: https://github.com/NanmiCoder/dsh-agent-teams. Enables multi‑agent team collaboration via natural‑language commands.

Install:

dsh plugin --profile web add "github:dsh-external/dsh-agent-teams#main"

Workflow: create a team, add members, split tasks, and let agents communicate directly without a central leader.

Note: The repository is private; the github: URL requires local Git read permissions.

dsh-plan-execute

Repository: https://github.com/dsh-external/dsh-plan-execute. Separates planning (reasoning model) from execution (economy model) for complex tasks.

Install:

dsh plugin --profile web add "github:dsh-external/dsh-plan-execute#main"

After installation a “planning/execution model” configuration line appears in the web settings.

dsh-context-doctor

Repository: https://github.com/Zhenyu98/dsh-context-doctor. Audits the token cost of system prompts, skill directories, and tool schemas, highlighting duplicates and offering trimming suggestions.

Install:

dsh plugin --profile web add "github:Zhenyu98/dsh-context-doctor#main"

Provides a circular panel visualization and a context_audit tool for agents.

dsh-reverse-skill

Repository: https://github.com/dhicoc/dsh-reverse-skill. Contains 85 SKILL.md files covering reverse engineering, authorized penetration testing, and security research.

Install:

dsh plugin --profile web add "github:dhicoc/dsh-reverse-skill#main"

Scenario: security researchers needing a ready‑made methodology and toolchain.

Pros and cons

Extreme customizability: users can turn a bare UI into a fully featured environment.

Rapid ecosystem growth: over a thousand plugins mean most needed functionality already exists.

Simple installation: a single dsh plugin --profile web add command handles download, extraction, and configuration.

MIT license: free for personal, commercial, and modification use.

Drawbacks:

Version volatility – many plugins are in developer preview and change quickly.

Some plugins require extra configuration (e.g., ModLens version lock, dsh-agent-teams Git permissions).

Full functionality requires the web UI to be started with --patch.

Layered recommendation

Core experience layer: dsh-web-ui and dsh-better-sidebar turn the UI from a “bare house” into a “refined house.”

Interaction layer: dsh-TUI (terminal), deepseek-harness-desktop (desktop app), and dsh-at-file (file referencing) decide how you talk to Harness.

Capability extension layer: ModLens (image), dsh‑agent‑teams (multi‑agent), dsh‑plan‑execute (dual‑model), dsh‑context‑doctor (token audit), dsh‑reverse‑skill (security skills) can be added as needed.

Open‑source resources

DeepSeek Harness official repo: https://github.com/deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness

Oh‑My‑DSH plugin community: https://github.com/like-study1/Oh-My-DSH

Awesome DSH Plugin list: https://github.com/awesome-dsh-plugin/awesome-dsh-plugin