dsh-side-chat-slash

dsh-side-chat-slash

A side chat for the DeepSeek Harness Web GUI, built on @flyer103/dsh-side-chat 0.7.0.

This is a fork, not an original work. The bulk of the code comes from flyer103's dsh-side-chat (MIT licensed). This repository adds only the changes listed below and keeps the original LICENSE.

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What it does

Opens a side conversation next to the main session: it forks the current session into a child conversation that runs the same agent, same tools and same workspace, and can really edit files. Close it when done — the main transcript is never touched.

Differences from upstream

#	Change	Why
1	New /side slash command	Upstream only offers the right-sidebar guide card. /side + Enter now opens a side-chat tab from the composer. Registered as a host command (ctx.commands.register) rather than a client commandUi contribution, which depends on the session summary and a client locale service and can silently disappear
2	Open-request bridge	/side does not create a side session itself; it raises a "please open a tab" flag that the client polls (/side-chat/api/pending, every 2s) and then calls sidebarRight.openTab('side-chat'). The tab still owns the session, so upstream's one-tab-one-session (and close-disposes) lifecycle is preserved
3	Approval pinned to never	Upstream inherits the parent's approval policy, but the side-chat tab renders no approval prompt — a parent on ask would leave the side agent waiting forever. A parent ask is now downgraded to never for the side chat

Install

# GitHub
dsh plugin --profile desktop add github:lucyVan/dsh-side-chat-slash

# Local checkout
dsh plugin --profile desktop add /absolute/path/to/dsh-side-chat-slash

--profile must name the profile you actually run: desktop for the Desktop app, web for a dsh web process.

Restart DSH afterwards (quit the Desktop app with ⌘Q and reopen it; restart a dsh web process).

Usage

1. Open any session that has at least one message
2. Type /side in the composer and press Enter — a side-chat tab appears in the right sidebar
3. Send the first message in that tab; the fork happens then, so an empty tab costs nothing
4. Close the tab to destroy that side chat; run /side again for a new one

The upstream entry point (the "Side chat" card on the right sidebar's guide page) still works.

Relationship to the main session

• Inherits the full history at fork time, the same preset, cwd, provider/model and sandbox mode
• Isolated: side-chat turns never enter the main transcript, the session list or the subagent catalog
• Independent: main-session messages after the fork do not flow into it; each side chat has its own context
• Really edits files: write / edit / bash act on the same workspace, so the main session sees the change on its next read
• Destroyed on close: the side session's persisted log is removed (best effort)

Known limitations (inherited)

• The side-chat tab does not render approval prompts (mitigated by pinning never)
• A closed tab cannot be restored
• Each side chat's first request is roughly the size of the parent's next request; N concurrent side chats multiply that
• GUI restarts lose every side session
• Web platform only (including the Desktop window); no CLI/TUI surface

Compatibility

Item	Status
DSH version	Verified on 0.2.2-rc.1; package.json declares engines.dsh: >=0.2.2-rc.1 <0.3.0-0, so an incompatible host fails at install time instead of at runtime; DSH rejects an incompatible host at install time
Platform	Tested on macOS; Windows/Linux untested (no platform-specific code, expected to work)
UI	Web GUI only (Desktop window or dsh web); no CLI/TUI surface
Node	>= 22 (satisfied by DSH's bundled runtime)
npm dependencies	None: imports no @deepseek-ai/* package
Browser module dependencies	None: requires only react (shell-provided) and @deepseek-ai/dsh-client-ui-primitives (platform seed table, with a built-in fallback)
Host services	Requires agents/webServer/timer/commands; degrades gracefully when agentPresets/sandboxPolicy/approval/fileReferences/sessionPersistence are absent
Coexistence	Cannot be installed alongside upstream @flyer103/dsh-side-chat (duplicate routes and tab type)

After a DSH upgrade the plugin may refuse to install: engines.dsh is enforced by DSH, which rejects an out-of-window host and explains that running it may crash or corrupt data. To try an unverified host anyway, use DSH's exact-version exemption:

dsh plugin --profile <name> allow-version <package>@<version> --dsh-version <host-version> --accept-risk

Back up your workspace first. The host APIs this plugin relies on (ctx.commands.register, the right-sidebar tabs, agents.create's seed semantics) can still change between release candidates.

Install verification: dsh plugin --profile web add github:lucyVan/dsh-side-chat-slash was run in an isolated DSH_HOME; dependency install, bundle registration and --dump-config composition all succeeded.

Uninstall

dsh plugin --profile desktop remove dsh-side-chat-slash

Then restart DSH.

Credits

• Original author flyer103: dsh-side-chat
• License: MIT (see LICENSE)