Deepseek Harness Desktop

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An independent, community-built macOS desktop host for the official DeepSeek Harness Web UI.

[!IMPORTANT] This is an early Apple Silicon MVP. Builds are currently unsigned and not notarized. DSH Desktop is not affiliated with or endorsed by DeepSeek.

Preview

This first MVP intentionally keeps the architecture narrow:

1. Electron starts a pinned, bundled @deepseek-ai/dsh process.
2. Harness binds to 127.0.0.1 on an operating-system-selected port.
3. Electron waits for the official readiness URL and loads it in a native window.
4. Electron stops the Harness process when the application quits.

The project does not fork or modify the Harness agent loop, model adapters, session storage, tools, or Web UI.

Cross-platform reuse comes from Electron plus the official React Web UI, not React Native. The same host code can later target Windows and Linux; using React Native would require rewriting the Harness interface.

Architecture

Electron main process
  -> starts the bundled dsh CLI as a managed child process
  -> waits for its loopback health endpoint
  -> loads the official Harness Web UI in a sandboxed window
  -> stops the child process during application shutdown

Harness remains the source of truth for agents, model calls, tools, sessions, approvals, and persistence. The Electron layer owns only the desktop window, process lifecycle, navigation policy, and a small loading-page IPC bridge.

Requirements

• An Apple Silicon Mac for the current packaging target
• Node.js 24
• npm 10 or newer

Development

Install dependencies from the lockfile:

nvm use
npm ci

Run the application:

npm start

Run checks:

npm run check

Build an unpacked Apple Silicon application:

npm run package:mac

Open the result:

open "release/mac-arm64/DSH Desktop.app"

Build unsigned DMG and ZIP artifacts:

npm run dist:mac

Signing and notarization are deliberately outside the first MVP.

Current Limitations

• Apple Silicon is the only packaged architecture.
• Releases are not yet code signed or notarized.
• Releases do not yet have an automatic updater.
• Native notifications, Dock integration, Keychain storage, and Computer Use are not implemented.

Local Data

Harness data is stored under Electron's application data directory:

~/Library/Application Support/DSH Desktop/harness

Runtime logs are stored under:

~/Library/Logs/DSH Desktop/harness.log

The Electron layer never reads or copies model credentials. The official Harness credential provider stores them inside its own data directory. Moving credentials into macOS Keychain is a possible later desktop integration.

Security Model

Harness listens only on 127.0.0.1 with an operating-system-selected port. The Electron renderer is sandboxed, Node.js integration is disabled, external navigation is blocked, and desktop IPC handlers accept calls only from the exact bundled loading page. See SECURITY.md for private vulnerability reporting. Treat Harness logs and local data as sensitive.

Packaging Note

The MVP packages application resources as normal files instead of an ASAR archive. Harness discovers plugins dynamically and maintains filesystem symlinks to their package directories; those links cannot target Electron's virtual ASAR filesystem reliably. ASAR is a packaging format, not a security boundary.

Desktop Integration Boundary

The current application needs no custom Harness plugin. Harness already owns workspace selection, local tools, approvals, session persistence, directory selection, and opening generated files with macOS applications.

A future desktop integration plugin should only adapt capabilities that exist because the UI is inside Electron, such as Dock badges, native notifications, application menus, Keychain-backed credentials, and desktop updates. It should expose a small allowlisted API to Harness rather than duplicating the agent or granting browser code unrestricted Electron IPC access.

For example, a notification integration would have only two small halves:

1. A Harness plugin listens for a completed run and emits a typed desktop.notify request.
2. Electron validates that request and calls the macOS notification API.

The plugin does not own prompts, sessions, model calls, tools, or persistence. Those remain in Harness as the single source of truth.

Computer Use would be a separate, larger integration. It would need explicit screen-capture and accessibility permissions plus tightly scoped screenshot, click, and keyboard operations with user approval. Merely displaying Harness inside Electron does not grant those capabilities.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request. Desktop host bugs belong here; agent, model, tool, session, and upstream Web UI issues belong in the DeepSeek Harness repository.

Release history is recorded in CHANGELOG.md. This project is licensed under Apache-2.0; bundled dependency notices are in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.