dsh-launcher

DSHL — A Windows & macOS desktop launcher for DeepSeek-Harness that simplifies runtime installation, isolated instances, provider configuration, plugin management, and one-click launching—no terminal, Node.js, or source setup required.

---

What it does

dsh-launcher is a desktop launcher for AI harnesses that manages the entire lifecycle of your DSH environments—from setup and configuration to plugins, runtimes, and launching.

Runtimes	Versioned DSH installs with a bundled Node 22 — a fresh Windows machine works out of the box.
Instances	Multiple isolated DSH environments (each its own $DSH_HOME), create / rename / clone / delete / switch.
Providers	API key in Windows Credential Manager, never on disk in plaintext.
Plugin Market	Registry browse + smart (LLM re-ranked) search + install / uninstall / hot enable-disable.
Launch	One button → dsh web boots → DSH renders in a launcher-owned window, logs streamed live.

Features

• Out-of-the-box runtime — Node 22 is bundled into the installer; DSH is resolved through a 4-layer chain (settings override → bundled → managed runtimes/<ver>/ → PATH). No Node, no pnpm, no source checkout required.
• Managed runtimes — install / switch / remove / verify DSH versions side by side; each instance pins its own version.
• Multi-instance isolation — every instance gets an isolated $DSH_HOME; plugins and config never leak between instances.
• Smart Plugin Market — port of dsh-market + smart-plugin-market in Rust: registry fetch (China npm-mirror fallback), smart search with Result ⊆ Registry validation, hot enable/disable via the cordis.patch.yml layer (survives dsh plugin reconciliation).
• Diagnostics — bundle-stack + duplicate-entry + orphan-patch-target + load-order analysis with fix suggestions.
• DSH in-app window — DSH renders inside the launcher (Option B / dsh-tauri port), not a browser tab; closing the window stops the harness.
• Bidirectional theme sync — light/dark/system, one lamp: toggling in the launcher or in DSH keeps both in step.
• Process-tree hardening — Windows Job Object (KILL_ON_JOB_CLOSE) + recursive taskkill /T /F fallback + a pre-launch zombie sweep. 10 consecutive stop/start cycles leave zero survivors.
• Launch history — SQLite-backed sessions with start/stop timestamps and crash/exit status.

Install

Download (recommended)

Grab the latest dsh-launcher_<version>_x64-setup.exe from Releases, run it, done. The installer ships a bundled Node runtime, so there's nothing else to install.

⚠️ Releases are currently unsigned. Windows SmartScreen may warn on first run — click "More info → Run anyway". (Code signing is on the roadmap, P5.)

Build from source

Requirements: Node ≥ 22, pnpm ≥ 10, Rust (MSVC toolchain), WebView2 (built into Win 11).

pnpm install                 # frontend deps
cargo build --workspace      # compile all Rust crates
pnpm build                   # tauri build → NSIS setup.exe
# artifact: apps/desktop/src-tauri/target/release/bundle/nsis/*-setup.exe

Quick start

1. Install and launch dsh-launcher.
2. Settings → Provider — paste a DeepSeek API key (stored in Windows Credential Manager).
3. Home — pick an instance, click Launch.

DSH boots in its own window; the Activity pane streams stdout/stderr live. Stop from the same button or by closing the window.

Repository layout

dsh-launcher/
├── apps/desktop/               Tauri 2 app
│   ├── src/                    React 19 + TS frontend (Vite, Tailwind v4, Zustand)
│   └── src-tauri/              Rust shell: commands/, state/, tauri.conf.json, vendor/node
├── crates/
│   ├── launcher-core/          framework-agnostic core: paths/settings/instance/provider/process/runtime/history/market
│   └── dsh-adapter/            DSH-specific adapter (RuntimeAdapter impl): runtimes/theme/diagnostics
├── tui/                        dsh-tauri reference mirror (Option B mechanism)
├── scripts/                    dev helpers (icon generation, …)
└── docs: README.md · plan.md · architecture.md · TODO.md · CONTRIBUTING.md · LICENSE

Language boundary (by design): TypeScript owns the UI; Rust owns the system (process, fs, network, secrets, SQLite). All system actions go through typed Tauri IPC — see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Data directory

Everything lives under %LOCALAPPDATA%/AIHarnessLauncher/:

AIHarnessLauncher/
├── settings.json             app settings (DSH path override, theme, last instance)
├── providers.json            provider metadata (API key is in Credential Manager, never here)
├── launcher.db               SQLite launch history
├── runtimes/                 managed DSH versions + bundled node
├── instances/<id>/           instance.json + workspace/ (= that instance's $DSH_HOME)
├── cache/                    registry + download cache
└── logs/launcher.log         app log (+ crash-*.txt on panic)

Environment variables

Variable	Purpose
AHL_HOME	Override the data root (default %LOCALAPPDATA%/AIHarnessLauncher; dev/testing)
DSH_CLI_BIN	Override the DSH CLI entry (…/apps/cli/lib/bin.js)

Architecture

See architecture.md for the full product architecture and plan.md for the phased plan (Phase 0–7) and the productization plan (P0–P6) with acceptance gates.

Roadmap

Tracked in TODO.md. Milestones:

• v0.4 — out-of-the-box on a clean machine (✅ done)
• v0.6 — no-scar stop/start + green CI (in progress)
• v0.7 — signed installer + in-app auto-update
• v1.0 — signed + auto-update + out-of-the-box + CI-guarded stable

Contributing

Pull requests welcome — read CONTRIBUTING.md first (branch/commit conventions, PR flow, code & test standards).

License

MIT © 2026 dsh-launcher contributors.