dsh-research-notes

A small local note-taking plugin for DeepSeek Harness. It gives an Agent four tools for saving, listing, searching, and exporting research notes.

The plugin stores human-readable Markdown files under .dsh/research-notes/ in the current workspace. It does not need a database, external API, browser permission, or network service.

Quick install

Requirements

You need:

• Node.js 22 or newer
• pnpm
• DeepSeek Harness with support for JavaScript or TypeScript plugins

Step 1: Download and build

Copy and run these commands:

git clone https://github.com/fff122/dsh-research-notes.git
cd dsh-research-notes
pnpm install
pnpm build

Step 2: Create the Harness plugin configuration

Run this command in the plugin directory:

cat > research-notes.patch.yml <<EOF
- insert:
    - id: dsh-research-notes
      name: '$PWD/dist/src/index.js'
EOF

The generated path is absolute, which is required by the Harness patch loader.

Step 3: Start Harness with the plugin

If Harness is available as a command, run:

dsh web --patch "$PWD/research-notes.patch.yml"

If it is not installed as a command, run:

npx @deepseek-ai/dsh web --patch "$PWD/research-notes.patch.yml"

Open the Harness Web UI shown by the command. The Agent can now use the four research-note tools.

Other DeepSeek Harness plugins

The following plugins are maintained in separate public repositories:

Verify the installation

Ask the Agent to save a note, for example:

保存一条研究笔记：标题是 DeepSeek Harness，正文是这是一次安装测试，标签是 test。

The note should appear under:

.dsh/research-notes/notes/

You can also ask the Agent to list, search, or export the note. If the tools do not appear, check that the patch file points to dist/src/index.js and that pnpm build completed successfully.

Available tools

One-copy installation

After cloning the repository, the following block installs, builds, configures, and starts the plugin:

set -e

git clone https://github.com/fff122/dsh-research-notes.git
cd dsh-research-notes
pnpm install
pnpm build

cat > research-notes.patch.yml <<EOF
- insert:
    - id: dsh-research-notes
      name: '$PWD/dist/src/index.js'
EOF

npx @deepseek-ai/dsh web --patch "$PWD/research-notes.patch.yml"

Where notes are stored

.dsh/research-notes/
  notes/<note-id>.md
  index.json
  exports/research-notes-<timestamp>.md

The Markdown files are the source of truth. They can be opened, edited, copied, or backed up by hand. The plugin only writes below the current workspace's .dsh/research-notes/ directory.

Updating the plugin

From the cloned directory, run:

git pull
pnpm install
pnpm build

Then restart Harness with the same patch command.

Troubleshooting

pnpm: command not found means that pnpm is not installed. Install pnpm using the official pnpm installation guide, then repeat the commands.

The tools do not appear usually means that Harness was started without the patch file, or that the patch file still points to the wrong path. Run pwd inside the cloned directory and confirm that the patch points to the resulting absolute path followed by /dist/src/index.js.

The build fails means that the local Node.js or pnpm version may not meet the requirements, or that dependencies were not installed. Run node --version, then run pnpm install again.

Development

The repository uses strict TypeScript and Vitest. Before committing changes, run the complete quality gate:

pnpm format:check
pnpm typecheck
pnpm test
pnpm build

The source is intentionally split into small modules so that another developer can understand and modify it:

src/
  index.ts        # Harness entry point and tool registration
  schema.ts       # Input validation and shared data types
  note-format.ts  # Human-readable Markdown serialization
  note-store.ts   # Filesystem persistence and search
  path-policy.ts  # Workspace boundary and path safety

test/
  schema.test.ts
  note-format.test.ts
  note-store.test.ts

No release or GitHub publication should happen until formatting, type checking, tests, and the production build all pass. The repository is public and tagged with the dsh-plugin GitHub topic.

For the plugin model and patch overlay format, see the official DeepSeek Harness plugin guide.