dsh-file-explorer

中文 | English

A file explorer for DSH Web. A floating "Files" button opens a left drawer (workspace file tree); clicking a file floats a draggable/resizable preview box on the right. Clicking a "generated files" chip or a tool-row file link opens that file in the preview box instead of the OS default app.

Screenshots

Light	Dark

Features

1. Floating entry: a "Files" button pinned to the left edge of the page. It stays collapsed into a small, low-profile handle — intentionally unobtrusive and out of the way — so it does not distract from the main workspace. Hover or click to expand it and toggle the file drawer.
2. Left drawer: a full-height fixed drawer with a title bar (refresh + close buttons) holding the workspace file tree.
3. File browsing: a lazy-loading directory tree that follows the current session's workspace root and refreshes on session switch.
4. Floating preview: clicking a file floats a draggable/resizable/minimizable/closable preview box on the right.
5. Previewers: built-in text (source), Markdown (rendered + source toggle + inline edit), image (data URL), and binary (hexdump) previews.
6. Extensible previews: register previewers by extension through the fileExplorer service; unregistered extensions fall back to the binary preview. Add protein-structure (.cif/.pdb → Mol*), CSV, etc. previewers without touching the core.
7. PDF in a new tab: clicking a .pdf file opens it in a new browser tab with the browser's native PDF viewer (no PDF previewer needed).
8. Row actions menu: hover a file/directory row to reveal a "···" menu (Open / Copy absolute path / Copy relative path).
9. Shortcut: Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+E toggles the file drawer.

Install

From the git repository (recommended):

dsh plugin --profile web add github:wolfsonliu/dsh-file-explorer
dsh web

Or from a local checkout:

git clone https://github.com/wolfsonliu/dsh-file-explorer
cd dsh-file-explorer
npm install
npm run build
dsh plugin --profile web add .
dsh web

Optional preview plugins

Install additional previewers for richer file previews:

# CodeMirror 6 code preview with syntax highlighting and editing
dsh plugin --profile web add github:wolfsonliu/dsh-file-explorer-preview-code

# Mol* molecular-structure preview (.cif / .pdb)
dsh plugin --profile web add github:wolfsonliu/dsh-file-explorer-preview-molstar

# SeqViz sequence viewer (FASTA / GenBank / JBEI / SnapGene / SBOL)
dsh plugin --profile web add github:wolfsonliu/dsh-file-explorer-preview-sequence

Configuration

The bundle enables the following defaults:

- insert:
    - id: file-explorer
      name: '@dsh-external/dsh-file-explorer'
      config:
        maxTextBytes: 2097152
        maxImageBytes: 10485760
        maxBinaryBytes: 65536

Data layer

The host half registers a /file-explorer/api exact route via ctx.webServer.register(). Actions (action query param):

• list: lists one directory level (directories first, by name), returning BrowserEntry[].
• preview: reads one file, returning a discriminated FilePreview (text / image / empty / binary / too-large).
• pdf: streams a .pdf file inline (Content-Type: application/pdf) so the browser's native viewer renders it in a new tab.
• resolve-path: resolves a workspace-relative path to an absolute path and parent path.
• write: writes UTF-8 text to a workspace file (POST body { path, content }), returning the saved relative path.

All paths pass a workspace-containment check (inside(root, input), including realpath symlink resolution); out-of-workspace paths are rejected. Text/binary is detected by a NUL-byte scan; images map extensions to MIME and return a data URL. Binary previews return the first maxBinaryBytes as base64 (plus a truncated flag) for a hexdump -C-style hex dump.

Model Experience

This plugin is a pure UI surface — it emits no session events and does not modify session logs, so it is invisible to the model. The host half only reads file content for browser preview, independent of agent tool execution.

Known Limitations and Deferred Work

• Markdown-only editing: built-in Markdown previews support inline edit/save (with autosave on file switch and panel close); full CodeMirror text editing across all files is a later phase.
• Single-file preview: no multi-tab or inline diff.
• No polling refresh: the tree only refreshes manually (↻) or on session switch.
• File-link interception is best-effort: it relies on DSH's CSS class names (_fileLink, data-produced-files-row); update the selectors if the upstream UI changes.
• Large files: text/image reads are bounded by maxTextBytes/maxImageBytes, and binary hexdumps read only the first maxBinaryBytes; streaming is not implemented.
• PDF range requests: the pdf action streams the whole file without Range/206 support, so very large PDFs download fully before the native viewer renders; byte-range seeking is deferred.

Developing extensions

dsh-file-explorer exposes the fileExplorer cordis service: registerPreview, registerFileAction, writeFile, and readRawFile. Domain experts can ship extensions as separate plugins (named @dsh-external/dsh-file-explorer-preview-<domain>) without touching the core.

See Developing a dsh-file-explorer extension (中文) for the full guide — contracts, routing, handling large/binary files with readRawFile, editing with writeFile, bundling, i18n, and reference implementations.

Quick skeleton:

import type { PreviewProps } from '@dsh-external/dsh-file-explorer/client'

export const inject = ['fileExplorer']

export function apply(ctx: {
  fileExplorer: { registerPreview(ext: string, comp: React.ComponentType<PreviewProps>, priority?: number): () => void }
  effect(cb: () => (() => void), label?: string): void
}): void {
  ctx.effect(() => ctx.fileExplorer.registerPreview('cif', CifPreview, 10))
}

Extensions

dsh-file-explorer is designed for extension through the fileExplorer service. Known extensions:

More extensions are welcome — build your own by following Developing a dsh-file-explorer extension.

Development

npm install
npm run check     # tsc type check
npm test          # vitest unit tests
npm run build     # tsc + tsdown (host ESM + client CJS bundle)

References

• dsh-side-panel — a DSH Web side panel plugin; the architectural reference for this project's host route and file-link interception.
• DeepSeek Harness — the DSH framework this plugin extends.

License

MIT