dsh-better-sidebar

A workbench for DeepSeek Harness Web — files, terminal, Git, embedded browser, and sub-agents across a right sidebar and bottom panel, open for any plugin to extend.

What problem it solves

DeepSeek Harness Web’s native UI lacks a workbench for files and engineering tasks — reading files, running commands, checking Git, and watching background jobs usually means switching to another tool. This plugin provides a right-sidebar plus bottom-panel dual workbench: a file workbench (lazy-loaded tree + CodeMirror editor, inline previews for images / Markdown with Mermaid / HTML / PDF / Office), an embedded multi-tab browser running in sandboxed iframes with protocol-based external-link routing, a real terminal (xterm.js + node-pty with reconnect replay, optionally exposing terminal_* tools to the model), a Git panel with real diffs and VSCode-style diff tabs, and a background-task page with subagent topology.

More importantly, it opens the ctx.betterSidebar service to every plugin — the built-in 7 tabs and 6 file viewers register through the same registerTab / registerFileViewer API as third-party plugins, with full parity. Features the project no longer ships itself are left to the ecosystem. Layout, tabs, and panels persist per session, and mobile collapses into a full-width drawer.

Key features

• File workbench: lazy-loaded tree + CodeMirror editor with inline previews for images / Markdown (with Mermaid) / HTML / PDF / Office
• Embedded browser: multi-tab with back/forward/refresh, sandboxed iframes, external links split by protocol (HTTP in the sidebar, HTTPS to the system browser)
• Real terminal: xterm.js + node-pty shell with reconnect replay; optionally exposes terminal_* tools to the model
• Git panel: real diffs and VSCode-style diff tabs, history, right-click stage / commit / revert
• Background-task page: subagent topology plus exit codes / live output / force kill
• Dual workbench: right sidebar + bottom panel; drag tabs to split/merge panes (even across panels), mobile collapses to a full-width drawer
• Service-based base: ctx.betterSidebar plus registerTab / registerFileViewer, with third-party parity to built-ins
• On-demand loading: ~325KB core at startup; terminal / editor / Mermaid chunks load only when used

Quick start

Install:

dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-better-sidebar@latest

Hard-refresh the browser (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+R) and the sidebar appears — client changes hot-load, so no restart is needed unless the host half updates. Prereq: Node.js ≥ 20 and pnpm ≥ 10. Shortcuts include Ctrl/Cmd + S to save, Ctrl + Enter to commit in Git, middle-click to close a tab, and dragging a tab to a pane edge to split/merge.

Plugin authors can inject the betterSidebar service and register new sidebar pages and file viewers with registerTab / registerFileViewer.

Who it is for

• Users who want to manage files, run a terminal, and watch Git and sub-agent state directly in the DSH UI
• Plugin authors who want to add sidebar pages to DSH by reusing the ctx.betterSidebar service
• Heavy DSH users who want files, terminal, browser, and Git unified in one workbench