dsh-better-sidebar

A dual workbench for DSH: native right sidebar + self-drawn bottom panel, with the ctx.betterSidebar service open to every plugin

🌏 中文 · English

2026-08-12.18-35-26.mp4

✨ Features

🗂️ File Management Lazy-loading tree, git status colors, live directory watch, global search, drag-and-drop upload, multi-select batch actions, dual-source "Open with" menu.	🌿 Git Source Control (Merge / Staged / Changes groups, message box with Generate, branch + sync footer) plus a this-session AI-changes lens, with a read-only commit graph (lanes, ref badges, branch filter, commit details) in one tab.
📝 Editable Editor & Previews An editable CodeMirror (the stock preview is read-only), Markdown + Mermaid + floating outline, sandboxed HTML preview, .jsonl record cards, paged preview for huge files, streaming transfers with no size caps.	🧩 Tasks Live subagent topology (workflow graph / tree modes) + background task list: exit codes, live output, force-kill.
💬 Side Chat (beta) Codex-style side threads: inherit the full parent context and run independently, realtime push, visible & revocable queue, per-thread model selection, one-click promotion to a top-level session.	🖥️ Bottom Workbench A self-drawn bottom panel that coexists with the native right sidebar: drag-to-split panes, multiple terminal tabs, per-session persisted layout.

Also: 📂 the sidebar_open tool lets the model open the sidebar itself · ⚡ ~325KB core at startup, heavy chunks load on demand · 🌏 i18n follows DSH · 📱 narrow screens switch to a full-width drawer

🌿 Git Graph (read-only commit graph)

Switch to Git Graph at the top of the Git panel for commit nodes, forks and merge edges across local branches, remote-tracking branches and HEAD. The branch selector only filters history — it never checks out or fetches; each commit is one line (lane edges + ref pills + subject), hover shows the author and short hash, and selecting one opens its full message and diff in the bottom pane. History loads in pages; reference changes during pagination prompt a refresh; reads are bounded (200 commits per page, offset 10,000, 1,000 branches) and report an explicit error past a limit. This first version shows no tags and offers no history-changing actions.

🧭 dsh-context diagnostics (optional)

With the dsh-context plugin installed, three places offer a one-click jump into that conversation's Context view: an agent node's detail card on the Tasks page, a background job's output window (the job's real owner session — never merely the session its row was watched under), and the session header. The entries appear only while dsh-context's Context page is actually registered: a deployment without it (or with that page hidden) shows no control at all, and while one jump is in flight every entry point is disabled. A failed jump is reported once, in a dismissible alert at the frame's bottom edge; nothing is polled while idle.

🚀 Installation

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

Then hard-refresh the browser (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+R). Requires DSH 0.2.1-rc.1+.

Compatibility warning — v0.28.0 will take over this plugin's npm latest. DSH's own npm latest still points to 0.2.0-rc.2, which is not compatible with v0.28.0. On that host, pin dsh-better-sidebar@0.26.1 instead of using the command above. DSH 0.2.1-alpha.5 users must pin dsh-better-sidebar@0.28.0-alpha.0. Upgrade the host explicitly to 0.2.1-rc.1 before installing v0.28.0; the two packages' latest tags are independent.

Pick the plugin version for your DSH version

Your DSH version	Install command
0.2.1-rc.1+	dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-better-sidebar@0.28.0
0.2.1-alpha.5	dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-better-sidebar@0.28.0-alpha.0
0.2.0-rc.2	dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-better-sidebar@0.26.1
0.2.0-rc.1	dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-better-sidebar@0.24.1
0.1.7-rc.1 ~ 0.1.7 stable	dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-better-sidebar@0.22.1
0.1.7-alpha.x	No compatible release — upgrade DSH to rc.1 first
0.1.6 and earlier (incl. the 0.1.5 line)	dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-better-sidebar@0.19.1

Always pin exact versions for older releases (latest moves forward with each new stable). Replace web with your own profile name.

Other ways to install

Let DSH install it for you — paste this prompt into any DSH session:

Install the dsh-better-sidebar plugin (a sidebar workbench for DSH):
1. Confirm DSH is 0.2.1-rc.1 or newer, then run dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-better-sidebar@0.28.0
2. Remind me to hard-refresh the browser (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+R) afterwards
If something fails, check the FAQ table in https://github.com/omdsh-dev/DSH-better-sidebar README first.

One-line script — clone this repo and run bash scripts/install.sh 0.28.0 (macOS / Linux / Windows Git Bash; ./scripts/install.ps1 -Version 0.28.0 for native Windows). It handles installation + bundle registration.

Updating: just re-run the install command, then hard-refresh the browser.

FAQ

Symptom	Cause & fix
Ignored build scripts error	pnpm 11 blocked a transitive dependency's build script. Run pnpm approve-builds in the profile directory (~/.dsh/profiles/web) — this plugin itself has no build-script dependencies.
minimum release age / version younger than 24h	The release is less than 24 hours old. Wait 24h or re-run (pnpm auto-adds minimumReleaseAgeExclude).
"Profile directory not found"	Run dsh web once to initialize ~/.dsh/profiles/web.
Two sidebars on the page	Double mounting. Remove the legacy manual mount line (- insert: ... better-sidebar ...) from ~/.dsh/profiles/web/cordis.patch.yml; aggregate packages mounting this package under a different id are auto-yielded, no action needed.
Settings values gone after upgrade	Since DSH 0.1.7, preferences live on this plugin's mount row in the profile (default entry id better-sidebar). The plugin migrates your old settings.yaml values once on first start and never overwrites newer values.
Terminal unavailable	Terminals are provided by DSH itself (this plugin ships no PTY) — see DSH docs; "host provides no terminal capability" in the bottom terminal means this deployment has no terminal controller mounted.
dsh: command not found	Install DSH first; or use npx -y --package @deepseek-ai/dsh@0.2.1-rc.1 dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-better-sidebar@0.28.0.

🆕 Recent Updates

v0.28.0 — stable plugin release for DSH 0.2.1-rc.1+

• Move all 13 DSH peer floors to ^0.2.1-rc.1; retain the alpha.0 functionality without runtime changes
• The upstream alpha.5 → rc.1 full-tree diff contains 355 files, all package.json; no source changes
• v0.28.0 will replace this plugin’s npm latest, even while DSH’s latest remains 0.2.0-rc.2; old hosts must pin the versions in the table above
• RC validation is pending; see the RC adaptation record. Earlier alpha test counts are not RC evidence

v0.28.0-alpha.0 (prerelease)

• Adapt to DSH 0.2.1-alpha.5+: use native Connection admission for HTTP/WS and remove the retired invariant companion and dependency
• Files, Git, terminals and newly created side chats follow the session’s current working directory
• The commit graph fills the available Git-panel height and adapts to the diff preview and window size
• Optional dsh-context diagnostic shortcuts in agent details, background-job output windows and the session header appear only when the Context entry is available
• DSH 0.2.0-rc.2 users stay on npm-published v0.26.1; v0.27.0 has not been published. Use the explicit alpha version above, not latest
• Validation history: DSH alpha.5 adaptation record (before the latest dev integration; not the final release test counts)

v0.27.0 - full release history at Releases · CHANGELOG

• Git page rebuilt: Source Control groups, a read-only commit graph with branch filtering, and a shared Commit details / Content / Diff pane
• Accurate change tracking: separate staged/unstaged counts, nested-repository discovery, session-relative paths, PTC file operations and long polling
• Selection stays in place: fixed the integration regression that displaced selected files and drew stray borders; added real-host layout coverage
• Side Chat: new child sessions seed from the latest summarizing compaction instead of copying the full parent log

v0.26.1 — full release history at Releases · CHANGELOG

• ⚡ Fixed the steady-state cost behind "fine on 0.24, then it got slow" (community reports: the sidebar turns laggy after being open a long time, DSH turns laggy after many turns, a restart clears it for a while; an artifact-level A/B puts the line at v0.25.0): both 500 ms timers are now visibility-gated (the host right-panel state is one shared module-level poller; the blank-session fallback only runs while it actually renders), the per-tab 5 s session-root poll became one per session and only while visible, the file-tree watch and side-chat push stop when parked, keepMounted keeps its semantics while every cache/registry is now bounded, and the host cwd resolver gained in-flight dedupe with a 3 s → 15 s TTL
• 📊 Measured in the real mount lane (4 visited tabs, 15 s idle window): live 500 ms timers 3 → 1, live 5 s timers 5 → 0, session.cwd requests 15 → 0, hit tests 1,620 → 0, forced layouts 5,190 → 30

🔌 Plugin Ecosystem

ctx.betterSidebar offers two extension points to every plugin — registerTab / registerFileViewer; the built-in 6 tabs + 4 viewers use the very same API. The GitHub topic dsh-better-sidebar already lists 30+ ecosystem plugins; the full integration guide is at docs/external-plugin-guide.md.

import type {} from 'dsh-better-sidebar'  // triggers the ctx.betterSidebar type merge
export const inject = ['betterSidebar']
export function apply(ctx: Context) {
  ctx.effect(() => ctx.betterSidebar.registerTab({
    id: 'my-plugin:db', title: 'Database', component: ({ scope }) => <DbView sessionId={scope.sessionId} />,
  }))
}

Ecosystem catalog (28 tab plugins · 4 viewer plugins · 4 enhancements)

📑 Tab plugins (sidebar pages)

Plugin	⭐	Description
ChenRuoT/dsh-sidebar-qa		Select-to-ask side page: Codex-style side questions / Claude Code /btw
fuhefei/dsh-sentinel		Condition-driven wake-up system: file / command / HTTP / process / webhook watchers that wake an agent; dock + sidebar branch + global dashboard
Fisfzy/ego-browser		Agent browser: i18n-aware local browser tab (auto-registers a sidebar page when better-sidebar is present, falls back to a floating observer)
jiuge2467/dsh-studio		Full-stack workbench: multi-source MCP visual debugging hub, visual thinking engine
Iwctwbh/dsh-flowglass		Flowglass: realtime session flow visualization (messages / tool groups / subagent branches)
FeatherHunter/dsh-mattpocock-skills-deck		Gamified mattpocock/skills task system: fog-of-war map, task bar progression
GULI-lab/DSH-element-source		Click any UI element to jump to its Vue / React / Svelte / Angular source and feed it into the session
Lzh3070/dsh-file-review-tab		File review page: line-level red/green diff + undo + deep links into chat lines
yq04/dsh-git-remotes		Git remotes page: branches / upstreams / ahead-behind, fetch with prune, ff-only pull, confirmed push
ztyhehe/dsh-better-sidebar-svn		SVN source-control page: status / diff / log / commit / update / revert / conflict resolution, symmetric to the built-in Git panel
Melody-max114/dsh-excel-panel		Excel editing page: xlsx preview / edit, live formula evaluation, merged cells, save back to the original file
v587d/dsh-anysearch-refs		AnySearch result reference cards: query, source digest, keyword highlights
Lukeknow0/dsh-markdown-link-preview		Markdown artifact link preview: click same-origin .md outputs in chat to read them in the sidebar
mlosun/dsh-docs-panel		Global docs panel: portable Markdown notes readable from any workspace
tylina/dsh-tylina		Typst document tool: WYSIWYG typesetting for papers, reports, exams, resumes, charts, posters, sheet music, and PPTX-exported slides
lnyuqian/dsh-skill-sidebar		Skills panel: scans local skill directories, short action phrases + one-click copy + pinning
g-yixuan/dsh-sidenote		Codex-style side chat + selection-anchored annotations (lightweight consumer plugin)
OMSociety/dsh-ssh-tunnel		Multi-host SSH tunnels + SSH manager page
OMSociety/dsh-git-forge		GitHub / Gitea accounts, project authorization and push policies
YesSanSan/dsh-conversation-outline		Conversation outline page: turn-structured view, one-click jump, LLM one-line titles
Wulabalabo/dsh-sidebar-Explorer-Plus		File manager page: upload / move / delete / rename / new folder (write operations)
yq04/dsh-turn-review		Turn review: review agent changes turn by turn
Ghz114514/dsh-refpics		Pinterest-style reference-image search: masonry flow, sidebar board, download & Eagle favorites
yzlin499/dsh-yzlin499-easy-plugins		Handy utility bundle (friendly to bare-bones DSH)
dong-victor/dsh-better-sidebar-starter		Run-configuration page: IDEA-style Run/Debug configs — one-click start, history, WebSocket live logs, parallel instances
baosfeng/my-dsh-plugins		Personal plugin collection (dsh-file-activity): sidebar file-activity page — read / create / modify history and stats
Hoemr/dsh-better-overleaf		Overleaf tab: CDP browser login, project switching, local git mirror with two-way sync
Andor-Z/dsh-turn-outline		Turn-trace page: folds the session by user turns, click any step to jump back to its chat position; zero LLM, read-only

🖼️ Viewer plugins (file viewers)

Plugin	⭐	Description
HuanLinOTO/dsh-plugin-better-sidebar-plugin-office		Office trio preview (.docx / .xlsx / .pptx), shipped as a separate slim bundle
HuanLinOTO/dsh-plugin-better-sidebar-plugin-audio		Audio preview: zoomable waveform player + realtime spectrum, HTTP Range streaming route, scrubbable at any size
zemul/dsh-video-preview		Inline video preview: .mp4 / .webm / .mov / .mkv / .avi with HTTP Range seeking
dong-victor/dsh-better-sidebar-jupyter		Runnable .ipynb notebook view: lazy Python kernel, streaming output, save-back

🧰 Enhancements & tools

Plugin	⭐	Description
eg-bole/dsh-better-sidebar-icons		VSCode-style file / folder icon theme (vscode-icons port, pure DOM overlay, zero intrusion)
dong-victor/dsh-better-sidebar-terminal-plus		Terminal enhancements: bundled Nerd Font icons, fixed xterm icon rendering, stable terminal cwd
Max-Null/dsh-sidebar-preview-select		Preview selection boost: select text in the sidebar preview → floating "send to session"
Hoemr/dsh-quicklook		QuickLook-style Space preview: press Space on the active file tab for full-size image / PDF / text

📣 List your plugin: tag your repo with the dsh-better-sidebar topic to appear on the topic page; then PR a PluginEntry into src/client/plugins-tabs.ts / plugins-viewers.ts to join the in-app recommended catalog.

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

Action	Keys
Save editor	Ctrl/Cmd + S
Find / replace in file	Ctrl/Cmd + F
Find next / previous	Ctrl/Cmd + G / Shift + Ctrl/Cmd + G
Select next occurrence	Ctrl/Cmd + D
Git commit	Ctrl + Enter
Close tab	Middle-click
Split / merge panes	Drag a tab to a pane edge / center
Reference a file in the input box	Hover a row → @file button

🔐 Security & ⚠️ Known Limitations

• Routes sit behind a Host-header trust fence (same as /api); fs.write is atomic; git is only invoked via CLI and never sets identity
• ⚠️ Since v0.23.0 the fs routes do no workspace-containment check: they can read/write any path the host user can reach (OS permissions only) — callers must not treat these routes as fenced
• HTML previews render in an opaque-origin sandboxed iframe; the sandbox can be disabled per feature in settings (off by default, with warnings)
• No git push/pull/fetch; the file tree only watches expanded directories; Markdown preview renders the saved file
• Read-only formats (spreadsheets / PDF / images / Office) are rendered by DSH's own document preview and follow the host version; the browser view only exists in the desktop profile
• Unsaved drafts are confirmed before closing a tab / deleting a file / refreshing; saving after external modification is rejected, never silently overwritten
• On mobile (<768px) there is no bottom panel — its tabs merge into the right sidebar's full-width drawer

🛠️ Development & Build

pnpm install      # @deepseek-ai/* devDependencies are published, resolves directly
pnpm typecheck && pnpm lint && pnpm build && pnpm test
make check        # aggregate gate (matches CI)
make mount        # real-mount smoke: build + pack → pnpm test:mount

Architecture: a single npm package with host/client halves — host (src/index.ts): /sidebar/api/* JSON API, media / HTML preview / upload routes and two WebSockets; client (src/client/index.tsx): native right-sidebar tabs + bottom workbench; state persisted per session in localStorage. Repository rules: AGENTS.md.

Windows / Linux / macOS supported (macOS verified daily, the rest covered by unit tests and Windows CI); no native dependencies — building needs only Node ≥ 20 + pnpm ≥ 10.

💬 Community

QQ group: 577011007

🤝 Contributing

• Code changes go through PRs: develop on a feat/* / fix/* branch → gh pr create; run pnpm typecheck && pnpm build && pnpm test (or make check) before submitting
• List an ecosystem plugin: tag your repo with dsh-better-sidebar + PR an entry into src/client/plugins-tabs.ts / plugins-viewers.ts
• Repository rules: AGENTS.md

👥 Contributors

🔗 Friends

• dsh-tianshu-tui: interactive terminal UI plugin for DeepSeek Harness with TDD and evidence-gate workflows
• dsh-TUI: Claude Code-style fullscreen terminal plugin — pixel-whale header, streaming thoughts, context progress bar + TPS gauge
• dshfind plugin store: third-party plugin market — public repos under the dsh-plugin topic, synced daily
• DeepSeek Harness Desktop Tauri: Tauri desktop build — 5MB installer, zero setup, plugins preinstalled
• DeepSeek Harness Desktop: a modern desktop app — start and manage local Harness services without configuring Node.js; website

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_{MIT License · Built for the DeepSeek Harness ecosystem · discover more plugins under topic dsh-better-sidebar}