dsh-output-styles (@auggieteo/dsh-output-styles)

Persistent output styles for DeepSeek Harness Web: pick a built-in style or create named styles from the Settings page

The plugin adds an Output Style page to the dsh web Settings dialog. Pick a built-in style, or create named styles with Markdown instructions. The selected style enters every agent's system prompt from the next model step — no restart needed. User styles persist across restarts in the output-styles entry's config in the profile patch.

The package name is scoped on npm, @auggieteo/dsh-output-styles; the repository and folder are dsh-output-styles.

Table of Contents

• Install
  • Dependencies
  • Manual wiring
• Usage
  • Pasting style files
  • Built-in styles
  • Session-only install
• Compatibility
• Development
• FAQ
• Maintainers
• Contributing
• License

Install

dsh plugin --profile web add @auggieteo/dsh-output-styles

Restart dsh web and open Settings → Output Style. No manual wiring: the package ships a bundle patch, and dsh plugin add joins it to the profile's layer stack (dsh.profile.bundles) automatically. dsh plugin --profile web remove unwires it the same way.

Other sources:

dsh plugin --profile web add github:auggie246/dsh-output-styles   # from GitHub
dsh plugin --profile web add /path/to/dsh-output-styles           # from a local checkout

Git installs run a prepare build that pnpm blocks until allowlisted: add the exact key pnpm prints under allowBuilds in ~/.dsh/profiles/web/pnpm-workspace.yaml, then re-run the same command.

Dependencies

• Node.js 20+.
• @deepseek-ai/dsh with the web profile; tested against 0.1.7-rc.2. See Compatibility.
• All runtime dependencies are peers provided by DSH.

Manual wiring

Only when managing dependencies by hand: append the composition row from cordis.patch.example.yml to ~/.dsh/profiles/web/cordis.patch.yml:

- insert:
    - id: output-styles
      name: "@auggieteo/dsh-output-styles"

The name must match the installed package name; the id is your local cordis service id and doubles as the settings namespace holding your stored styles. Skip this row when the package is already listed under dsh.profile.bundles — the bundle patch supplies it.

Usage

Open Settings → Output Style:

• Pick a built-in style, or create a named style with a name, an optional description, and Markdown instructions.
• Edit turns a style's own row into the edit form; Save or Cancel restores it. The create form hides while an edit is open.
• The selected style enters every agent's system prompt from the next model step — no restart needed.
• User styles persist across restarts in the output-styles entry's config in ~/.dsh/profiles/<profile>/cordis.patch.yml. The entry is global to the profile, not per-session.

Pasting style files

The Instructions field accepts a whole style file — Claude Code output styles and Agent Skills SKILL.md. Its frontmatter fills Name and Description; only the body is stored as instructions. The empty field shows a complete example.

Other frontmatter keys (keep-coding-instructions, disable-model-invocation, metadata, …) are reported as ignored: the plugin appends its section to the system prompt, so the harness coding instructions are always kept and behavior flags have no effect. Only flat key: value frontmatter is supported.

Built-in styles

Style	Effect
Default	No style instructions added.
Concise	Short, telegraphic answers; result first; no recaps.
Explanatory	Adds reasoning, rejected alternatives, and tradeoffs.
Learning	Teaches while working; best practices and pitfalls.
Formal	Documentation tone: headings, precise terms, numbered steps.

Session-only install

An agent can define the plugin into a running DSH process — no files touch the deployment, and it disappears when that process restarts. Paste this into a DSH session whose agent has the Cordis tools:

Read dynamic/dsh-output-styles.dynamic.json. Call cordis_define with a new plugin, using its name and description, and its host and client strings as code.host and code.client. Then cordis_run the returned package. I'll approve the activation.

If both forms are active at once, both contribute their own prompt section; pick one form. See dynamic/README.md.

Compatibility

Tested against @deepseek-ai/dsh 0.1.7-rc.2 (web profile). This is the only supported line: 0.1.1-rc.2, 0.1.2-rc.1, and 0.1.5-rc.x were dropped in 0.6.0.

0.1.7 replaced two surfaces this plugin depends on, so the older lines cannot be supported side by side:

• Typert codecs. A strict codec must now carry a create() factory returning the process-local schema; 0.1.5 instead required an _zod-backed schema property. The plugin's codecs carry create() only.
• Editable settings. ctx.settings.register(ns, schema, …) is gone. Editable configuration is now declared as schemastery .volatile() fields on the plugin's own exported Config and written with ctx.settings.update(<profile entry id>, patch). .volatile() first appears in @deepseek-ai/schemastery 3.18.3 (0.1.7 ships 3.18.4) and does not exist in the schemastery the 0.1.5 harness ships, so the two models are mutually exclusive.

Because the plugin's Config fields are volatile, a write updates them in place: the Loader commits a volatile-only config change into the running plugin's references without remounting it, and the prompt section re-reads the live value on the next assembly. Changes therefore still take effect from the next model step with no restart.

The system-prompt placement is unchanged: the output-style section still sits at order 5, right after the persona prefix.

The client manifest lists a single bootstrap under dsh.client.inject: @deepseek-ai/dsh-client-web. @deepseek-ai/dsh-client-runtime (the 0.1.1-rc.x bootstrap) is no longer published and was removed.

Development

lib/        permanent form: host plugin, catalog, typert codecs, Settings page
dynamic/    session-only form (host.js, client.js, generated bundle)
scripts/    bundle-dynamic.mjs — regenerates the single-file bundle
test/       catalog, client mount, identity, parser sync

After editing dynamic/host.js or dynamic/client.js, run npm run bundle:dynamic and commit the regenerated bundle. npm test runs the syntax checks and the test suite.

The frontmatter parser and the style draft resolver exist as byte-identical marked blocks in lib/catalog.js, lib/client.js, dynamic/host.js, and dynamic/client.js; a sync test fails when a copy drifts. The host registers the selected style's text as a systemPrompt section at order 5, right after the persona, re-evaluated at every prompt assembly.

FAQ

The Settings panel has no Output Style page. The plugin is not wired: re-run dsh plugin --profile web add @auggieteo/dsh-output-styles (it joins dsh.profile.bundles automatically) and restart dsh web. If you manage the dependency by hand, check the manual wiring row instead.

dsh web crashes at boot with TYPERT manifest names package .... The plugin is installed under a different dependency key than its npm name (for example, the pre-rename dsh-output-styles with a file:/link: path). The dependency key in ~/.dsh/profiles/web/package.json, the insert name: in cordis.patch.yml, and the package name must all be the same string, @auggieteo/dsh-output-styles. Renaming does not move data: the cordis plugin id (output-styles), the settings namespace, and stored styles are unchanged.

Maintainers

• auggieteo

Contributing

PRs are welcome. Ask questions or report problems in the issue tracker; for anything larger than a fix, open an issue first.

• Run npm test before you send a PR.
• Keep the marked blocks in lib/catalog.js, lib/client.js, dynamic/host.js, and dynamic/client.js byte-identical; the sync test fails otherwise.
• If you changed dynamic/, regenerate the bundle with npm run bundle:dynamic.

License

MIT © dsh-output-styles contributors — see LICENSE for details.