---

The problem

Every DSH plugin install is a leap of faith:

install a plugin  →  restart  →  find out the hard way

When the leap fails you are left with a harness that will not open, no page to ask, and a plugin tree you have to bisect by hand. By then the agent that could have read the code is gone.

plugin_check moves that discovery in front of the restart: the model inspects the tree — and, if you want, boots a real isolated instance to prove it comes up — while it can still fix what it finds.

What a failure looks like

Broken syntax in one plugin, caught before any restart, with the file named:

// plugin_check { "target": "dsh-oauth" }
{
  "ok": false,
  "checks": [
    { "name": "语法检查", "ok": false,
      "detail": "dsh-oauth/lib/index.js: Unexpected token '}' (node --check exit 1)" },
    { "name": "package.json 结构", "ok": true, "detail": "1 个插件结构一致" },
    { "name": "配置树组装", "ok": true, "detail": "配置树组装成功 (162 行)" }
  ]
}

The model reads that, fixes the file, re-runs the check, and only then do you restart. When the verdict is a real failure, the bundled plugin-fault-diagnosis skill takes over: read the verdict → locate the file → classify the error → fix, disable, or roll back.

What it checks

#	Check	Catches
1	Syntax	a plugin lib/*.js that fails node --check (typos, TypeScript/JSX in a plain-JS plugin)
2	Package structure	missing main target, dsh.client declared without an exports["./client"] entry, wrong name prefix
3	Patch references	cordis.patch.yml pointing at a plugin directory that no longer exists
4	Config-tree assembly	dsh --profile <p> --dump-config failing — the loader cannot compose the tree at all
5	Real-boot smoke live: true	the isolated instance never prints its dsh web: <url>
6	Page-side smoke page: true	the page throws, logs errors, or renders nothing — client-side failures the host never sees
7	Instance shutdown (with live)	the isolated instance did not actually exit, verified against the process table
8	Stray-instance audit sweep: true	leftover smoke instances, plus a report of live hosts — report only unless you ask

Install

dsh plugin --profile web add @cningan/dsh-startup-check

Then restart the harness — installing a plugin changes dsh.profile.bundles, which is read at boot. That is the last leap of faith you take.

The npm package is published by GitHub Actions with a signed provenance attestation, so anyone who installs it can verify that this tarball was built from this repository at a particular commit, rather than uploaded by hand from someone's machine:

npm view @cningan/dsh-startup-check dist.attestations

plugin_check                          # static checks (fast)
plugin_check { live: true }           # + boot an isolated instance        (~12s)
plugin_check { page: true }           # + headless-browser page check      (~30–45s, implies live)
plugin_check { sweep: true }          # + audit live DSH processes         (~1–2s)
plugin_check { live: true, killStray: true }   # and clean up this run's leftovers

Reading the verdict

• ok: true means the checks that ran passed. A static-only run says nothing about runtime behaviour; only live proves the tree boots.
• "Not measured" is not "failed." No browser, unreadable process table — the affected check says why and is treated as untested (tested: false) instead of being blamed on your plugins.
• Checks 1–3 walk ~/.dsh/profiles/web/plugins/**, the @cningan layout. Plugins installed from npm into the profile's node_modules are covered by checks 4–8 instead.
• The profile is currently fixed to web; other profiles are open work.

Requirements

Harness	DeepSeek Harness with a web profile
OS	Windows — the instance audit uses PowerShell/WMI, the page half drives Edge/Chrome over CDP
Node	≥ 22 (the harness's own engine)
Browser	Edge or Chrome, only if you want the page-side check

Development

git clone https://github.com/cningan/dsh-startup-check.git
cd dsh-startup-check
npm test

npm test runs node --check over every lib/ file and then test/tool-body-selftest.mjs, which drives apply() and the tool's execute() in a fresh Node process against a stubbed context. That is the layer neither node --check nor a boot smoke can see: a running harness keeps serving the code it booted with, so a broken tool body stays green until the next restart.

Full specification, behavior contracts, object lifecycles and known limitations: SPEC.md. Contributions welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md and CHANGELOG.md.