dsh-harness-autostart

A DeepSeek Harness plugin that makes the desktop app start with Windows, and gives you two ways to control that startup entry: a switch in Settings → General, and a dsh_autostart tool the model can call.

Windows only. On other platforms the switch renders disabled and the tool reports unsupported-platform.

What it writes

The default (method: run-key) writes one string value under the current user's Run key, so it never needs administrator rights:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
    DeepSeekHarness    REG_SZ    "D:\ProgramData\dsh\DeepSeek Harness.exe"

The executable path is detected, not hard-coded: DSH_DESKTOP_EXE if set, otherwise the current process executable when it is not node.exe, otherwise the default install path. Set executable in the config to override it.

method: startup-folder writes a launcher instead, at %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\<entryName>.cmd — that is the way to get a delay before the app opens.

Removing the plugin removes the startup entry. Nothing is left behind.

Install

From npm, through the plugin manager in DSH:

plugin_manager action=install_bundle target=dsh-harness-autostart

Or from a local checkout:

plugin_manager action=install_bundle target=<absolute path to this directory>

After it installs, Settings → General grows a row titled "Autostart", directly below "Performance usage". The plugin entry id is dsh-autostart.

The switch

• The control is a role="switch" button carrying aria-checked; tab to it, press space to toggle.
• Toggling writes or deletes the startup entry immediately — no page reload, no model round trip.
• The row shows the live state, the write method, the entry name and the resolved executable path.
• Reading and toggling go through a same-origin fetch to a local HTTP route the host half registers: GET /dsh-autostart-8f3c/status, POST .../enable, POST .../disable. All three return JSON.
• The browser half lives in client.js and is declared by dsh.client in package.json. It renders only; every registry and filesystem write stays in index.js, the host half.

The tool

The plugin also registers one tool, dsh_autostart, with a single action parameter:

action	effect
status	Current state, write method, entry name, resolved executable, and the value or file path actually present
enable	Writes the startup entry
disable	Deletes the startup entry

Both surfaces call the same host functions, so they cannot disagree.

Configuration

Edit the config block of the dsh-autostart entry in cordis.patch.yml, then restart DSH.

key	default	meaning
autoEnable	true	Write the startup entry when the plugin loads. false registers the tool and the switch but leaves the system alone.
method	run-key	run-key writes HKCU\...\CurrentVersion\Run (no admin needed); startup-folder writes a .cmd into the Startup folder.
entryName	DeepSeekHarness	Name of the Run value, or the file name in the Startup folder. Sanitised to [A-Za-z0-9_.-].
executable	''	Empty means auto-detect.
args	[]	Extra arguments passed to the app.
delaySeconds	0	Wait this long after login before launching. Non-zero wraps the command in cmd /c start (Run key) or adds timeout to the .cmd.

Uninstall

plugin_manager action=remove_bundle target=dsh-harness-autostart

Uninstalling deletes the startup entry. If something goes wrong, remove it by hand:

reg delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" /v DeepSeekHarness /f

Development

No build step. index.js is the host half, client.js is the browser half, both plain ESM that ship as-is.

License

MIT