dsh-adhd-session-mode

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A DeepSeek Harness (dsh) plugin converted from the GitHub skill project ayghri/i-have-adhd. It takes effect in one session at a time — never globally.

One system-prompt section rewrites how the assistant replies — action first, numbered steps, concrete time estimates, no preamble or closers — and every session switches it on or off on its own.

Origin

The upstream project is an output-style skill for several coding assistants and ships no DeepSeek Harness code. This repository ports its ruleset to DSH and adds the harness integration the original had no equivalent for: a system-prompt section, a /i-have-adhd command, a session-log projection that holds the per-session state, and a badge below the composer.

The ruleset in skill/SKILL.md is upstream's text reproduced verbatim under its MIT licence — see THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md. Everything else here is original.

Why per-session

Output style is not a global preference; it depends on what the conversation is for.

Sometimes you need the model to explain something properly — to walk through a mechanism, weigh trade-offs, or answer a question where the detail is the answer. A mode that compresses every reply into a numbered action list actively gets in the way there. At other times you are executing: you know what you want, you want the next move and nothing around it, and a five-paragraph lead-in is pure cost.

A single global switch forces one of those to lose. So this plugin makes the mode a property of the session:

• Turn it on in the sessions where you are executing.
• Leave it off in the sessions where you are reading and thinking.
• Both can be open at the same time, and neither remembers the other's choice.

It is not a setting you flip and forget; it is a decision you make per conversation, which is the granularity at which the decision is actually made.

Install

dsh plugin --profile <your-profile> add dsh-adhd-session-mode

From the source repository instead:

dsh plugin --profile <your-profile> add github:StarterMonk/dsh-adhd-session-mode

Then restart DeepSeek Harness. The plugin's row is a bundle patch, so the first activation needs a restart.

Usage

In the session you want shaped:

/i-have-adhd on

/i-have-adhd off turns it back off, and a bare /i-have-adhd toggles. You can also just say stop adhd mode (or normal mode) as an ordinary message — the phrase is matched against the whole message, so how do I stop adhd mode? is treated as a question, not a command.

While the mode is on for a session, a small ● ADHD ON badge sits below the composer, so the state is never a thing you have to remember.

Starting every session with it on is possible too, by overriding the row's config in your profile patch:

- id: i-have-adhd
  name: dsh-adhd-session-mode
  config:
    alwaysOn: true

How it works

Piece	What it does
System-prompt section	Carries the ruleset into every model step while the session's mode is on. Registered at order 10150 — after every tool description, the harness source and the web surface, immediately before the deployment persona's closing section — so a style instruction lands last.
Session projection	The mode is derived from the session log, not from a setting. /i-have-adhd on is durable as command/run; a typed stop adhd mode is durable as user/message. Folding those two events means the mode replays correctly when a session is resumed or forked.
/i-have-adhd command	The switch. Declaring input on the command is what lets the client route /i-have-adhd on into it instead of submitting the line to the model as text.
Skill	The full ruleset is also registered as an on-demand skill, so the text can be loaded when it is wanted without turning the mode on.
Client badge	Reads the session's projected state through useProjection and renders below the composer. No harness client package is imported; styling uses --dsw-alias-* theme tokens only.

Nothing is written to $DSH_HOME or to a config file. There is no flag file to find, and there is nothing to clean up if you uninstall.

Relationship to other ADHD plugins

Several plugins in this space do different jobs, and it is worth being precise:

Plugin	Job
dsh-i-have-adhd	Shapes the assistant's replies. One system-prompt section at order 50, plus three zero-argument tools (adhd_on / adhd_off / adhd_status) and a global flag file under $DSH_HOME that restores the mode at boot.
dsh-adhd-copilot	Coaches the user: task breakdown, launch rituals.
adhdgofly-dsh-ext	Highlights parts of speech in rendered Markdown.
this plugin	Shapes the assistant's replies, with the switch scoped to one session and its state stored in that session's log.

The practical difference from dsh-i-have-adhd is the scope of the switch and where the state lives. A global flag file cannot express "on here, off there"; a per-session projection can, and because the projection folds the session log rather than holding a variable, the answer survives resume and fork without any extra bookkeeping. The trade-off is on the control surface: dsh-i-have-adhd can be driven by simply saying adhd mode on because the model has tools for it, whereas this plugin asks you to type the slash command.

Both reuse the same idea from ayghri/i-have-adhd.

Limitations

• Delegated subagents do not inherit the mode. A subagent runs in its own session, and the mode is per session, so a child agent writes in the default style. Parent and child therefore differ in register. Sharing the mode with children would mean threading the parent's state through the projection's init, which is not implemented.
• One mode per session, not per turn. Turning it on or off affects the rest of that session.
• The injected ruleset is an instruction, not a guarantee. It shapes the model's output; it cannot force compliance. Judge it by reading a few replies.

The ruleset

Ten rules, grouped for skimming — the full text is in skill/SKILL.md:

Shape · first line is the action · number the steps · close with one next move · park side quests State · re-say where we are · estimate in real units · surface what now works Tone · errors are facts · cap lists at five · no throat-clearing

With explicit overrides: harness rules outrank the mode; an "explain" request keeps the shape but opens up the depth; destructive actions still confirm first; and a three-turn debug spiral triggers one diagnostic question instead of more edits.

Licence

MIT. The ruleset text is reproduced verbatim from ayghri/i-have-adhd (MIT) — see THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md, which carries the upstream licence in full. Everything else here is original.