Session Archive gives DeepSeek Harness a first-class home for chats that disappear from the sidebar after archive. Browse every archived conversation by workspace, search its full content, recover deleted chats from the Recycle Bin, and manage them through explicit, reversible workflows.

Formerly Archived Chats, now Session Archive / 会话档案. The package name, repository, install command, and local data location are unchanged; existing users need no data migration.

Quick start

dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-archived-chats@latest

Restart DSH once, then open Settings → Session Archive.

Update an existing installation:

dsh plugin --profile web update dsh-archived-chats

Core capabilities

Area	What it provides
Browse and search	Workspace-grouped archive browsing, full-text search across messages and tool results, filters, sorting, tags, and notes.
Archive a workspace	From Settings → Session Archive, choose a workspace and open one confirmation for every eligible chat in it. Empty new-session windows are excluded; the workspace and its directory stay unchanged.
Read-only preview	Native conversation layout for Markdown, reasoning, tool activity, JSON, code, and available stored images, with responsive turn navigation.
Existing data	Prior snapshots remain accessible under Storage & Retention → Legacy data for read-only preview, recovery as an archived copy, or confirmed deletion. Archiving no longer creates versions.
Backup and restore	JSON + Markdown ZIP export with preview-first, conflict-safe import. Existing session IDs are never overwritten.
Recoverable deletion	Snapshot-protected Recycle Bin with immediate Undo, two-level restore, separately confirmed permanent deletion, and an optional direct permanent-delete action for users who do not need recovery.
Storage and relationships	Separate storage accounting, preview-first Recycle Bin age policies, and read-only Origins & Branches for forks and subagent trees.

The four main views are Archived, Recycle Bin, Storage & Retention, and Origins & Branches. Existing snapshots are preserved during upgrades; the separate History tab and archive-time capture have been retired.

Safety by design

• Local only: plugin metadata, recycle records, policies, and validated snapshots stay under $DSH_HOME/plugin-data/archived-chats/. Nothing is uploaded or cloud-synced.
• No silent overwrite: imports and legacy-data recovery create or select non-conflicting IDs; they never replace an existing session.
• Deletion stays explicit: ordinary removal enters the Recycle Bin after snapshot protection. Physical removal is available only through confirmed permanent-purge actions.
• No automatic cleanup: retention policies are saved separately from execution. Every cleanup starts with a short-lived preview and explicit selection.
• Confirmed workspace archive: the plugin prepares the exact set in the background, then shows one confirmation with the workspace and chat count. Only sessions whose inspected log contains a real turn/start are eligible; empty new-session windows and sessions whose content cannot be confirmed are skipped. Its five-minute, single-use credential excludes chats added later; a running chat is skipped, never stopped or moved.
• Backup scope is visible: ZIP exports preserve complete session JSON and readable Markdown, but do not include attachment bytes or descendant sessions.

Compatibility

Features activate from the public capabilities exposed by the DeepSeek Harness Host instead of a hard-coded Host version.

Host capability	Plugin behavior
Archive and session reads	Browsing, search, preview, legacy-data inventory, storage accounting, and lineage.
settings.section + public archiveSession	The plugin-owned settings page provides the workspace chooser and one-confirmation archive flow without requiring a workspace-menu extension slot. Without archive capability, preparation returns workspace-archive-unsupported and makes no change.
Attachment reads	Stored images appear in conversation and snapshot previews; without it, text remains readable.
Session-scoped log location	Recycle Bin permanent deletion uses the persistence provider's public locate(meta) capability. Providers without a session-scoped location remain unsupported; failed operations retain their rows and display the reason.
Public session writer	ZIP import, legacy-data recovery, and snapshot fallback when an original is missing all write through the Host's public create / append / locate capability, or a dedicated restore entry point where one exists.
Missing write capability	The operation returns restore-unsupported without writing or overwriting data.

Back up $DSH_HOME/plugin-data/archived-chats/ before downgrading to a release that does not display legacy data or understand recycle snapshots.

Demo preview

The eight fixed screenshots below come from an isolated Simplified Chinese light-theme Web environment with synthetic conversations. They contain no real user data, paths, notes, or credentials, and are the same ordered image set declared to the plugin market.

View all eight screenshots

Archive overview	Full-text search
Read-only preview	Legacy data
Clear legacy data confirmation	Recycle Bin
Storage and retention	Origins and Branches

Documentation

Resource	English	简体中文
User guide	Read the guide	查看指南
Architecture	Maintainer architecture	维护者架构
Release history	GitHub Releases	GitHub Releases

See also Support, Security, Contributing, Code of Conduct, and Discussions. Before claiming work or opening a pull request, contributors must read the Contributing Guide in full.

Project status

Session Archive is actively maintained. The latest stable npm release receives fixes and security updates; older releases should be upgraded before reporting a problem. Reproducible bug reports and focused pull requests are welcome. Accepted community tasks are marked help wanted; read the claim workflow before starting substantial work. Maintenance is performed as availability permits, so no fixed response or release schedule is promised.

Development

npm test

The suite covers Host and browser behavior, export/import, legacy-data recovery, Recycle Bin, retention, search, responsive layout, public types, package contents, and repository hygiene. It uses isolated temporary data and never reads real sessions.

Uninstall

dsh plugin --profile web remove dsh-archived-chats

Uninstalling removes only the plugin package. It does not delete local data under $DSH_HOME/plugin-data/archived-chats/ or trigger Recycle Bin permanent purge. Retained data includes metadata.json, trash.json, retention.json, the snapshots/ directory, and any legacy pending-deletions.json that has not yet been migrated. A later reinstall can use this data. Before permanently removing the directory, restore and back up anything you need, then delete it manually only after confirming that none of its data is still required.

License

MIT