DeepSeek Harness
deepseek-ai/deepseek-harnessReviewed by AI
What it does
DeepSeek Harness (`dsh`) is DeepSeek AI's open-source harness for running an AI agent on your own machine. Everything in it is a plugin, so other people can add capabilities. You install Node.js 24.9 or newer and run one command, which starts a local web interface at 127.0.0.1:3080 and opens your browser. It is aimed at developers: the project calls itself a developer preview, warns in capitals that there will be compatibility-breaking changes, and asks you to read its safety notice before running it.
How easy it is to install
C · install 1 or 2 tools · Windows
- Windows C
- macOS C
- Linux C
Same on all three and there is no installer: you install Node.js (package.json requires version 24.9.0 or newer, which is newer than most systems ship) and run `npx @deepseek-ai/dsh web` in a terminal, which opens the interface in your browser. None of the 34 releases carries a program file, so the desktop build must be compiled from source.
Numbers on GitHub
- Stars
- 267,448on Oct 31, 2026
- Downloads
- —all releases
- Growth
- +5,977stars in 6 days
Stars over time
Facts
- Runs on
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- You need to install
- Node.js
- To build from source
- Node.js
- Disk space
- 100 MB–500 MB · estimate
- Accounts or keys
- None
- Cost
- Free, API costs extra · The code is free under MIT. It is a harness for AI models, and model use is normally paid; the repository content does not say which provider or key you must configure.
- License
- MIT (Permissive)
- Can replace
- Claude Code, Cursor
- Last update
- Oct 29, 2026
Risk signals (7)
- Attentionunusual star rate
264824 stars in 76 days (~3485 per day)
automatic check
- Attentionproject asks you to read a safety notice first
README, Developer preview section: 'DeepSeek Harness is in developer preview and iterating rapidly. THERE WILL BE COMPATIBILITY-BREAKING CHANGES. Review the safety notice (SAFETY.md) before running the project.' The repository ships SAFETY.md in three language versions.
AI review
- Attentionpre release versions only
The three newest releases are dsh-v0.2.2-alpha.2, dsh-v0.2.1-rc.4 and dsh-v0.2.1-rc.3 (2026-10-23 to 2026-10-28), and package.json says version '0.2.2-alpha.2'. There is no stable 1.0 release.
AI review
- Attentionan agent that acts on your computer
The project describes itself as 'an open-source agent harness' with an 'everything-is-a-plugin' architecture, and the run command starts a server that 'opens it in the default browser for a local launch' at http://127.0.0.1:3080. Anything the agent and its plugins do happens with your user's access to your files.
AI review
- Attentionplugins come from anyone
README, community section: 'Add the `dsh-plugin` topic to your plugin repository for discoverability.' Capabilities are meant to arrive as third-party plugins found by a GitHub topic, which are not reviewed by DeepSeek.
AI review
- Infono issue tracker in use
Project facts show 0 open issues for a repository with 264824 stars and 32075 forks; the README routes all feedback elsewhere: 'Submit feedback or bug reports through GitHub Discussions.' Public bug reports are therefore hard to browse.
AI review
- Infoneeds a very recent node version
package.json sets 'engines': { 'node': '>=24.9.0' } and 'packageManager': '[email protected]', so an older Node.js installation will not run it.
AI review
Evidence is shown in its original language.
What Radar could not check
- Which model provider and API key you must configure, since the README does not say
- What the agent and its plugins are allowed to do on your files and network
- What the safety notice asks of you, since only its file name is in this package
- Whether the npx command works on Windows as described
- Real disk use after the install and the built artifacts
- How much paid model use a normal session costs