dshacp

DSHACP — Use DeepSeek inside Zed

DSHACP is a plugin for DeepSeek Harness (DSH). Once installed, you can chat with DeepSeek directly inside the Zed editor and have it read files, write code, and run commands for you.

中文

What is this? (30-second version)

In one sentence: DSHACP is the "translator" between Zed and DeepSeek.

You (typing questions in Zed)
        │
        ▼
   Zed editor (agent panel)
        │   ← talks over the ACP protocol
        ▼
   dsh --profile dshacp (DSH with the DSHACP plugin)
        │
        ▼
   DeepSeek (the model that actually answers and writes code)

Out of the box, Zed knows how to talk to Claude, GPT, and a few others. Once you add the DSHACP plugin to DSH, Zed gains a new external agent named DSH, backed by DeepSeek.

What you get after installing

• Chat with DeepSeek right inside Zed; replies stream in word by word
• Let it read files, write code, and run commands — every action is visible
• Before it does anything risky (like editing a file), it asks "allow?"
• Conversations are saved automatically and can be resumed later

How is this different from official dsh --profile acp?

Since DSH 0.1.2, npm ships both @deepseek-ai/dsh-acp (dsh --profile acp) and this plugin @hanxu131/dshacp (dsh --profile dshacp). Both speak ACP v1 over stdio, but they target different jobs — do not install both bridges into the same profile.

In short: official ACP is deliberately narrow for machines; DSHACP is a widened bridge for humans in Zed.

Zed ──ACP──► dsh --profile dshacp ──► @hanxu131/dshacp (this plugin)

CI  ──ACP──► dsh --profile acp  ──► @deepseek-ai/dsh-acp (official — keep separate)

Before you start: two things you need

1. DeepSeek Harness (DSH) installed

Open a terminal and run:

dsh --version

If it prints a version number, DSH is ready. If it says command not found, install DSH first:

npm install -g @deepseek-ai/dsh

The DeepSeek API key is configured on the DSH side by the maintainer — you don't need to worry about it in this tutorial.

2. The Zed editor

Download and install it from https://zed.dev. This plugin only works with Zed.

Step 1: Install the DSHACP plugin

In a terminal, run this one command:

dsh plugin --profile dshacp add @hanxu131/dshacp

First-time installs fetch the latest version (latest) directly — no version number needed.

Updating to a newer version

If you already installed it and want to upgrade, prefer the update command (no version number needed):

dsh plugin --profile dshacp update @hanxu131/dshacp

For this to work reliably, permanently disable the release-age gate in the profile's pnpm-workspace.yaml by adding one line:

# open ~/.dsh/profiles/dshacp/pnpm-workspace.yaml, add below the autoInstallPeers line:
minimumReleaseAge: 0

Without this line, a version released only recently (pnpm's default "minimum release age" is a few days) gets blocked by supply-chain gating and update wrongly reports Already up to date. Setting it to 0 disables the gate permanently, so update always fetches the latest version.

After upgrading, quit and reopen the DSH session in Zed (or restart the dsh --profile dshacp process) so the new code is actually loaded.

Alternative: if you'd rather not edit the config, you can pin the version explicitly — dsh plugin --profile dshacp add "@hanxu131/dshacp@^0.2.0". But because of pnpm's lock behavior, update is the easier day-to-day choice.

Migrating from the old acp profile (0.2.0+)

Since DSH 0.1.2, official dsh --profile acp is reserved for @deepseek-ai/dsh-acp (automation-only ACP). DSHACP uses its own profile dshacp — do not install both bridges into the same profile.

If you previously installed into ~/.dsh/profiles/acp:

dsh plugin --profile acp remove @hanxu131/dshacp
dsh plugin --profile dshacp add @hanxu131/dshacp

Then change Zed's "args": ["--profile", "acp"] to "dshacp" and restart the DSH session.

Breaking it down:

• dsh plugin = use DSH's plugin manager
• --profile dshacp = install into a profile named dshacp (created automatically if missing)
• add @hanxu131/dshacp = install the DSHACP plugin

How to know it worked: the command finishes without error, ending with something like Done in Xs.

To double-check, run dsh --profile dshacp --dump-config — you should see dshacp-related config rows in the output.

Remote SSH is optional and not included by default. If you want it, add one more plugin:

dsh plugin --profile dshacp add @linxin666/dsh-ssh

Step 2: Add DSH to Zed

1. Open Zed and press Cmd + , (macOS) or Ctrl + , to open Settings.
2. Find AI → External Agents in the sidebar.
3. Click Add Custom Agent and paste the following:

{
  "agent_servers": {
    "DSH": {
      "type": "custom",
      "command": "dsh",
      "args": ["--profile", "dshacp"],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

Here command is dsh (not dshacp): Zed launches dsh --profile dshacp, which boots the profile we just installed. Leave env empty.

How to know it worked: an option named DSH appears in Zed's agent list.

Step 3: Start your first conversation

1. Open Zed's agent panel (usually on the right side).
2. In the agent/model dropdown, pick DSH (not Claude/GPT).
3. Type something simple, like:

Hi, tell me what you can do.

How to know it worked:

• The reply streams in word by word (not all at once)
• When it wants to perform an action, an "allow / deny" confirmation pops up

If it gets stuck, see "Troubleshooting" below.

Troubleshooting

1. command not found: dsh

DSH isn't installed. Go back to "Before you start" item 1 and run npm install -g @deepseek-ai/dsh. If you use a version manager like nvm, open a new terminal window and try again.

2. It errors out with a missing key / 401 as soon as a conversation starts

The key is configured on the DSH side (the maintainer's responsibility), not by this plugin — ask the maintainer to add the DeepSeek API key to DSH.

3. You click "allow", but nothing happens

• Make sure you selected the DSH agent in Zed
• Open Zed's command palette and run dev: open acp logs to look for errors

4. Your conversations disappear after switching projects

Conversations are saved under a .sessions folder in the current project directory (a new project = a new set of conversations). To store them all in one place, set the DSH_SESSIONS_ROOT environment variable (see below).

5. Re-running add doesn't upgrade to the new version

This is pnpm's version-locking / release-age gating, not a mistake in the command:

• dsh plugin add wraps pnpm's add. Once the profile's pnpm-lock.yaml has pinned a version, add won't jump to a newer version even if one exists on npm — it just prints Already up to date.
• Versions younger than pnpm's "minimum release age" (a few days by default) are also blocked by supply-chain gating, so update shows Already up to date too.

Recommended fix: disable the gate permanently and use update (see "Step 1 → Updating to a newer version"). Add minimumReleaseAge: 0 to ~/.dsh/profiles/dshacp/pnpm-workspace.yaml, then the upgrade command is simply:

dsh plugin --profile dshacp update @hanxu131/dshacp

If you'd rather not edit the config, pin the version explicitly instead (profile acp, package @hanxu131/dshacp, upgrading 0.1.3 → 0.1.4):

# ✅ Works ad hoc: pin the target range explicitly
dsh plugin --profile dshacp add "@hanxu131/dshacp@^0.1.4"

# ❌ Does NOT work: no version, or only @latest — both are blocked by locking/gating
dsh plugin --profile dshacp add @hanxu131/dshacp
dsh plugin --profile dshacp add "@hanxu131/dshacp@latest"

After upgrading, restart the DSH session in Zed (or restart the dsh --profile dshacp process) so the new code takes effect.

Advanced: for those who want to dig deeper

"DSH": {
  "type": "custom",
  "command": "dsh",
      "args": ["--profile", "dshacp"],
  "env": {},
  "default_config_options": {
    "model": "deepseek-official:deepseek-v4-pro",
    "thought_level": "high",
    "permission": "workspace-write"
  }
}

npm install -g @hanxu131/dshacp

git clone git@github.com:ECHOUniverse/dshacp.git
cd dshacp
npm install
npm run build   # compile TypeScript
npm test        # run tests

./scripts/dev-link-dsh-profile.sh   # build → npm pack → install into ~/.dsh/profiles/dshacp

./scripts/dev-unlink-dsh-profile.sh

Further reading

• Design & implementation plan: docs/DESIGN.md
• Research notes: the *-fact-sheet.md files under docs/
• Zed external-agents docs: https://zed.dev/docs/ai/external-agents
• ACP protocol: https://agentclientprotocol.com

License

MIT — see LICENSE.