MichengAI/dsh-archive-manager

DSH Archive Manager

Safely manage archived sessions in DeepSeek Harness

Русский · 简体中文 · Changelog · Apache-2.0

DSH Archive Manager is a community-maintained DeepSeek Harness (DSH) plugin, not an official DeepSeek AI product.

This document describes 1.1.8. See Changelog for published releases.

Overview

Put inactive conversations away and find them again when needed, keeping everyday task lists tidy.

• Dual views & primary sidebar entry: Toggleable persistent icon on the host's primary sidebar opens a 960px centered workspace view for both Archived and Unarchived sessions, eliminating narrow dialog scrolling constraints.
• Full lifecycle session management: Archive individual chats, all chats in a workspace, cross-project batches, and restore or open sessions seamlessly.
• Combined filtering & full-text search: Group by workspace projects, filter by date ranges, isolate favorites, and perform paginated keyword searches across message text with highlighting and fast previews.
• Automated idle session cleanup: Specify an idle threshold in days to discover inactive chats, automatically protecting running tasks, interactive prompts, and starred items, with instant undo support.
• Native workspace menu integration: Securely injects an Archive session action into the sidebar workspace ... menu, anchoring an in-place frosted glass confirmation modal following the "what you see is what you archive" principle.
• Permanent deletion: Thoroughly purge unwanted transcripts, cache rows, and indexes with per-item retry reporting.
• Diagnostic & repair center: Diagnose corrupted single-frame Zstandard transcripts and legacy format anomalies with in-place verified repair.
• Controlled online updates & reverse proxy ready: Features a toggleable online update switch, enterprise host-level configuration locking, and native baseURI dynamic endpoint resolution for prefix-stripping reverse proxies.

Session diagnosis and repair

The archive page collects read failures, including archived IDs with missing summaries. Expand Diagnosis and repair, choose Diagnose session, then Confirm repair only when eligible. Repair converts supported legacy sources, including automation and early hint sources, while retaining the original log and conversation text. Sessions must be archived and closed in every DSH process. Missing files, permission failures, and unsupported corruption are reported; messages are never truncated or deleted to force recovery. Eligibility is verified from artifacts and the host format, not solely from error wording.

Search and preview

• Archived and Unarchived share title/content search, project, favorites, updated-date filters, and creation-time sorting. Star or unstar conversations on either tab.
• Choose Titles and content to search user and assistant text; the default remains titles only. Date filters include the entire local end date and combine with project and favorites.
• Matches show snippets and highlights. On Archived, click a snippet or More → Quick preview to inspect context without restoring. On Unarchived, a snippet opens the full conversation.
• Preview renders Markdown tables, quotes, and code blocks with role labels; switch to source text for highlights. It shows up to eight recent messages, or context around the first match. Each message is limited to 2,000 UTF-16 code units without splitting Unicode characters.
• Search accepts up to 200 query characters and reads batches of at most 20 sessions, sequentially within each batch. Tools, attachments, reasoning, system messages, and plugin injections are excluded. Read failures remain visible and can be retried. Stored text is not the model's current context.
• There is no persistent full-text index. Large or long conversations can be slow; narrow project, dates, or favorites first. No session-count or latency guarantee has been established. Changing filters prevents later batches and stale results, but cannot interrupt the batch already reading.

Turn counts and location

• Both tabs show user submission counts, including image submissions; assistant replies, tool calls, and injected messages do not count as turns.
• Sort by most or fewest turns; unknown counts remain last. Failed details can be retried.
• More provides separate ID/path copying. Official JSONL storage returns the session directory; other backends use a valid host-provided path. Clipboard operations require browser permission and HTTPS or localhost; failures are reported.
• Details are read in batches of up to 20 without activating or restoring sessions. Counts include inherited user messages, have no persistent index, and may take time for long logs.

Screenshots

Search, favorite, preview, restore, and clean up in Settings → Archived sessions → Archived:

Switch to Unarchived for the same filters, idle cleanup previews, and project-wide archiving:

*Screenshots show core functional panels, including archived session search and unarchived idle cleanup. Lossless WebP format.*

Installation

A working DeepSeek Harness environment is required. Examples use the web profile; adjust to your environment.

Plugin installation supports npm registry, locally built .tgz packages, and GitHub. Both GitHub and npm contain runnable lib artifacts.

Ask an agent to install it

Send this prompt to an agent that can run terminal commands on your computer:

Please install the latest @michengai/dsh-archive-manager into my DSH web profile using the official npm registry, verify activation, and explain how to reload.

Install manually

[Console]::OutputEncoding = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8
$OutputEncoding = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8
dsh plugin --profile web add @michengai/dsh-archive-manager@latest --registry=https://registry.npmjs.org/

Restart DSH Web, then refresh the page (or hard-refresh with Ctrl+Shift+R). Open Settings → Archived sessions to get started. To update, click Check for updates or re-run the installation command.

• Plugin 1.1.8 is tested with DeepSeek Harness 0.2.0-rc.1, 0.2.0-rc.2, 0.2.1-rc.1, 0.2.1-rc.2.
• Hosts before 0.2.0 are no longer supported. If you still use a 0.1.x host, install plugin 1.0.20 instead of @latest.
• Reverse proxy deployment: Supports hosting DSH behind prefix-stripping reverse proxies (e.g. /app/dsh/). API and update endpoints automatically resolve against the page base URI (document.baseURI), preventing 404 errors caused by lost prefix segments.

Plugin Configuration & Toggles

The plugin follows standard DSH bundle configuration conventions. Options are located at:

Sidebar → Plugins → Click `Archive Manager` (the host's plugins.bundle.config slot).

Two native switches are available. Their values are persisted in archive-manager/settings.json under your local configuration directory and survive restarts; they are not two equivalent Cordis YAML options. sidebarEntry is managed through this UI, while onlineUpdate is also subject to the host lock described below:

1. Sidebar Entry (sidebarEntry)

• Default: Disabled (false)
• Description: Displays a persistent Archive navigation icon in the host's left primary sidebar under Plugins.
• Effect:
• When enabled, clicking the sidebar icon opens the Archive Manager directly in the primary workspace with a 960px centered container (matching host plugin manager conventions). This eliminates vertical scrolling constraints in narrow settings dialogs;
• When disabled, unregisters the sidebar entry cleanly (and resets the active panel gracefully if currently viewing the panel, preventing blank views);
• The standard Settings → Archived sessions view remains active either way, and state is synchronized live across both entry points.

2. Online Updates (onlineUpdate / updater)

• Default: Enabled (true)
• Description: Controls whether the plugin checks for and installs updates from npm.
• Effect:
• Dynamic UI Sync: Disabling the toggle hides the Check for updates button and version badge in the header immediately without requiring a full page reload;
• Endpoint Guard: When disabled, the update API route returns HTTP 403 for all check and install requests, preventing unreviewed updates;
• Host / Platform Lock: For curated plugin indexes (such as VibeDev) or restricted enterprise environments, this can be locked directly via Cordis configuration (bundle patch) without needing UI interaction:

- insert:
        - id: ui-workspace-archive-manager
          name: '@michengai/dsh-archive-manager'
          config:
            updater: false # or onlineUpdate: false

Once configured, the updater is disabled at startup, the update action stays hidden, and the online-update switch is disabled. The host lock takes precedence over the user's choice in settings.json and cannot be lifted through the UI. Removing the host lock restores the saved user preference.

Usage Guide

Action · How to do it Archive one chat · Open the session context menu in the sidebar and choose Archive session Archive a workspace · Open the workspace menu and choose Archive session (opens an in-place confirmation overlay) Search & filter · Open Settings → Archived sessions or click Archive in the sidebar; combine keyword, project, favorites, and date filters Quick preview · Click a match snippet or More → Quick preview to inspect context with highlights without restoring Adjust ordering · Sort by update time, creation time, title, or most/fewest turns Restore a chat · Click the restore icon on any row; use More → Restore and open to resume the chat directly Archive entire group · On Unarchived, click the … menu next to a group and confirm archiving all chats in that project Favorite chats · Click the star icon on any row; use the favorites dropdown to filter important chats Clean up idle chats · On Unarchived, set an idle day threshold, automatically protecting running and starred chats, preview candidates, and confirm Locate session files · Select Copy session ID or Copy session path from the More menu Repair damaged logs · Expand Diagnosis and repair to diagnose and repair corrupted single-frame Zstandard files or legacy anomalies Archive across projects · Switch to Unarchived, select sessions across projects, then click Archive and confirm Restore or delete in bulk · Select chats and use the bulk actions, or use the project menu; there are no separate Restore all / Delete all buttons

The page opens on Archived, with Unarchived on the right. Switching tabs clears selections; changing search or project filters preserves them. Check the hidden selection count before applying bulk actions, or clear your selection first.

Select all filtered results selects matching sessions, including collapsed groups. Project-wide actions still apply to the whole project regardless of search filters. Unarchived excludes subagents and blank placeholders.

Settings and sidebar batch archive/restore call the official single-session APIs ctx.workspaces.archiveSession and ctx.workspaces.unarchiveSession serially.

Favorites and idle cleanup

Compact project groups can be collapsed. Stars and restore/archive icons appear on the right; archived session menus include restore-and-open and deletion.

• Use the star on either tab and the Favorites only dropdown to find important chats. Favorites persist on the host across archive, restore, and browser changes. Reopen management to see changes made in other pages. Unknown or unreadable sessions retain their stored favorite IDs; cleanup requires confirmed artifact absence.
• On Unarchived, enter 1–36,500 whole idle days and preview candidates under the current filters. Deselect individual candidates before confirmation. Favorites, the current chat, running sessions (including subagents), and pending interactions are protected; sessions without a valid activity time are excluded.
• Archive rechecks favorites and activity. Batch archive, restore, and delete report progress plus successful, skipped, and failed counts. A failure does not stop the rest; retry only the failed items. Delete retries still require confirmation.
• Undo this archive restores sessions archived by the current batch, including successful retries. It is available only while the current management page remains open; refreshing or closing clears it. Permanent deletion cannot be undone.
• Favorites can still be archived manually. Protection applies to idle cleanup only. There is no scheduled or automatic background cleanup.

View and continue archived conversations

Native conversation navigation has been available since 0.1.40; 1.0.0 uses these entry points:

• Click the session title: open the native DSH session to view messages, attachments, and tool details. Continue chatting while keeping the session archived.
• More → Restore and open: unarchive the session and open it to resume work.

Search API compatibility (integrators)

The canonical API is workspaceRegistry.searchSessionContent({ sessionIds, query }), covering archived and unarchived sessions. Supply 1–20 session IDs and a nonempty query of 1–200 characters; IDs are deduplicated. Results have the shape { items: [{ sessionId, seq, snippet }], failures: [{ sessionId, message }] }. Individual read failures appear in failures; invalid input rejects the call.

searchArchivedContent remains the legacy, archived-only entry point. Both use the existing host Typert connection and authorization boundary; no HTTP endpoint or authentication setting is added. Keep the legacy descriptor throughout the currently supported host range, including patch releases. Removal requires an explicit compatibility-range change, client migration, and deprecation notice. New clients prefer the canonical API and use the old one only as a version fallback, never dispatching the same search to both.

Updates

Click Check for updates in the archive management page header. DSH CLI or Desktop environments with automatic update support can update directly; other environments provide a manual command for the current profile. You can also rerun the installation command above.

FAQ

Why is the entry missing after installation?

Restart DSH Web and hard-refresh your browser. Make sure you installed into the profile you are using. If the entry is still missing, run:

[Console]::OutputEncoding = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8
$OutputEncoding = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8

dsh --profile web --dump-config

The configuration should include ui-workspace-archive-manager and must not disable official workspace or session-projection-cache. A leftover archive-manager-host override can be removed. On current DSH hosts the official ui-settings-unarchive-sessions entry is gone, so this plugin no longer disables it (doing so only warned that the patch entry was missing). If your profile's cordis.patch.yml still disables workspace, session-projection-cache, or ui-workspace, remove those overrides and restart.

Does disabling the fixed version lose session titles?

The fixed version no longer takes over the official projection-cache table. On activation it checks session identity and hands compatible historical plugin checkpoints back to the official cache, retaining the original cache files. If you disabled an older version, activate the fixed version at least once to perform this handoff; replacing the package while it stays disabled cannot run the migration.

Failed handoffs can retry on later activation. Keys rejected by the official backend, such as session IDs containing colons, remain in the old plugin domain rather than being forced into the official cache. Those sessions return to native host cache behavior; their conversation logs are not deleted. See the changelog for details.

How is archiving different from deletion?

Archiving puts a conversation away so you can restore it later. Permanent deletion cannot be undone and may also remove that session's attachments. It does not delete your project working directory. Deletion requires confirmation.

Can I use it with Codex UI?

Yes. Codex UI keeps its sidebar appearance and interactions. Archive management remains available in Settings → Archived sessions.

For other problems, open an issue with your DSH and plugin versions, reproduction steps, and error details.

Install from source

Expand for development or testing unreleased changes

Run these commands in a directory of your choice. For local changes that have not been pushed, use the existing working copy.

[Console]::OutputEncoding = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8
$OutputEncoding = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8

git clone https://github.com/MichengAI/dsh-archive-manager.git
Set-Location .\dsh-archive-manager
pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
pnpm build
dsh plugin --profile web add .

Restart DSH Web and hard-refresh your browser afterward. Source code in src uses strict TypeScript. Both GitHub and npm include a ready-to-run lib. After changing source, run pnpm build before committing, or a source install keeps the previous runtime. Published JavaScript entry points and runtime modules remain unchanged; installing the npm package does not require TypeScript. Run pnpm typecheck for type checking, pnpm test to validate changes, or pnpm verify for the full checks.

DSH product ecosystem

For a desktop workbench, download DSH Codex Desktop. Existing DeepSeek Harness installations can add plugins as needed by following each project's README. Below are 11 first-party plugins; consult the corresponding desktop release notes and bundled catalog for what that version includes.

Plugin · What you can do Codex UI · Organize projects and conversations, search tasks, and navigate chat turns Agency Agents · Choose and summon specialists for your task Skills Manager · Find, enable, create, and import local skills Archive Manager · Search, restore, or clean up archived conversations IM Connect · Send tasks and receive replies through messaging platforms Automation · Schedule tasks and review each run BTW · Ask side questions without interrupting the main task Simplify · Use /simplify to improve code within your Git changes PUA · Guide the Agent to try new approaches after failures, investigate causes, and verify results before completion Code Review · Use /review to request an independent Agent code review and receive the report in the current conversation Codex Pet · View conversation notifications and respond to tool approvals and questions through a desktop pet

License

Licensed under Apache License 2.0.