dsh-ask-form

dsh-ask-form

A community plugin for DeepSeek Harness that lets the model ask structured questions as one form — typed fields, conditions, validation and targeted re-asks — and receive typed JSON answers.

The built-in ask_user_question tool is a flat option list shown one question per page. ask_form adds field types, cross-field constraints and a single submission, and it degrades to the built-in flow on any surface that cannot render it.

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Features

• 14 field types — confirm, single, multi, text, longtext, number, integer, date, tags, scale, slider, ranking, matrix, budget
• Conditions and validation — visible_if, validate (a whitelisted expression language, never eval), pattern, max_length, min/max, sum_to
• Targeted re-asks — only the fields that failed validation are asked again, up to max_rounds
• Typed results — scale/slider/number → number, ranking → ordered array, matrix → {row: choice}, budget → {option: number}, tags → string array
• Interview packs — requirement-intake, design-choice, release-gate, incident-intake, tunable through pack_args
• Free-text "Other" by default on single, multi and tags (allow_other: false closes the list)
• Escape hatch — mode: "script" renders a custom React element in the Web UI; declare script.fallback for other surfaces
• Graceful degradation — a surface without this plugin's renderer still receives every field as a plain question, and the result reports renderer: "generic". Script mode fails loud instead of degrading silently.

Install

Prerequisites: a Harness profile with the plugin_manager tool (the web profile has it).

1. Install the bundle — ask the agent in the Harness, or run the plugin_manager tool with:

   action: install_bundle
   target: github:Zekilou/dsh-ask-form
   

   From a local clone, pass its absolute path instead: /absolute/path/to/dsh-ask-form.

2. Reload the Harness Web page once, so the client bundle registers (client.js owns the form surface).

3. The ask_form tool is now available next to ask_user_question.

Usage

A form is one tool call. Fields are ordered; the first option of a list is the recommended one by convention.

{
  "title": "Runtime decision",
  "intro": "Pick the runtime and weight the criteria.",
  "fields": [
    { "name": "runtime", "type": "single", "label": "Runtime",
      "options": ["Node 22 (Recommended)", "Bun", "Deno"] },
    { "name": "needs_wasm", "type": "confirm", "label": "Do you need WASM?",
      "visible_if": "runtime == 'Bun'" },
    { "name": "weights", "type": "budget", "label": "Criteria weights (sum 100)",
      "options": ["Performance", "Ecosystem", "Footprint"], "sum_to": 100 },
    { "name": "priority", "type": "ranking", "label": "Priority order",
      "options": ["Ship fast", "Stay small", "Be portable"] },
    { "name": "scores", "type": "matrix", "label": "Score each dimension",
      "rows": ["Performance", "Cost"], "options": ["High", "Medium", "Low"] }
  ],
  "notes": true
}

A ready-made interview:

{ "pack": "requirement-intake", "pack_args": { "topic": "cache layer" }, "notes": true }

The result carries typed values plus provenance:

{ "status": "answered", "rounds": 1, "renderer": "form",
  "values": { "runtime": "Bun", "needs_wasm": true,
              "weights": { "Performance": 50, "Ecosystem": 30, "Footprint": 20 },
              "priority": ["Be portable", "Ship fast", "Stay small"],
              "scores": { "Performance": "High", "Cost": "Low" } },
  "notes": "…" }

status is one of answered, incomplete, cancelled, aborted, no_answerer, unavailable, script_error.

How it works

The bundle has two halves and no build step.

Host half (index.js) registers the ask_form tool over the existing ctx.userQuestions seam. It compiles the typed form into ordinary AskUserQuestionItem[] — so any answerer can still answer it — and carries the rich spec to its own renderer through the marker item's intent. Afterwards it decodes either the renderer's JSON envelope or plain option/label answers, validates on the Host, and re-asks only the failures.

Client half (client.js) registers one low-priority entry in the conversation.composer chain. It claims a pending request only when a question carries this plugin's intent.kind, renders the whole form as a centered floating layer (react-dom portal, native modal geometry), and answers with the JSON envelope. Every other pending request — including plan reviews — returns null and stays with the shipped composer, so installing this bundle cannot change the built-in flow.

Notable behaviours:

• Lossless wire payload — the spec must survive a JSON round trip unchanged; a present-but-undefined property makes the Remote event gateway reject the whole request.
• Self-probe — a form titled DSH_ASK_FORM_PROBE is answered automatically with a DOM report (card rect, computed styles, elementFromPoint hit tests). It is how this plugin was debugged without browser automation, and it stays useful for diagnosing a broken surface.
• Watchdog — if an answer never reaches the Host within 10 seconds (a suspended or replaced connection), the buttons re-enable with an explicit message instead of hanging.
• bfcache banner — a page restored from the back/forward cache lost the socket that carried the request; the card says so instead of ignoring clicks.

Verify

Two standalone suites, no monorepo install and no browser needed:

node tests/host.test.mjs     # compile -> decode -> validate -> rounds -> cancellation
node tests/client.test.mjs   # render tree, marker selector, submit envelope

They stub React (the page provides the real one) and drive the real component tree, so they assert structure and protocol, not pixels. tests/client.test.mjs reads the bundle id from package.json, so a rename cannot desynchronise them.

Compatibility

• Host half needs ctx.tools and ctx.userQuestions.
• Client half needs the conversation.composer chain and react-dom as a shell seed word (both present in the Web app).
• Written against the pre-stable @deepseek-ai/dsh-* packages of the 0.2.0-rc.2 era; those APIs may move.

Deliberate deviations from the shipped question card

• The layer is a centered modal with a mask, not a composer-seat takeover.
• Clicking the mask does not dismiss, and Escape does not cancel, so a half-filled form cannot be lost by a stray click.

Attribution

The client-side styles are adapted from MIT-licensed Harness client packages, with class names renamed under this plugin's prefix:

• @deepseek-ai/dsh-client-ui-primitives — Button, Input, Tag, SegmentedControl, Modal geometry
• @deepseek-ai/dsh-client-ui-user-questions — the question card structure, option rows, recommendation badge

See THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.