DeepSeek Harness trades the browser for a desktop

What it does

DeepSeek Harness Desktop App is an Electron-based local workspace for DeepSeek Harness (DSH). It wraps the DSH Web Profile in a native desktop shell and adds project management, file browsing, a built-in browser workspace, Git worktree isolation, Canvas and Site editors, and Office artifact handling. All profile, session, and project data stays local in ~/.dsh by default, with source directories kept read-only until you explicitly authorize agent writes.

The interesting bit

Instead of reimplementing DSH’s agent runtime, the app hooks directly into existing DSH Sessions and surfaces the raw session.history as a replayable “results and evidence” trail. It also uses Git worktrees to isolate agent file operations, letting each new conversation run on its own branch checkout while your main working directory stays untouched.

Key highlights

• Trajectory viewer that replays tool calls, token counts, permission changes, and final answers from the live session history—no secondary event log needed
• Git worktree lifecycle inside projects, with guards against duplicate branches, out-of-bound paths, and deleting branches before switching back to main
• Canvas and Site editors with immutable versions, inline suggestions, conflict handling, and responsive device previews in a sandboxed environment
• Built-in browser workspace with tabs, history, dev tools, page snapshots, and a “use this page” shortcut for feeding web research into sessions
• Plugin center that runs compatibility checks before installing DSH Profile Bundles; third-party UI bundles are blocked from the main Electron window as a security boundary

Caveats

• Still missing several developer conveniences: no Git staging panel, integrated terminal, task kanban, or commit graph
• Platform support is narrow: macOS Apple Silicon is verified, but Windows x64 and Intel macOS are awaiting real-machine verification, Linux has no desktop packaging config, and Windows ARM64 is unsupported
• Local Site generation is limited to preview and single-file export; there is no deployment service, and public sharing is read-only

Verdict

Try it if you are already running DeepSeek Harness and want a desktop-native project layer with file permissions, worktree isolation, and Office editing. Look elsewhere if you need a full IDE replacement with mature Git staging or broad cross-platform builds.