The desktop shell separates managed application dependencies from Harness user data.
This allows core updates and development builds without mixing profile state.
Runtime selection
- The minimum core version does not guarantee compatibility with every plugin.
- Compatible local tools are reused; missing tools or incompatible native-module ABIs can trigger managed fallback.
- The managed core comes from deepseek-harness-pkg, using official GitHub assets first and a mirror on failure.
- The runtime manifest defines the versions.
Release and debug isolation
<AppData> denotes the current user’s application data directory. These are the default paths; each profile lives under profiles/<id>/ in its data root.
Port behavior
The service binds to 127.0.0.1. If the preferred port is already occupied, startup
can select a higher free port and pass the resolved URL back to the desktop client. A
future launch can return to the preferred port after it becomes available.
CLI integration
Release builds enable the dsh / pnpm shims by default; disable them in settings if needed. Windows registers a user-level PATH entry. Unix maintains its own marked blocks in ~/.zshrc and ~/.bashrc, preserving other configuration. Open a new terminal afterward.
Harness and plugins can execute local code with your permissions. Profile and debug directory separation is not an operating-system sandbox.
