> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://honcho.dev/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# DeepSeek Harness
> Add AI-native memory to DeepSeek Harness
`dsh` forgets everything when a session ends. This plugin gives it memory that doesn't: what you're building, how you like to work, and what you decided last week and why — carried across context resets, restarts, and fresh chats.
It is a native [Cordis](https://github.com/cordiverse/cordis) plugin, not a hook bridge, so it hooks the harness's own extension points directly.
## Quick Start
### Step 1: Get Your Honcho API Key
1. Go to **[app.honcho.dev](https://app.honcho.dev)**
2. Sign up or log in
3. Copy your API key (starts with `hch-`)
### Step 2: Install the Plugin
This plugin requires a running [DeepSeek Harness](https://github.com/deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness). Plugins install into a named profile, so pick the one you actually run — `web`, `headless`, `acp`, or your own.
```bash theme={null}
dsh plugin --profile add @honcho-ai/dsh-honcho
```
`dsh plugin` forwards to your package manager and appends the plugin to that profile's bundle list. Because the package declares `dsh.bundle`, it activates as a configuration layer rather than sitting inert as a plain dependency.
### Step 3: Configure
Put your key and name in `~/.honcho/config.json`:
```jsonc theme={null}
{
"peerName": "your-name",
"auth": { "apiKey": "${HONCHO_API_KEY}" },
"hosts": {
"dsh": { "workspace": "dsh" }
}
}
```
`HONCHO_API_KEY` in the environment works on its own — the config file is only needed to change defaults.
### Step 4: Verify
Start `dsh` and run `/honcho`. You'll see your peer, workspace, session, and sync status, plus a link to the session in the Honcho dashboard.
In the `dsh` web client, `/honcho` output renders in the collapsed command panel rather than inline in the transcript. Expand the panel to read it.
## What You Get
* **Memory at session start** — your profile, a summary of this project's session so far, and the conclusions relevant to what you just asked, shaped to a character budget in a single API call
* **Automatic capture** — user and assistant turns stream to Honcho in the background, debounced, and flushed at turn boundaries, before compaction, and on shutdown
* **Secret redaction** — messages are scrubbed before they leave your machine
* **Agent tools** — first-class search, reasoning, and conclusion-writing inside `dsh`
* **Shared configuration** — the same `~/.honcho/config.json` every other Honcho integration reads
## Configuration
Configuration lives in `~/.honcho/config.json`, shared with the other Honcho hosts. The root holds identity and connection; behavior lives under `hosts.dsh`.
```jsonc theme={null}
{
"peerName": "your-name",
"workspace": "honcho",
"baseUrl": "https://api.honcho.dev", // bare host or …/v3 both fine
"timeoutMs": 30000,
"auth": { "apiKey": "${HONCHO_API_KEY}" },
"enabled": true, // global kill switch
"hosts": {
"dsh": {
"workspace": "dsh",
"aiPeer": "dsh", // defaults to the host name
"observationMode": "unified", // unified | directional
"sessionStrategy": "per-directory",
"sessionPeerPrefix": true, // session names are -
"sessions": { "/path/to/repo": "pinned-session-name" },
"injection": {
"sessionStart": ["directives", "summary", "peerCard"],
"perTurn": ["userContext", "dialectic"],
"tools": true,
"searchTopK": 10,
"searchMaxDistance": 0.6,
"maxConclusions": 15, // how many conclusions Honcho RETURNS
"maxRenderedConclusions": 4, // how many survive into the prompt
"contextTokens": 1500,
"cadence": { "dialectic": 5, "ttlSeconds": 300 },
"dialectic": {
"reasoning": "low", // minimal | low | medium | high | max
"maxChars": 600
}
},
"capture": {
"saveMessages": true,
"saveToolUse": false, // one-line summaries of tool activity
"writeFrequency": "async", // async | sync
"noisePatterns": [] // additive to the built-in secret patterns
},
"messageUpload": {
"maxUserTokens": 6000,
"maxAssistantTokens": 6000
}
}
}
}
```
Unsupported or renamed keys are reported at startup rather than silently ignored, so a stale config tells you what it is no longer doing.
### Injection Components
The two menus differ in **cadence**, not in what they can carry.
`injection.sessionStart` is injected once when a session opens: `directives`, `summary`, `peerCard`, `representation`.
`injection.perTurn` refreshes as you work:
| Component | Behavior |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `userContext` | A fresh, prompt-scoped bundle of **representation + peer card**, retrieved using your current message as the search query — so recall is associative rather than merely recent |
| `dialectic` | A reasoned answer about you, run every `cadence.dialectic` turns. Nothing waits on it after the first turn, so a late answer reaches the next one |
To get the representation without the peer card (or vice versa), name it in `sessionStart` and set `perTurn: []` — at the cost of per-turn refresh.
### Session Strategies
| Strategy | Session name | Notes |
| ------------------------- | ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `per-directory` (default) | `-` | Stable across restarts and branches |
| `per-repo` | `-` | Same memory from any subdirectory |
| `git-branch` | `--` | Falls back to `per-directory` outside a repo or on a detached HEAD |
| `per-session` | `-chat-` | A clean slate every restart |
| `global` | `` | One memory for everything |
Prefer the wider scopes. The background Deriver needs a single session to accumulate enough material before it can reason well. `git-branch` splits a project's memory per branch, and `per-session` discards it on every restart.
### Sharing Memory With Other Integrations
Each integration defaults to its own Honcho `workspace` — `dsh` here, `claude_code` for claude-honcho — and a workspace is the isolation boundary, so **by default they do not see each other's memory.** Point them at the same `workspace` to merge them:
```jsonc theme={null}
"hosts": {
"dsh": { "workspace": "shared" },
"claude_code": { "workspace": "shared" }
}
```
Keep `peerName` identical across them too, since conclusions are stored per peer.
## Commands
| Command | Description |
| ---------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `/honcho` | Status: peer, workspace, session, strategy, pending uploads, last sync, last fetch |
| `/honcho config` | Resolved settings, the file they came from, and any ignored injection components |
| `/honcho flush` | Sync now |
## Agent Tools
| Tool | Description |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `honcho_search` | Look something up — searches raw messages **and** derived conclusions |
| `honcho_chat` | Ask a question of judgment. Reasons over everything Honcho knows; slower |
| `honcho_remember` | Save a durable fact, preference, or decision |
Set `injection.tools` to `false` to inject memory without exposing tools.
## Requirements
* Node `^22.19.0 || >=24.0.0`
* A running `dsh`
* A Honcho API key, or a self-hosted Honcho at `baseUrl`
## Next Steps
Source code, issues, and README.
Learn about peers, sessions, and dialectic reasoning.