DeepSeek Harness

What is DeepSeek Harness?

DeepSeek Harness (dsh) is DeepSeek AI's open-source agent harness for coding: the scaffolding around a model — tools, sessions, sandboxes, permissions, and the agent loop — that turns raw model output into a working coding agent. Its organizing idea is that everything is a plugin, so models, tools, UI, and even sub-agents are swappable. It ships as a runnable agent with a local Web UI and a headless mode, and can even call Codex or Claude Code as sub-agents.

Key features

• Plugin architecture — models, tools, sessions, and UI are all swappable
• Local Web UI plus a headless mode for automation
• File editing, shell, and web-search tools with permission prompts
• Multiple modes: standard, code, minimal, and creator
• Open-source (MIT) with a bring-your-own-model design

How to get started

1. Install Node.js (22.19+ or 24+)
2. Run npx @deepseek-ai/dsh web to open the Web UI at localhost:3080
3. Add a model API key and pick a workspace folder
4. Give it a task, or run it headless in scripts and pipelines

Use cases

• Running an agentic coding workflow over your repo
• Automating multi-step dev tasks headlessly
• Building custom coding agents from plugins
• Orchestrating sub-agents like Codex or Claude Code

DeepSeek Harness vs. alternatives

FAQ

Is DeepSeek Harness free to use?

DeepSeek Harness's plans: Free, open-source (MIT); bring your own model/API key. Pricing and free-tier limits change over time, so check the official site above for the latest details.

What is DeepSeek Harness used for?

DeepSeek's open-source, plugin-based coding agent harness.

Who is DeepSeek Harness best for?

DeepSeek Harness is a good fit for running an agentic coding workflow over your repo, or automating multi-step dev tasks headlessly.

What are the alternatives to DeepSeek Harness?

Commonly compared alternatives include Claude Code, Codex, and DeepSeek, see the comparison above for how they differ.