Frequently asked questions

Short answers, explicit trade-offs.

Everything important about what this project is, what it is not, and what you need before installing it.

Does DeepSeek Harness have a desktop app?

DeepSeek AI currently ships DeepSeek Harness primarily as a CLI and local Web UI. DeepSeek Harness Desktop is an unofficial community app that hosts that Web UI in a native Wails window on macOS, Windows and Linux.

Is this an official DeepSeek product?

No. It is independent, open source and not affiliated with DeepSeek AI. The official source is deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness.

Why does the app require Node.js?

The lightweight shell uses npx to download and start a pinned version of @deepseek-ai/dsh. Not bundling Node.js keeps release packages below 10 MB.

Which platforms are supported?

Version 0.1.4 provides a universal macOS DMG for Apple Silicon and Intel, a Windows amd64 executable and a Linux amd64 archive.

Does it change the official Harness UI?

No. The desktop app loads the upstream Web UI. Models, sessions, plugins, skills and agent behavior remain upstream responsibilities.

Where are sessions and credentials stored?

Those are managed by DeepSeek Harness. The shell stores its startup log under ~/.dsh-desktop/logs/ and passes through DSH_HOME when configured.

Does DSH keep running after I close the app?

During a normal close or quit, the app terminates the complete process tree it started. A force-kill or operating-system crash can still prevent graceful cleanup.

Why might macOS or Windows show a warning?

The current packages are not signed or notarized. Confirm that the file came from the project's GitHub Release before choosing to run it.

Is it fully offline?

No. The first start needs npm access to obtain the pinned DSH package unless it is already cached. DSH also needs network access for cloud model providers.

What version of DeepSeek Harness does it use?

Desktop v0.1.4 pins @deepseek-ai/dsh@0.1.0-rc.6 to avoid unexpected upstream changes between launches.