dsh-safety-net

Self-protection guardrails for the DeepSeek Harness (DSH). When an agent runs autonomously, a wrong write can silently destroy the harness itself — this plugin makes that damage impossible by default and reversible by command.

> 中文文档见 README.zh-CN.md · Chinese docs live in > README.zh-CN.md

Why this plugin exists

DSH's own runtime state lives in plain files under ~/.dsh (profiles, session state, patches) and under the plugin data directory. An agent that misreads its sandbox boundaries can write/edit those files, corrupt the harness, and leave you unable to start DSH at all. dsh-safety-net is the seatbelt: it hard-blocks mutations on DSH critical assets, snapshots files before refusing, and keeps a CLI recovery channel that works even when the GUI is gone.

The four guardrails

1. Protected-path guard (hard interception)

fs/write-intent and fs/edit-intent waterfall listeners hard-block any mutation that targets a DSH critical path. Protected by default:

A blocked mutation raises an FS_POLICY_DENIED error — the agent cannot silently retry its way past it. Extra paths can be added via safetyNet.extraProtectedPaths (see [Configuration](#configuration)).

2. Backup before destroy

Before a protected path is refused, the original file is snapshotted into the backup store. Nothing is ever destroyed: every blocked write/edit leaves a restorable copy behind (unless the snapshot itself fails), so the worst case is one command away from being undone.

3. CLI self-recovery channel

Five slash commands, registered on the DSH CLI surface, work even when the GUI is down:

• /safety-net-status — guardrail health report (protected rules, backups, strict mode)
• /safety-net-backup — manual full snapshot of protected assets
• /safety-net-restore — list backups, or restore one by id
• /safety-net-repair — detect missing critical files and print recovery instructions
• /safety-net-approve <path> — one-time approval to write a protected path (grants a single bypass, then the guard is re-armed)

See [Commands](#commands) for details.

4. Strict privilege tiering

Strict mode is on by default: safety-net declares a read-only default sandbox mode and warns when the host sandbox default is wider (workspace-write / danger-full-access). The declaration is advisory — actual enforcement stays with the host sandbox backend, which safety-net cannot force. Turn strict off only if you understand the trade-off (safetyNet.strict: false).

Installation

Requires Node.js ≥ 20 and a running DeepSeek Harness (DSH) host.

> Dependencies: @deepseek-ai/cordis and @deepseek-ai/dsh-fs are declared > as peer dependencies — they are provided by the DSH host runtime itself > and are not fetched from the public npm registry (the dsh-fs version DSH > ships may not exist on public npm). Install this plugin inside a DSH > profile; do not npm install it standalone.

From npm:

dsh plugin add dsh-safety-net

From git:

dsh plugin add git+https://github.com/Asuna486-desuwa/dsh-safety-net.git

Manual mount: clone the repository and wire it into your DSH plugin flow as usual — cordis.patch.yml already declares the bundle patch, and package.json carries the dsh.bundle metadata.

Configuration

All options live under the safetyNet key:

safetyNet:
  # Strict mode: declares a read-only default and warns if the host sandbox
  # default is not tightened. Default: true
  strict: true
  # Additional paths to protect (beyond the built-in DSH critical paths)
  extraProtectedPaths: []
  # Reserved — retention-based pruning wiring lands in a later release. Default: 30
  backupRetention: 30

The backup store is created under <DSH_HOME>/safety-net/backups/.

Commands

Command names are registered without a slash (safety-net-status, ...) and are shown below with a leading / as they appear in the DSH UI/CLI.

Unblocking a false positive

If a legitimate write is blocked — e.g. you really need to modify a file under a protected path — keep this in mind:

• one-time bypass: /safety-net-approve <path> grants a single write

approval for that path; the next matching mutation passes, then the guard re-arms. (This wires guard.approveOnce into the CLI.)

• paths you added via safetyNet.extraProtectedPaths are **add-only at

runtime**: to stop protecting one, remove the entry from the config and restart DSH;

• the built-in rules (~/.dsh, profiles, state, plugin data) cannot be

removed through configuration. strict only declares the sandbox posture and does not lift path interception. To modify a built-in protected file, unload this plugin first (dsh plugin remove dsh-safety-net), do the edit, then re-add it.

A runtime one-time approval channel (approveOnce, already unit-tested on the guard) is planned for v0.2; until then the blocked error message points at the two options above.

Backup layout

<DSH_HOME>/safety-net/backups/
└── <timestamp-id>/          # e.g. 1750000000000-a1b2c3
    ├── _meta.json           # maps each snapshot file back to its EXACT original path
    └── <relative-path>      # original path, drive letter stripped, '/' separators

Each snapshot is one directory named by a time-based id; the original relative path is preserved beneath it, and _meta.json records the full original path (drive letter included) so restore writes every file back to exactly where it came from — even across Windows drive letters.

Scope & disclaimer

This plugin intentionally does not:

• provide a GUI panel — recovery lives in the CLI, where it still works when

the GUI is down;

• sync backups to the cloud — backups are local files under

<DSH_HOME>/safety-net/backups/;

• restore file content diffs — restore is whole-file, snapshot-point based;
• intercept operations on non-critical paths — only DSH critical assets and

paths you explicitly add are protected.

Development & testing

node --test tests/*.test.mjs

Tests run against an injected fake fs adapter and injected dshHome / pluginDataRoot overrides — they never touch your real ~/.dsh.

License

MIT