DSHACP — Use DeepSeek inside Zed

> DSHACP is a plugin for DeepSeek Harness (DSH). Once installed, you can chat > with DeepSeek directly inside the Zed editor and have it read > files, write code, and run commands for you.

中文

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What is this? (30-second version)

In one sentence: DSHACP is the "translator" between Zed and DeepSeek.

You (typing questions in Zed)
        │
        ▼
   Zed editor (agent panel)
        │   ← talks over the ACP protocol
        ▼
   dsh --profile acp (DSH with the DSHACP plugin)
        │
        ▼
   DeepSeek (the model that actually answers and writes code)

Out of the box, Zed knows how to talk to Claude, GPT, and a few others. Once you add the DSHACP plugin to DSH, Zed gains a new external agent named DSH, backed by DeepSeek.

What you get after installing

• Chat with DeepSeek right inside Zed; replies stream in word by word
• Let it read files, write code, and run commands — every action is visible
• Before it does anything risky (like editing a file), it asks "allow?"
• Conversations are saved automatically and can be resumed later

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Before you start: two things you need

1. DeepSeek Harness (DSH) installed

Open a terminal and run:

dsh --version

If it prints a version number, DSH is ready. If it says command not found, install DSH first:

npm install -g @deepseek-ai/dsh

> The DeepSeek API key is configured on the DSH side by the maintainer — you > don't need to worry about it in this tutorial.

2. The Zed editor

Download and install it from <https://zed.dev>. This plugin only works with Zed.

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Step 1: Install the DSHACP plugin

In a terminal, run this one command:

dsh plugin --profile acp add @hanxu131/dshacp

> First-time installs fetch the latest version (latest) directly — no version > number needed.

Updating to a newer version

If you already installed it and want to upgrade, prefer the update command (no version number needed):

dsh plugin --profile acp update @hanxu131/dshacp

For this to work reliably, permanently disable the release-age gate in the profile's pnpm-workspace.yaml by adding one line:

# open ~/.dsh/profiles/acp/pnpm-workspace.yaml, add below the autoInstallPeers line:
minimumReleaseAge: 0

> Without this line, a version released only recently (pnpm's default > "minimum release age" is a few days) gets blocked by supply-chain gating and > update wrongly reports Already up to date. Setting it to 0 disables the > gate permanently, so update always fetches the latest version.

After upgrading, quit and reopen the DSH session in Zed (or restart the dsh --profile acp process) so the new code is actually loaded.

> Alternative: if you'd rather not edit the config, you can pin the version > explicitly — dsh plugin --profile acp add "@hanxu131/dshacp@^0.1.4". But > because of pnpm's lock behavior, update is the easier day-to-day choice.

Breaking it down:

• dsh plugin = use DSH's plugin manager
• --profile acp = install into a profile named acp (created automatically if missing)
• add @hanxu131/dshacp = install the DSHACP plugin

How to know it worked: the command finishes without error, ending with something like Done in Xs.

> To double-check, run dsh --profile acp --dump-config — you should see > dshacp-related config rows in the output.

Remote SSH is optional and not included by default. If you want it, add one more plugin:

dsh plugin --profile acp add @linxin666/dsh-ssh

Step 2: Add DSH to Zed

1. Open Zed and press Cmd + , (macOS) or Ctrl + , to open Settings. 2. Find AI → External Agents in the sidebar. 3. Click Add Custom Agent and paste the following:

{
  "agent_servers": {
    "DSH": {
      "type": "custom",
      "command": "dsh",
      "args": ["--profile", "acp"],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

> Here command is dsh (not dshacp): Zed launches dsh --profile acp, which > boots the profile we just installed. Leave env empty.

How to know it worked: an option named DSH appears in Zed's agent list.

Step 3: Start your first conversation

1. Open Zed's agent panel (usually on the right side). 2. In the agent/model dropdown, pick DSH (not Claude/GPT). 3. Type something simple, like:

> Hi, tell me what you can do.

How to know it worked:

• The reply streams in word by word (not all at once)
• When it wants to perform an action, an "allow / deny" confirmation pops up

If it gets stuck, see "Troubleshooting" below.

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Troubleshooting

1. command not found: dsh

DSH isn't installed. Go back to "Before you start" item 1 and run npm install -g @deepseek-ai/dsh. If you use a version manager like nvm, open a new terminal window and try again.

2. It errors out with a missing key / 401 as soon as a conversation starts

The key is configured on the DSH side (the maintainer's responsibility), not by this plugin — ask the maintainer to add the DeepSeek API key to DSH.

3. You click "allow", but nothing happens

• Make sure you selected the DSH agent in Zed
• Open Zed's command palette and run dev: open acp logs to look for errors

4. Your conversations disappear after switching projects

Conversations are saved under a .sessions folder in the current project directory (a new project = a new set of conversations). To store them all in one place, set the DSH_SESSIONS_ROOT environment variable (see below).

5. Re-running add doesn't upgrade to the new version

This is pnpm's version-locking / release-age gating, not a mistake in the command:

• dsh plugin add wraps pnpm's add. Once the profile's pnpm-lock.yaml has

pinned a version, add won't jump to a newer version even if one exists on npm — it just prints Already up to date.

• Versions younger than pnpm's "minimum release age" (a few days by default) are

also blocked by supply-chain gating, so update shows Already up to date too.

Recommended fix: disable the gate permanently and use update (see "Step 1 → Updating to a newer version"). Add minimumReleaseAge: 0 to ~/.dsh/profiles/acp/pnpm-workspace.yaml, then the upgrade command is simply:

dsh plugin --profile acp update @hanxu131/dshacp

If you'd rather not edit the config, pin the version explicitly instead (profile acp, package @hanxu131/dshacp, upgrading 0.1.3 → 0.1.4):

# ✅ Works ad hoc: pin the target range explicitly
dsh plugin --profile acp add "@hanxu131/dshacp@^0.1.4"

# ❌ Does NOT work: no version, or only @latest — both are blocked by locking/gating
dsh plugin --profile acp add @hanxu131/dshacp
dsh plugin --profile acp add "@hanxu131/dshacp@latest"

After upgrading, restart the DSH session in Zed (or restart the dsh --profile acp process) so the new code takes effect.

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Advanced: for those who want to dig deeper

<details> <summary>Expand (environment variables, model selection, standalone binary, building from source, protocol details, …)</summary>

Environment variables

Choosing model / thinking strength / mode in Zed

Once installed, you can pick model, thinking strength, and mode directly in Zed's DSH panel. You can also pin defaults in the config (the example below is illustrative — use whatever the panel actually shows):

"DSH": {
  "type": "custom",
  "command": "dsh",
  "args": ["--profile", "acp"],
  "env": {},
  "default_config_options": {
    "model": "deepseek-official:deepseek-v4-pro",
    "thought_level": "high"
  }
}

The model value is provider:model; a bare model id also works and resolves to the provider that owns it.

Install as a standalone binary (alternative, no DSH profile)

If you'd rather not use a DSH profile, you can install the standalone dshacp command instead:

npm install -g @hanxu131/dshacp

Then in Zed set command to dshacp with an empty args. The functionality is identical to the plugin method.

Build from source (for developers)

git clone git@github.com:ECHOUniverse/dshacp.git
cd dshacp
npm install
npm run build   # compile TypeScript
npm test        # run tests

Optional features

• Paste a screenshot for DeepSeek to read: after installing uv/uvx and the

qwenmm plugin, you can paste screenshots into Zed for the model to "see". See docs/P5-image-paste-qwenmm.md.

• Remote SSH: dsh plugin --profile acp add @linxin666/dsh-ssh.
• Hybrid mode: DSHACP_HYBRID=1 — file edits appear as reviewable diffs.

ACP surface (protocol layer, for developers)

• Client → server: initialize, session/new, session/load, session/resume,

session/list, session/delete, session/close, session/set_config_option, session/prompt, session/cancel

• Server → client: session/request_permission, session/request_elicitation,

session/update

• Intentionally not implemented: authenticate/logout, session/set_mode,

fs/*, terminal/*

Layout (for contributors)

• src/bin.ts — entry point for the standalone binary
• src/index.ts — app plugin (the ACP bridge)
• src/bridge.ts — ACP v1 bridge (sessions, streaming, approval, …)
• src/codec.ts — codecs
• cordis.yml / cordis.patch.yml / dshacp.patch.yml — composition config

(cordis.patch.yml is the layer applied by the plugin install)

• tests/ — tests

</details>

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Further reading

• Design & implementation plan: [docs/DESIGN.md](docs/DESIGN.md)
• Research notes: the *-fact-sheet.md files under docs/
• Zed external-agents docs: <https://zed.dev/docs/ai/external-agents>
• ACP protocol: <https://agentclientprotocol.com>

License

MIT — see [LICENSE](LICENSE).