dsh-crw
fastCRW-backed web_search and web_fetch for DeepSeek Harness.
The harness treats web access as a capability seam (ctx.web) with pluggable providers. This package registers two of them under the id crw, so the model keeps the exact same web_search / web_fetch tools and only the backend changes.
Why
The base composition ships web_search on, and web_fetch off. Its own config says why:
> Fetch stays disabled and no fetch provider is mounted: that provider defers > SSRF protection and the model would choose the request target.
That is a fair call. The in-box HTTP fetch provider runs fetch() in the harness process, and its README names the gap outright: no blocking of private, loopback, link-local or multicast destinations, no DNS-resolve-then-validate. A model that picks http://169.254.169.254/ gets your cloud metadata endpoint.
fastCRW resolves and validates the target server-side and refuses private ranges, so the harness process never opens a connection the model chose. That is what makes turning fetch on reasonable, and it is why fetch: true lives in this bundle rather than upstream.
The second reason is that plain HTTP is not how the open web reads any more:
| URL | in-box HTTP provider | dsh-crw |
|---|---|---|
producthunt.com | 403, a Cloudflare interstitial | 200, 27,559 chars of markdown |
zillow.com | 403, "Access to this page has been denied" | 200, real page content |
news.ycombinator.com | 200, raw HTML for the tool to convert | 200, markdown from the source |
fastCRW escalates per page from plain HTTP through its browser tiers only when a page needs one, so the common case stays fast and the hard case still answers. Not every wall falls: an interactive Cloudflare challenge still wins sometimes.
Install
export CRW_API_KEY=... # fastcrw.com, 500 free credits, no card
dsh plugin --profile default add dsh-crw
dsh --profile defaultGet a key at fastcrw.com. The free tier is a one-time 500 credits and needs no card; one page is one credit.
To install straight from this repo instead, pin a commit and allow the build. A git install fetches sources, so pnpm has to run this package's prepare script to produce lib/, and pnpm 10+ requires you to say so explicitly:
# $DSH_HOME/profiles/<name>/pnpm-workspace.yaml
allowBuilds:
dsh-crw: truedsh plugin --profile default add github:us/dsh-crw#<sha>That allowance runs this package's build on your machine at install time, so pin the commit rather than tracking the branch.
Verify the layer before booting:
dsh --profile default --dump-config # shows a "# == dsh-crw" layerWhat the bundle does
The shipped cordis.patch.yml applies three changes over @deepseek-ai/dsh-base:
- points
web.searchProviderandweb.fetchProvideratcrw - turns on
tool-web'sfetchand raises both timeouts, since a page behind a
JS or anti-bot wall escalates through browser tiers before it answers
- mounts this plugin, reading
$CRW_API_KEY
The base layer's own DeepSeek search provider stays mounted, so switching search back is one line in your profile's cordis.patch.yml:
- id: web
config:
searchProvider: deepseek-official
fetchProvider: crwConfig
| Key | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
apiKey | $CRW_API_KEY | fastCRW API key. Required against the cloud endpoint; empty is fine when self-hosting. |
baseURL | https://fastcrw.com/api | Endpoint base; /v1/search and /v1/scrape are appended. |
search | true | Register the search provider. |
fetch | true | Register the fetch provider. |
answer | false | Ask fastCRW to synthesize an answer over the results, returned as the seam's content. Adds an LLM call per search. |
maxBodyChars | 100000 | Cap on returned page characters, matching the in-box provider. |
- id: crw
name: dsh-crw
config:
apiKey: !!js process.env.CRW_API_KEY
answer: falseSelf-hosting
fastCRW is AGPL-3.0 and the engine is one binary, so the whole web layer can stay on your own machine:
crw serve- id: crw
name: dsh-crw
config:
baseURL: http://127.0.0.1:3002A self-hosted endpoint takes no credential, so apiKey may be empty. The provider only insists on a key when it is pointed at the cloud endpoint.
Mapping notes
- Search.
POST /v1/search. Each result maps to aWebSearchSource:url,
title, and snippet from the result's snippet or, failing that, its description. A result without a URL is dropped rather than given an invented one. With answer on, the synthesized answer becomes the seam's content. The seam owns the final maxResults truncation.
- Fetch.
POST /v1/scrapewithformats: ['markdown']. The body kind is
text, not html: fastCRW already returns markdown, and html would send it back through the tool's turndown pass to convert converted output.
- Non-2xx targets. fastCRW reports a 404 target as
success: falsewhile
still returning what it got. The seam's contract is the other way round, so an envelope carrying a status code is always a result. A WebError is reserved for failing to retrieve the resource at all: a rejected URL, a bad key, an exhausted balance.
- No renderer hint is sent. fastCRW's escalation ladder decides per page
whether plain HTTP is enough.
Development
bun install
bun test
bun run buildLicense
MIT.