dsh-memory
Codex-like persistent memory for DeepSeek Harness. The plugin gives every session a durable, auto-injected memory: a distilled global summary is injected into each prompt, agents can read/write/search memories with dedicated tools, and each finished turn is automatically distilled into per-session rollout summaries that periodically re-consolidate the global memory file.
How it works
$DSH_HOME/memories/
├── memory_summary.md distilled, versioned, bounded memory — injected into every prompt
├── raw_memories.md append-only dated entries written by the memory tools
├── rollout_summaries/<sid>.md per-session turn summaries (auto)
├── journal.jsonl mutation journal consumed by consolidation
├── summary_history/<v>.<ts>.md previous summary versions kept for rollback
├── archive/raw-YYYY-MM.md oldest raw entries archived past the byte budget
├── scopes/ws-<hash>/... per-workspace stores (when scopedMemory is enabled)
├── scopes/project-<hash>/... per-git-root project stores (when scopedMemory is enabled)
└── state.json version + journal/rollout cursor bookkeeping- Injection —
systemPrompt.contextre-readsmemory_summary.mdat every prompt assembly, so amemory_addcall surfaces in the very next model step. - Tools —
memory_read,memory_add,memory_update,memory_delete,memory_search,memory_review,memory_merge,memory_export,memory_import,memory_stats,memory_browse,memory_history,memory_rollback,memory_sync(see below). - Auto memory — on each finished turn of a root agent, the new conversation text is distilled with the default model into a rollout summary. Every
consolidateEverysummaries, the scope's summary is re-merged (atomic write, version bump). WithscopedMemory, rollouts and consolidation route to the session's workspace or project scope. All LLM work is queued, timed out, and never blocks a turn. - Seeding — on first run the plugin seeds the summary from
$DSH_HOME/AGENTS.md(the Codex-synced global memory) without modifying it.
Current release: 0.2.5 — see [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md) for the release history.
Install
The one-command path is scripts/sync-install.ps1 (see [Deploy / update](#deploy--update)); the manual path is below. Either way, restart DeepSeek Harness afterwards.
1. Put the package under the profile's external plugins:
``powershell Copy-Item -Recurse E:\git\github\dsh-Plugin "$env:USERPROFILE\.dsh\profiles\web\node_modules\@dsh-external\dsh-memory" ``
2. Add a loader row to ~/.dsh/profiles/web/cordis.patch.yml (must be an insert entry — a standalone - id: row only overrides existing bundle entries and will not mount the plugin):
``yaml - insert: - id: dsh-memory name: '@dsh-external/dsh-memory' config: maxBytes: 8000 autoSummarize: true ``
3. Restart DeepSeek Harness. The plugin mounts as dsh-memory; its settings namespace is memory.
Configuration
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
memoryDir | $DSH_HOME/memories | Memory directory (empty = default). |
maxBytes | 8000 | Byte budget of the injected summary. |
consolidateMaxBytes | 40000 | Byte budget of the consolidation input sent to the merge model. |
keepSummaryVersions | 20 | Previous summary versions retained for memory_rollback (0 disables history). |
rawArchiveMaxBytes | 200000 | Active raw file byte budget; oldest entries move to archive/ beyond it. |
autoSummarize | true | Distill finished turns into rollout summaries. |
summarizeProvider / summarizeModel | selected agent model | Model used for summarization. |
summarizeDebounceMs | 300000 | Minimum interval between summarizations of the same session (0 disables the debounce). |
consolidateEvery | 3 | Rollout summaries written before re-consolidating the global summary. |
summaryMaxTokens | 1500 | Max output tokens for turn summarization. |
consolidateMaxTokens | 3000 | Max output tokens for summary consolidation. |
llmRetries | 1 | Retries after a transient LLM failure. |
maxActiveSummaries | 4 | Maximum concurrent turn summarizations before new jobs are dropped. |
scopedMemory | false | Enable per-workspace memory scopes. |
redactSecrets | true | Redact credential-looking text from injected summaries. |
readOnlyScopes | [] | Scope keys whose write tools are blocked (global, exact ws-*/project-* keys, or * for all). |
embeddingBaseURL / embeddingApiKey / embeddingModel | empty | OpenAI-compatible /embeddings endpoint for vector:true; empty uses local hashed vectors. |
scopeMaxBytes | 2400 | Injected byte budget for the workspace summary when scopedMemory is enabled. |
seedFromAgentsMd | true | Seed the first summary from $DSH_HOME/AGENTS.md. |
The Web settings card (see below) edits maxBytes, consolidateEvery, autoSummarize, and seedFromAgentsMd live; all other keys are configured through the loader row or the memory: section of settings.yaml.
Tools
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
memory_read { scope? } | Read the global, workspace, or project (nearest git root) memory summary. |
memory_add { content, tags?, scope?, importance?, allowDuplicate?, allowSecret? } | Store one durable fact; obvious credentials are rejected unless allowSecret:true, importance 0-3 affects ranking, duplicates rejected by default. |
memory_update { id, content?, tags?, importance?, scope? } | Replace an entry's content/tags/importance in the selected scope. |
memory_delete { id, scope? } | Remove an entry from the selected scope. |
memory_search { query, tags?, mode?, fuzzy?, vector?, limit?, scope? } | BM25-ranked search plus optional local hashed-embedding cosine retrieval (vector:true) for missing-term candidates. |
memory_stats {} | Report store health: global + per-scope inventory, cursors, history, LLM counters, recent error telemetry. |
memory_history { scope? } | List retained summary versions (newest first) for memory_rollback. |
memory_browse { targetDir, overwrite? } | Write a self-contained interactive HTML browser over all scopes. |
memory_rollback { version } | Restore a previously retained summary version. |
memory_sync {} | Re-import AGENTS.md when it changed; reports a conflict instead of overwriting manual summary edits. |
memory_export { targetDir, scope?, overwrite? } | Export a scope to Codex-compatible memory_summary.md + raw_memories.md. |
memory_import { sourceDir, scope?, merge? } | Import Codex-compatible raw_memories.md into a scope (append or replace). |
memory_review { scope?, limit?, olderThanDays? } | List oldest entries and near-duplicate groups for review; never deletes automatically. |
memory_merge { ids, keepId?, scope? } | Merge active entries: longest content, union tags, max importance survive. |
Standalone MCP server
bin/dsh-memory-mcp.mjs exposes the same Markdown memory store over stdio JSON-RPC (MCP) with no DeepSeek Harness runtime dependency. Environment: DSH_MEMORY_DIR (default ~/.dsh/memories), DSH_MEMORY_REDACT=1 (default). Scope arguments: global (default), workspace/project with a cwd argument.
It serves 9 tools with the same store semantics as the DSH tools: memory_read, memory_add, memory_update, memory_delete, memory_search, memory_stats, memory_history, memory_merge, memory_review. An example client config lives in [examples/mcp-config.json](examples/mcp-config.json).
Deploy / update
scripts/sync-install.ps1 copies runtime files into a DSH profile external-plugin directory and verifies SHA-256 hashes. It never touches memory data and does not restart DSH; restart is required after sync. Usage:
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts/sync-install.ps1 -DryRun
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts/sync-install.ps1 -BackupScripts
| Script | Purpose |
|---|---|
scripts/sync-install.ps1 | Copy runtime + metadata files into the profile external-plugin directory and verify SHA-256 (-DryRun preview, -Backup snapshot before writing). |
scripts/verify-after-restart.ps1 | Post-restart verification: file hashes, the Web settings allowlist (rc.7 auto-detected as removed), and an installed-copy MCP smoke test (-SkipMcpSmoke, -SkipWebSettingsCheck). |
scripts/restart-dsh.ps1 | Stop and relaunch the DSH web process, then run the verification (-WhatIf first; closes the running session). |
scripts/start-dsh-logged.ps1 | Diagnostic launch: restart the web process with stdout/stderr redirected to $DSH_HOME/logs/ (captures startup errors). |
scripts/patch-web-settings.ps1 | Pre-rc.7 only: add memory to the dsh-host-apiproxy Web settings allowlist (obsolete since rc.7 removed the allowlist). |
scripts/mcp-smoke.mjs | Standalone MCP server smoke test (version, tool count, add/search round-trip). |
Web settings page
The plugin ships a Web client bundle that registers a "Memory (dsh-memory)" card on the plugin configuration page (Settings → Plugins → Plugin config) automatically — no extra step is required beyond the deploy sync. The card edits every config field (grouped into General / Auto-summarization & consolidation / Scopes / Security & embeddings) through the plugin's own same-origin endpoint (/_dsh/memory/settings, registered by the host half). The card copy is localized (English/Chinese) and follows DSH's language setting; embeddingApiKey is shown masked, and memoryDir changes require a DSH restart.
Since DSH 0.1.0-rc.7, settings.plugin.item is a keyed slot and the plugin configuration tab dispatches cards by settings namespace: the card registers with key: 'memory' (the plugin's own settings namespace). rc.7 also removed the hard-coded WEB_SETTINGS_NAMESPACES allowlist from dsh-host-apiproxy — the generic Web settings API serves every registered namespace, so the legacy patch-web-settings.ps1 no longer applies.
Automatic memory & the auto-memory skill
Two complementary layers keep memory current without manual tool calls:
1. Host pipeline (automatic) — every finished turn of a root agent is distilled into a rollout summary (debounced via summarizeDebounceMs), and summaries are periodically re-consolidated into the injected global summary. The summarization model resolves through summarizeProvider/summarizeModel, then the selected agent model, then the agent-default-model settings namespace. memory_stats reports summarizeSkipCounts / lastSummarizeSkip so skipped distillations are observable. Since 0.2.3 the distillation reads both user/message and assistant/message text (assistant replies were previously dropped), user settings apply at boot (not only after the first live edit), and the internal distill/consolidate LLM calls run with reasoning off so they cannot hit the output-token cap. End-to-end verified 2026-08-16: turn → rollout file → consolidation bumped the global summary v1 → v2. 2. auto-memory skill (agent-driven) — the plugin registers a runtime skill that instructs agents to proactively recognize key facts (preferences, decisions, conventions, fixes, facts), write them with memory_add (tags + dedup), query memory with memory_search / memory_read when a task depends on history, and correct stale entries. The skill appears in every session's skill catalog after restart.
Scope
Memory is stored in three scopes:
global— shared by all sessions (the Codex-style default);workspace— per working directory (ws-<hash>), active whenscopedMemory: true;project— per nearest git root (project-<hash>), active whenscopedMemory: true.
Tools accept a scope argument (global | workspace | project); the project scope resolves the session's cwd. Write access can be restricted per scope via readOnlyScopes.
Development & testing
npm test runs 59 tests (node:test):
test/store.test.js— store semantics, journal, history, archiving, scopes;test/automation.test.js— the auto-memory skill definition, the model-route fallback chain, andextractMessageText(user/assistant event shapes);test/browser.test.js— the interactive HTML browser snapshot rendering;test/web-settings.test.js— the settings endpoint lifecycle (GET/POST, 403/409, body limits) plus a VM-sandbox load of the client bundle asserting thesettings.plugin.itemcard registration;test/embedding.integration.test.js— fake/embeddingsserver + local hashed vectors;test/mcp.integration.test.js— real MCP child-process round-trips.
The architecture and mechanism notes live in [docs/DESIGN.md](docs/DESIGN.md); deployment status in [docs/STATUS.md](docs/STATUS.md).
License
MIT