DSH Plugin Safety Checklist
DeepSeek Harness plugins are third-party code that runs with yourmachine's permissions — the same access as the agent harness itself. "Verified" badges in community hubs explicitly do not mean "security-audited". This checklist is what we apply before listing a plugin as reviewed, and what we recommend before you install anything.
1. Prefer npm-published plugins over raw GitHub installs
Plugins published to npm carry a package name and version you can pin and audit (npm shows publish history and provenance). A GitHub-only repo can change its code at any commit. Our catalog flags every entry with an "npm" badge when a package.json is present on the default branch.
2. Check the declared DSH engine range
Serious plugins declare engines.dsh or a @deepseek-ai/dsh-* peer dependency in package.json, telling you which host versions they were built against. DSH is in developer preview with documented breaking changes — an undeclared plugin is a coin flip after every host upgrade.
3. Read what the plugin can touch
DSH plugins can register tools, hooks and UI surfaces. Anything that shells out, reads files outside its own directory, or makes network calls deserves a source skim first. Terminal/CLI-surface plugins inside a web profile get flagged by community marketplaces for a reason.
4. Look at maintenance signals, not just stars
A plugin with 500 stars and no commits in 60 days is riskier than a 50-star plugin pushed yesterday — in a preview-stage ecosystem, stale code breaks. We show last-push recency on every card and flag repos idle for over 30 days.
5. Verify the license
No license means no permission to use, modify or redistribute — and often correlates with low-effort or throwaway repos. GitHub detects licenses automatically; our detail pages surface the result.
6. Be suspicious of topic-spam
About 1 in 9 repos tagged dsh-plugin have nothing to do with DeepSeek Harness — the tag is used for visibility. We flag off-topic repos instead of hiding the problem. If a listing reads like a resume builder or an image uploader, it is not a DSH plugin.
7. Keep a rollback path
Before adding plugins, know your profile's patch layer (cordis.patch.yml) and keep a backup of your plugin list. Community marketplaces offer JSON export/import — use it before a batch install session so a bad plugin is a 30-second revert, not a reinstall.
Our listing policy
Every catalog entry shows automated signals (npm provenance, engine declaration, license, maintenance recency, on-topic check) computed from public GitHub data. Editorial reviews add hands-on repository inspection. Listing is not endorsement, and a green signal row is not a guarantee — it is a starting point for your own judgment. Found a malicious or mislabeled plugin? Tell us.