dsh-context-mode

Context Mode (the MCP server that keeps raw data out of the context window) as a self-contained DeepSeek Harness plugin package. This folder is its own npm package (package.json declares dsh.bundle), so it installs and publishes independently of the context-mode npm package.

The plugin loads context-mode's engine library in-process (build/server.js of the dependency context-mode package — the same module the OpenCode/Kilo native adapter imports) and registers the ctx_* tools natively into dsh's tools registry under their bare names — no MCP child process, no mcp__context-mode__ prefix. The engine is always taken from the original author's published npm package; this repo ships only the dsh adapter.

Contents

Path	Purpose
index.js	Plugin module (name / inject / apply), engine location + registration
cordis.patch.yml	dsh bundle patch (insert row id context-mode)
package.json	npm metadata + dsh.bundle.patch manifest, depends on context-mode
scripts/dev-harness.mjs	Engine-level test: mock ctx, tool registration + FTS5 round trip
scripts/dev-boot-probe.mjs	Real dsh profile boot probe (dsh-app-boot), tool catalog check

What you get

context-mode surface	dsh surface
ctx_execute / ctx_execute_file / ctx_batch_execute	native dsh tools (sandbox subprocess, only printed output enters the conversation)
ctx_index / ctx_search / ctx_fetch_and_index	native dsh tools (persistent FTS5 knowledge base, BM25 search)
ctx_stats / ctx_doctor / ctx_purge / ctx_insight	native dsh tools
SessionStart routing-block hook	context-mode:routing system-prompt section (dsh has no hook channel; the section plus the tool schemas are the enforcement surface)
session continuity (PreCompact/PostToolUse capture)	not wired — dsh has its own session/compaction layers; use ctx_index explicitly for durable memory

All tools run the exact context-mode implementations, including security routing (curl/wget/inline-fetch blocking), the executor's language matrix, and the FTS5 content store. Storage defaults to dsh's own home ($DSH_HOME/context-mode, i.e. ~/.dsh/context-mode) so the knowledge base is per-harness and never writes into another harness's config tree; set the plugin storageDir (or CONTEXT_MODE_DIR/config) to override.

Install

Requirements: Node.js ≥ 22.5 and a running dsh profile. The context-mode engine package is a regular dependency and is installed automatically; no build step is needed for this plugin (pure JS).

From GitHub (the canonical install):

dsh plugin --profile web add icanfinish11/dsh-context-mode

From npm (once the dsh-context-mode package is published):

dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-context-mode

From a local checkout of this repo:

npm install                              # installs the context-mode engine dependency
dsh plugin --profile web add link:/path/to/dsh-context-mode

If you develop with this folder checked out inside a context-mode repo clone (dsh/ next to the engine root), build the engine first (npm run build in the engine root) so the sibling layout resolves; a normal install never needs that.

Restart dsh web. Verify with ctx stats in a session, or:

node scripts/dev-boot-probe.mjs          # DSH_HOME + DSH_PROFILE env required

Engine location order

1. config.enginePath (plugin config)
2. CONTEXT_MODE_ENGINE env var
3. the dependency context-mode package via Node resolution — the context-mode/package.json subpath export when upstream provides it, otherwise the package root resolved from its main entry by walking up to the context-mode package.json (works with the published package as of 1.0.169, under npm flat/nested and pnpm store layouts)
4. sibling layout (../build/server.js — dev inside the context-mode repo only)

If none resolve, the plugin degrades to routing-only and logs a warning; it never fails the dsh profile boot.

Configuration

The plugin row id is context-mode (see cordis.patch.yml). Override per-profile in $DSH_HOME/profiles/<name>/cordis.patch.yml:

- id: context-mode
  config:
    storageDir: ~/.dsh/context-mode        # isolate the FTS5 store
    routing: true                          # inject the routing section
    tools:
      purge: false                         # hide destructive tools
      upgrade: false                       # host-hook updater (default off)

Development

• index.js resolves the engine via Node resolution first (dependency context-mode), then the sibling layout — the same code works published and in-repo.
• CONTEXT_MODE_EMBEDDED_PLUGIN_TOOLS=1 is set around the engine import so context-mode skips its stdio transport boot and process-wide handlers (matching the OpenCode/Kilo in-process contract).
• scripts/dev-harness.mjs runs the plugin against a mock ctx and proves the FTS5 ctx_index → ctx_search round trip; scripts/dev-boot-probe.mjs boots a real dsh profile and checks the registered tool catalog.

Credits

This plugin is an independent dsh adapter by icanfinish11. The engine it loads is Context Mode by Mert Koseoğlu (mksglu): https://github.com/mksglu/context-mode, distributed on npm as context-mode under the Elastic License 2.0. The engine is consumed as a runtime dependency from the original author's published package — it is not vendored or re-published here, and this repo contains no engine code.