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dsh-chapters

1. Quickstart

Three steps

Section titled “Three steps”

1. Install the plugin (DeepSeek Harness ≥ 0.1.5-rc.x, Node ≥ 24). A harness profile is a directory with its own package.json and node_modules (~/.dsh/profiles/<profile>/), so the plain npm install is the path this project documents and uses:

Terminal window
cd ~/.dsh/profiles/web && npm i @fractalsynapse/dsh-chapters@latest

@latest is deliberate: it is the only instruction that cannot go stale. The host also ships dsh plugin --profile <name> add @fractalsynapse/dsh-chapters — see §23 for both paths and for what this project relies on.

The current release is the one the npm page calls latest — every version ships with a build provenance attestation and a green deterministic + tape-replay CI run behind it (§26).

2. Restart your harness. dsh web loads plugin bundles at boot. After restart you have, with no further configuration:

  • the agent tools chapters_segment, chapters_continue, chapters_fork, chapters_search, chapters_artifact, chapters_rule_propose;
  • the composer commands /chapters-link, /chapters-status, /chapters-enrich, /chapters-rule, and the two door commands /chapters-fork and /chapters-continue;
  • a Fork with chapters and a Continue with chapters button on every assistant message: ONE deterministic door with two intents, each button executing its own command. The archive is identical either way (the plugin derives the ranges itself — a click needs no model turn); what differs is only what the child is told about plans — a branch gets zero plan bytes, a continuation carries the operative plan and, while the session is still planning, starts in plan mode for real;
  • the chapters agent preset (select it from the preset menu to route in-place /compact through the deterministic engine — optional; the archive tools work without it).

3. Take a continuation. Work a few turns in a real task until the conversation feels expensive, then either click Continue with chapters on the last assistant message (Fork with chapters if this is a new direction rather than more of the same), or say:

“Segment this conversation and continue with a TOC; keep the debugging history in one chapter and the setup in another.”

The agent archives verbatim chapters, opens the continuation, and the new session starts with a Table of Contents of everything that came before. Nothing was summarized; the original session is untouched and still openable.

Check it works

Section titled “Check it works”
/chapters-status

On a fresh workspace the honest answer is No knowledge repository is linked yet — that is the system working as designed, not a failure: it is the transport answer. The archive itself is on disk and greppable the moment it exists, and chapters_search already answers from this machine’s store without any pool linked — naming the door it answered from, so “this machine only” can never be read as “the whole project”. Linking a pool widens that door to every machine’s work (Part III).

Two traps we documented so you don’t rediscover them

Section titled “Two traps we documented so you don’t rediscover them”
  • Slash commands need a started conversation. On the brand-new session draft screen, the composer sends text as the first message rather than running a command — send any short opener first (or just ask: “check our chapters status”), then commands behave. This is a harness draft-screen behavior, and the plugin’s docs are candid about it.
  • Restart after upgrade. Reinstalling swaps files on disk; the running process holds the old bundle until restart (npm i @fractalsynapse/dsh-chapters@latest in the profile, then restart dsh web — §23).

What’s next

Section titled “What’s next”

2. Your first continuation walks the mechanics — what the archive looks like, what the new session actually contains, and how to reload a chapter when the model needs the old detail.