Select a fragment of a chat, ask what it means, and keep the answer out of your main conversation.
dsh-quick-explain is a DeepSeek Harness (dsh) plugin: highlight a word or a sentence in any message, click 💡 Explain, and a temporary side conversation opens on the right. It explains the fragment, answers follow-ups, and disappears when you close it — the main chat keeps its exact history and context.
中文说明
Why
Sometimes you need to understand one word, one acronym, or one sentence in the middle of a long task. Asking the main assistant means adding a turn you will have to live with: it enters the session log, the model's context, and every later request. This plugin gives you a separate, disposable explainer instead.
Features
- Selection → aside. Highlight 1–1200 characters in the transcript; a small chip appears next to the selection.
- Explains in place. The side panel streams a short explanation of the selected text, using the paragraph around it as context.
- Follow-up questions. Keep digging in the panel; each question stays in the side conversation.
- Zero impact on the main session. Nothing is appended to the session log, no message is added to the conversation, and the main model request is untouched.
- Uses your own model. The side calls go through DSH's own
ctx.llm.stream with your configured default model.
- Native chrome. The panel is a right-edge sheet built from DSH's own theme tokens — same hairlines, radii, type scale and motion — so it reads as part of the app instead of a third-party card.
- Disposable by design. Closing the panel, or 30 minutes of inactivity, drops the side conversation from host memory.
- Local only. The panel talks to a route inside your running DSH process; no extra service, no telemetry.
Install
In DSH Desktop: open the Plugins page (sidebar, or Settings → Plugins) → Add plugin:
- In Package name or address, enter
dsh-quick-explain.
- Select Install, then Enable now. If DSH says the change takes effect at the next start, quit DSH completely and open it again.
If npm is not reachable, you can instead enter the full path of a .tgz (npm pack dsh-quick-explain), or github:JujiuYey/dsh-quick-explain.
Usage
- Select text in a message.
- Click 💡 Explain next to the selection.
- Read the explanation; type a follow-up and press
Cmd/Ctrl + Enter.
- Close with
× or Esc — the side chat is discarded.
How it works
selection
│ client.js: start(quote, context)
▼
POST /api/quick-explain (plugin-owned route, same origin)
│
▼
index.js: new thread in memory → ctx.llm.stream(...)
│
│ client.js polls every 350 ms: {endpoint:'poll', threadId}
▼
{state, text, error} → panel renders the growing answer
The main conversation's Session is not part of this path. The side conversation never emits session events, so it cannot affect replay, compaction, or the next model request.
Files
| File | Role |
|---|
index.js | Host half: the /api/quick-explain route, in-memory threads, model calls, idle sweep |
client.js | Client half: selection detection, floating chip, side panel, polling |
cordis.patch.yml | Inserts the plugin row into the profile |
locale/*.json | Plugin list title and description (English / Chinese) |
icon.svg | Plugin icon |
Development
Install this directory as a Local directory bundle, edit, then restart DSH to load changed client code:
npm pack # produces dsh-quick-explain-<version>.tgz
or point the plugin manager at the checkout. The Host half (index.js) is plain ESM with no build step; the Client half (client.js) is a plain script that registers a lazy factory with window.__ModuleLoader__.
Requirements: DSH 0.2.1-rc.2 or a compatible release that provides ctx.connection.fetch, ctx.llm, ctx.agentDefaultModel, and the shell.overlay client slot.
Privacy
The selected text, the paragraph around it, and your follow-up questions are sent to the model provider configured in DSH — the same provider your main conversation already uses. The side conversation itself lives only in the Host process memory: it is not written to the session log, not stored on disk, and gone after a restart.
Limitations
- The explainer sees the selection plus its surrounding paragraph, not the full conversation history — that is the price of leaving the main session untouched.
- Answers render light inline Markdown (
**bold** and `code`); headings and lists are not interpreted.
- Side conversations are per-process; restarting DSH clears them.
- UI strings are English and Chinese only.
Development
The client is bundled from src/ into a single injected script:
npm install # also runs the build via `prepare`
npm run build # regenerate client.js
License
MIT © 2026 JujiuYey
