dsh-subagent-limit-slider
English | 中文
A DeepSeek Harness plugin that puts the subagent parallelism limit on a slider in the composer tool row — beside the permission and plan controls — so you can change how wide delegation may go without leaving the conversation.
Composer row showing the permission control, subagent slider, and model selector
The screenshot shows the live composer row from the macOS verification session. The control is labeled 子代理 in the Chinese locale.
What it does
The slider reads and writes maxActiveSubagents in the host's subagent configuration namespace. The host enforces that value: once the ceiling is reached, further delegation is refused with
subagent limit reached (active child limit: N)
until a running subagent finishes.
- Range: 1–32. The host schema has no maximum; 32 bounds the slider only.
- Meaning: every live subagent under one main agent, across all recursion levels. The main agent itself is excluded.
- Coalesced writes: a drag produces one settings write, not one per pixel.
- Immediate effect: the new ceiling applies to subsequent start requests. Subagents already running are not stopped.
- Visible failure: if the host rejects a write, the number turns red and snaps back to the accepted value.
Install
Option 1 — from GitHub (recommended)
Add the repository as a bundle to the profile you want it in:
github:3470437923-cloud/dsh-subagent-limit-slider
You can hand that spec to an agent in a session, or use the Plugins page in the Web GUI. Then restart DeepSeek Harness so the profile is re-composed.
Option 2 — manual
From your profile directory (for example ~/.dsh/profiles/desktop):
pnpm add github:3470437923-cloud/dsh-subagent-limit-slider
Then add the package name to that profile's package.json:
{
"dsh": {
"profile": {
"bundles": [
"@deepseek-ai/dsh-base",
"@deepseek-ai/dsh-web-app",
"dsh-subagent-limit-slider"
]
}
}
}
Restart DeepSeek Harness.
Usage
The control appears at the left of the composer tool row, after the permission and plan controls. Drag it; the number beside it is the current ceiling.
Relationship to the built-in settings page
DeepSeek Harness already exposes this same field at Settings → Plugins → Subagent → Subagent parallelism limit. This plugin does not add a capability — it adds a faster path to the value you already own.
Both surfaces read and write the same namespace, so they never disagree: change it in one place and the other reflects it.
Compatibility
Developed and verified against DeepSeek Harness 0.2.0-rc.2.
The plugin leans on four host contracts, any of which a future release could rename:
| Contract | Used for |
|---|
dsh.bundle.patch manifest field | being selectable as a profile bundle |
dsh.client declaration and the __ModuleLoader__.load bundle format | how the browser half is loaded |
the conversation.input.left slot | where the slider mounts |
the configForms service, subagent namespace, maxActiveSubagents field | the value it reads and writes |
The mount is guarded: on a composition that never mounts the host subagent plugin, the control stays absent instead of rendering a dead control.
Platforms. The plugin is browser-side only and contains no platform-specific code, so it is expected to behave identically on macOS, Windows, and Linux. It has been verified on macOS only — Windows is untested. Reports welcome.
How it works
The package has two halves:
lib/index.js — an empty host apply. It exists only so the package holds a Loader row, which is what makes the client module system serve the browser half.lib/client.js — the browser half. It binds the subagent namespace through the configForms service, registers a React control into conversation.input.left, and writes through the revision-fenced form API.
cordis.patch.yml inserts that single Loader row. Without it the package is not a bundle, and no profile can select it.
Limitations
- The UI caps the slider at 32. The host schema has no maximum, so a larger value set elsewhere is displayed but cannot be dragged past the cap.
- The setting is stored per profile, so it applies to every session using that profile.
- Changing the value does not stop subagents that are already running.
Uninstall
Remove dsh-subagent-limit-slider from the profile's dsh.profile.bundles, then restart. To drop the dependency too, run pnpm remove dsh-subagent-limit-slider in the profile directory.
Development
There is no build step. lib/client.js is the source that ships, written against the bundle format the client module system expects.
To work on it locally, link the checkout into a profile:
cd ~/.dsh/profiles/desktop
pnpm add link:./path/to/dsh-subagent-limit-slider
and add the package name to dsh.profile.bundles.
License
MIT
