🎤 dsh-better-input

A better way to feed your DeepSeek Harness agent.

Open-source input-experience enhancement plugin for DeepSeek Harness

> 💡 **What problem does it solve?** Talking to an agent shouldn't mean only typing. BetterInput is an **input-enhancement suite**: voice recognition, AI polishing, prompt optimization, on-demand prompt templates, more local file formats you can bring into the input, and file-to-Markdown — plus the small UX refinements — **making every input you feed an agent better**. --- ## 🎬 Feature Demo https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/caae08fc-2d8e-43c6-8bab-ade2d278337f > V0.1.5 version demo of four core features ## ✨ Implemented today

Module	Description
🎙️ Voice input	Click the mic and speak; transcript streams into the draft in real time. Browser-native recognition, no API key.
🤖 AI polishing	Auto-cleanse after recognition: drop fillers, fix homophone errors (根木鹿→根目录, 脱肯→Token), restore punctuation, turn spoken enumerations into lists. Reuses your configured dsh models — no extra key.
✨ Prompt optimization	An icon at the top right of the composer — the AI refines your prompt to be more precise; a before / after comparison panel pops up so you can review before adopting. Reuses your dsh models — no extra key.
📝 Prompt templates	Save frequently used prompts as templates — type `/` in the composer to search and insert the body in one click; create / edit / delete in Settings, stored locally, nothing leaves your machine.
📎 More file formats input	An "Add file" button at the top right of the composer (collapsed by default). Bring local files into the input: plain text (`.txt / .json / .py / .md` etc.) can be sent directly; documents are converted first and inserted as an `@` reference chip. Bring in files outside the workspace even without any conversion need.
🔄 File-to-Markdown	Convert PDF / DOCX / XLSX / PPTX / HTML / EPUB / CSV / JSON / XML into clean, structured Markdown, expanded into the message on send; results can be re-edited.
🐘 Edit-safe guard	If you edit the draft while polishing runs, the result won't overwrite your edits; on failure the original is kept.
🔄 Update check	A one-click About & Updates section at the bottom of Settings checks the npm registry for the latest release and shows a copy-paste update command, so you can adopt bug fixes and new features quickly.
⏱️ Auto-stop recording	Configurable per-session recording limit (1–600 s), never holds the mic forever.
⚙️ Visual settings page	Recognition language, recording limit, polish toggle, plus model, reasoning effort, and custom prompt for both polish and optimization. The built-in prompt is one click away. Enabled by default, with your primary model auto-selected.

## 🗺️ Next (directions for better input) BetterInput is a complete **input-enhancement suite**: not just one kind of input, but making every input you feed an agent smoother and easier. Voice is already in place; next we go in three directions: ### Files → structured (format upgrades) > 📷 Image input: **natively supported by DSH since `rc.8`** — the DeepSeek API supports image input natively, so we **no longer ship an image plugin**. Turn docs, sheets, and decks into clean, structured Markdown so the agent reads them at a glance. - [x] 🧾 **PDF → structured** — PDF into an AI-friendly readable format (Markdown / plain text) - [x] 📄 **Office parsing** — DOCX / PPT / XLSX into clean Markdown structure in one click - [ ] 🎬 **Audio/video transcription** — paste a local media file and get text (an upgrade to voice input) ### Text & prompts - [x] ✨ **Prompt optimization** — a one-click icon beside the input to have the AI polish / improve the prompt you wrote - [x] 📝 **Prompt template library** — type `/` in the composer to search & insert common templates (coding / summarize / translate / role-play…) - [ ] 🧹 **Text cleaning** — paste messy / line-numbered / timestamped text and get clean copy - [ ] 🔤 **Instant translation** — one click to turn Chinese into English (or vice versa) - [ ] 📋 **Smart paste** — detect code / table / URL / quote on paste and wrap it appropriately ### Interaction refinements Input isn't just about features — it's also how comfortable and polished it feels. - [x] 🎚️ **Effort slider** — removed; for slider-style reasoning-effort adjustment, install @HanaAyane/dsh-reasoning-effort - [ ] ✍️ **Auto-complete suggestions** — contextual continuations while you type, adopt in one click - [ ] 🧮 **Variable fill** — `{{date}}`, `{{cwd}}` and other tokens replaced automatically in the input > Planned around the directions; iterating continuously. **Ideas welcome — file an [Issue](https://github.com/DIAG5/dsh-better-input/issues) or open a PR.** > 💭 **On settings toggles**: for features that **modify DSH's built-in plugins**, adding another toggle in the settings screen is really **redundant** — if a feature can in principle be **split out as its own plugin**, it should be enabled/disabled by **installing / uninstalling** it, not by another switch inside BetterInput. So this plugin no longer pays the price of core-feature toggles: **anything that can be split out already has been split out of BetterInput** — install the standalone plugin when you want it, uninstall it when you don't. ## 🚀 Install Prereqs: [DeepSeek Harness](https://github.com/deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness) (`>= 0.1.2-rc.1`) + Node.js `^22.19.0 || >=24.0.0` + Chrome/Edge. > 💡 **Pick either way.** If you have the `dsh` CLI installed, use the short commands below. If not — or you don't want to install anything globally — use the **npx full form**: no global configuration needed at all. Published on [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/dsh-better-input). ### Option A: global `dsh` CLI ```sh # Install from npm (recommended) dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-better-input # Or from the GitHub repo dsh plugin --profile web add github:DIAG5/dsh-better-input # Uninstall dsh plugin --profile web remove dsh-better-input ``` ### Option B: no `dsh`, or avoid global installs (npx full form) Run dsh via `npx` — pulled on demand, **nothing written to your global environment**: ```sh # Install from npm (recommended) npx -y @deepseek-ai/dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-better-input # Or from the GitHub repo npx -y @deepseek-ai/dsh plugin --profile web add github:DIAG5/dsh-better-input # Uninstall npx -y @deepseek-ai/dsh plugin --profile web remove dsh-better-input ``` > `-y` auto-confirms the download; the first run fetches the dsh CLI, cached by npx afterwards. ### From source (development) ```sh git clone https://github.com/DIAG5/dsh-better-input.git cd dsh-better-input npm install npm run build # with a global CLI: dsh plugin --profile web add "$PWD" # without a global CLI: npx -y @deepseek-ai/dsh plugin --profile web add "$PWD" ``` ### Alternative: no package install — add a row to a preset's `cordis.yml` If you already use an agent preset, just add one line (no install command needed): ```yaml - insert: - id: dsh-better-input name: dsh-better-input ``` After installing, refresh the Web UI — a **microphone icon** 🎤 appears on the right of the composer. ## 📖 Usage ### 1. Voice input 1. Open any conversation and click the **microphone button** on the right of the input row. 2. Start speaking — recognized text **streams into** the input in real time. 3. Click again (or press **Stop** on the recognition bar) to finish. 4. Review, edit, and send. > Recognition runs fully in your browser via the Web Speech API — no API key, no server round-trip. Auto-disabled in unsupported browsers (Firefox/Safari). ### 2. AI polishing Settings → **BetterInput** → enable **AI polishing** → pick a model already configured in dsh. The built-in prompt removes fillers, fixes homophone errors, restores punctuation, and formats spoken enumerations into numbered lists. Leave blank to use the built-in prompt (expand via **Show the built-in prompt**), or paste a custom prompt (the output-contract guard is always appended, so it returns clean text rather than answering). ### 3. Prompt optimization 1. Type your prompt in the composer. 2. Click the **✨ Optimize** icon at the top right of the input row. 3. After a short wait, a **before / after comparison panel** appears. 4. Click **Adopt** to replace the draft with the optimized result, or **Cancel** to keep the original. > Thinking is off by default for fast, low-cost output. You can raise the effort tier in settings for deeper optimization. ### 4. Prompt templates Save frequently used prompts (coding / summarizing / translating / role-play…) as templates and insert them on demand: 1. Go to Settings → **BetterInput** → the "**Prompt templates**" section and click "**New template**" 2. Fill in the name, description (optional), body, and tags (optional, comma-separated, used for search), then save 3. Back in the composer, type `/` — template candidates pop up; keep typing to filter live by name / description / tag 4. Pick one and the template body is inserted into the input, ready to edit further before sending > Templates are stored locally on the host machine at `~/.dsh/better-input/templates.json` — nothing leaves your machine; up to 200 templates, 8,000 chars per body, sorted by most recently updated. ### 5. Add file / file-to-Markdown 1. Click the **📎 Add file** button at the top right of the composer to expand the file panel (click again to collapse). 2. Click "**Add file**" to pick files (multiple allowed); they appear as small tags in the panel. 3. **Plain-text files** (`.txt / .md / .json / .py` etc.) are marked ✓ immediately — type `@` to insert and send them directly, no conversion. This is the "more file formats input" capability. 4. **Document files** (`.pdf / .docx / .xlsx` etc.): click "**Start conversion**" — this is the "file-to-Markdown" capability: - Once converted they are marked ✓. - Type `@` in the composer and pick the file from the candidates — it inserts as an `@` reference chip. - On send the chip expands into the converted Markdown body. - The panel keeps an "**Edit**" button so you can revise the converted result. 5. Remove an unwanted file with `×`. > Conversion runs locally via built-in parsers (PDF / Word / Excel / PPT / EPUB / HTML / CSV / JSON / XML etc.); the generated Markdown is sent with your message so the agent can read the document at a glance. ### 6. OCR vision recognition (scanned PDF / PPT) For documents **without a text layer** — scanned PDFs, image-only PDFs, or PPTs whose slides are just pictures — regular conversion yields little or no text. Use OCR to let a vision model "read the pixels": 1. First, in Settings → **BetterInput**, pick an "**OCR vision model**" (a vision model supporting image input; independent of the polish model) 2. Add a `.pdf` / `.pptx` file and click "**Start conversion**" — you'll be asked "Use OCR?" 3. Choose "**Use OCR**": PDF pages are rendered to images (or PPT embedded images extracted) and fed one at a time to the vision model as Markdown 4. Choosing "Regular conversion" keeps the built-in text-layer extraction > If no OCR model is set, clicking "Use OCR" shows a neutral toast guiding you to Settings instead of a red error; if the chosen model explicitly declares it does not support image input, you're told upfront to switch, avoiding a confusing empty result. ### 7. Check for updates 1. Open Settings → **BetterInput** → scroll to the bottom to the "**About & Updates**" section 2. Click "**Check for updates**" 3. If a newer version exists, it shows `installed → latest` plus an update command 4. Run one of the commands below, depending on how you installed DSH: - With a global `dsh` CLI: ```sh dsh plugin --profile web update dsh-better-input ``` - Without one, via npx: ```sh npx -y @deepseek-ai/dsh plugin --profile web update dsh-better-input ``` > Note: DSH does not auto-update third-party plugins on launch — run the command above to pull the new release. This section simply helps you notice and follow updates promptly. ### 8. Settings | Setting | Meaning | | --- | --- | | UI language | Plugin copy supports Chinese / English, follows DSH's UI language switch, applied instantly | | Recognition language | Empty follows the browser language (e.g. `zh-CN`, `en-US`) | | Recording limit | 1–600 seconds, default 120, auto-stop | | AI polishing | On/off; when on, the transcript is auto-polished into the draft | | Polish model | A dsh model route | | Polish reasoning effort | Default: thinking off; optional higher tiers the model supports | | Custom polish prompt | Optional replacement of the built-in prompt | | Prompt optimization | On/off; when on, the ✨ button shows in the composer | | Optimize model | A dsh model route | | Optimize reasoning effort | Default: thinking off; optional higher tiers the model supports | | Custom optimize prompt | Optional replacement of the built-in optimize prompt | | OCR vision model | Vision model for scanned pages / embedded images; independent of the polish model. OCR is unavailable without one | | Prompt templates | Create / edit / delete templates (name, description, body, tags) in Settings; data is stored in a local JSON file on the host | | About & Updates | Shows installed version / license / repo, and a one-click "Check for updates" for the latest release and update command | > Polish and optimization are configured independently — model, effort, and prompt each. ## 🧩 Compatibility - DeepSeek Harness `>= 0.1.2-rc.1` (verified against `0.1.5-rc.1`) - Node.js `^22.19.0 || >=24.0.0` - Chromium-based browsers (Chrome / Edge) ## 🛠️ Development ```sh npm install npm run check # typecheck npm run build # build lib/ (host ESM + browser bundle) ``` Client-only UI: `npm run dev:watch`, then refresh the UI. Host changes: restart dsh web. ## 🏗️ Architecture - `src/index.ts` — Host plugin entry, mounts the polish service - `src/polish/service.ts` — `BetterInputPolishService` (Typert remote): settings, dsh route discovery, LLM polishing & prompt optimization, file-to-Markdown (`convertFile`, via `ctx.llm`), prompt-template storage (`templatesList` / `templatesSave` / `templatesRemove`) - `src/templates/` — prompt-template data model and host-side JSON store (atomic writes, corruption self-healing) - `src/converter/` — pure-TypeScript file→Markdown conversion layer (PDF / DOCX / XLSX / PPT / EPUB / HTML / CSV / JSON / XML / ZIP), bundled on the Host only - `src/about.ts` — plugin identity and npm version check (About & Updates) - `src/client/` — browser half: microphone/optimize/choose-file buttons (`conversation.input.right`), recognition bar/file panel (`conversation.input.dock`), settings page & template management (`settings.section`), `@` reference-chip source (`conversion-source`), `/` template-candidate source (input trigger) - `src/typert.ts` / `src/remote.ts` — Client↔Host typed contract ## 📄 License [MIT](./LICENSE) --- ## ⭐ Support This plugin is growing from "voice" toward a **complete input-enhancement suite** — think it's worth watching? - Give it a **Star ⭐** (your stargazes fuel continued iteration) - File an [Issue](https://github.com/DIAG5/dsh-better-input/issues) / open a [PR](https://github.com/DIAG5/dsh-better-input/pulls) - Share it with fellow DSH users Thanks for your support ❤️