evanmormmm/deepseek-harness-desktop
Community Windows desktop distribution of DeepSeek Harness with a verified installer and portable runtime.
A community-maintained Windows desktop distribution of DeepSeek Harness with a native window, one-click installer, private bundled runtime and no terminal to keep open: double-click startup from the Start menu or desktop, and a native lifecycle where one WinForms/WebView2 window owns one private Harness backend and shuts it down when the window closes. Existing Harness features work through the upstream Web UI — sessions, workspaces, plugins, tools, permissions, model settings and $DSH_HOME data. Each release provides an installer, a portable ZIP and SHA256SUMS.txt.
Install
Download DeepSeek-Harness-Desktop-<version>-win-x64-Setup.exe from github.com/evanmormmm/deepseek-harness-desktop/releases/latestREADME install: open the latest release, download DeepSeek-Harness-Desktop-<version>-win-x64-Setup.exe, verify it against SHA256SUMS.txt, run the installer and open DeepSeek Harness from the Start menu, then add your DeepSeek API key under Settings → Models, choose a workspace and create a session. A portable ZIP is published alongside the installer. The community binaries are not Authenticode-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may identify the publisher as unknown. Source build: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile, pnpm run desktop:build, pnpm run desktop:package (requires Windows x64, Node ^22.19 || >=24, pnpm, the .NET 8 SDK, WebView2 Runtime and Inno Setup 6).
Compatibility
Windows x64 (the desktop host is WinForms/WebView2); source builds require Windows x64 with the .NET 8 SDK, WebView2 Runtime and Inno Setup 6. The README states this is a community-maintained distribution and not an official DeepSeek release; MIT-licensed with third-party licenses disclosed.
Details
- Repo: evanmormmm/deepseek-harness-desktop
- Category: Infrastructure & Deployment
- Stars: 2
- Version: Windows release installers (README documents an installer, a portable ZIP and SHA256SUMS.txt; no npm release claimed)
- Last push: 2026-08-14
- First seen: 2026-08-13
Recent updates
README architecture note: the native host embeds the existing Harness Web client instead of creating another chat implementation — it starts the bundled Node runtime on exact IPv4 loopback with a random port, validates the child process and HTML endpoint, gives WebView2 access to that one origin, and joins bounded profile disposal on close. The release build verifies the deployed backend, a real WebView page load, graceful shutdown, silent installation and uninstallation. The repo preserves upstream Git history with upstream pointed at deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness.
FAQ
- How do I install DeepSeek Harness Desktop (evanmormmm)?
- Download DeepSeek-Harness-Desktop-<version>-win-x64-Setup.exe from the latest release, verify it against SHA256SUMS.txt, run the installer, then open DeepSeek Harness from the Start menu and add your API key under Settings → Models.
- Why does Windows SmartScreen warn me?
- Because the community binaries are not Authenticode-signed, so SmartScreen may identify the publisher as unknown — the README documents this.
- Does it reimplement the Harness UI?
- No — the native host embeds the upstream Harness Web client: it starts the bundled Node runtime on IPv4 loopback with a random port, validates the child and endpoint, and gives WebView2 access to that one origin.