dsh-web-search-diy

A web search provider plugin for the DeepSeek Harness (DSH) that backs the built-in web_search tool with multiple search backends, returning structured citation sources. A single mode switch selects the protocol:

In responses mode, endpoint, model, and key reference are yours to swap — the only requirement is a model that actually exposes the web_search tool on its gateway.

• Default model: deepseek-v4-flash-0731
• Default endpoint: https://token-plan.cn-beijing.maas.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1
• Default key reference: QWEN_TOKEN_PLAN_CN_API_KEY

In zhipu-* modes: default endpoint https://open.bigmodel.cn/api/paas/v4, default key reference ZHIPU_API_KEY, and zhipu-chat-search defaults its model to glm-5.3-flash (with thinking effort low, ~3.5s live-verified — the free-tier glm-4.7-flash is frequently rate-limited with HTTP 429 and is not the default). See the Zhipu web search docs.

Why

The shipped DSH search provider (deepseek-official) calls DeepSeek's own Anthropic-compatible endpoint — it cannot be pointed at other gateways, and switching per deployment is hard. This plugin is a first-class DSH plugin: it registers a ctx.web search provider and overrides the shared searchProvider to it, exactly like the ecosystem's other provider plugins. Search and conversation models stay fully decoupled — use it with any chat LLM.

Why Responses API? Many OpenAI-compatible gateways only trigger their built-in web search through the Responses API (/responses) with an explicit tools: [{type: "web_search"}] declaration — Chat Completions search flags are silently ignored there. This plugin speaks the Responses protocol and parses the structured web_search_call blocks' action.sources into seam-standard citation sources.

Install

Published on npm:

dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-web-search-diy

The bundle patch then (no manual cordis.patch.yml edits needed):

• inserts the web-search-diy loader entry
• overrides the shared web row's searchProvider to diy-search and restates fetchProvider: http (a patch replaces the whole row config)
• disables the shipped DeepSeek-official search (web-search-deepseek)

For local development, install the checkout as a linked package (the same way other local plugins are linked):

dsh plugin --profile web add link:./dsh-web-search-diy

(replace ./dsh-web-search-diy with the actual path to your local checkout)

Note for local linked installs: the plugin declares its @deepseek-ai/* hooks as peerDependencies (mirrored in devDependencies). A linked package resolves its own node_modules first, so run pnpm install inside the plugin directory once; the harness install supplies the runtime peers.

Configuration

The provider resolves options with precedence: UI-managed file ($DSH_HOME/dsh-web-search-diy.json, written by the Settings card) > settings section / entry config > package defaults.

apiKeyEnv / baseURL / model left empty inherit the current mode's default. Values fossilized into a section by the old schema defaults (the Qwen endpoint/model/reference) yield to the zhipu defaults when you switch to a zhipu mode; explicitly customized values are always honored.

Settings card

The configuration card lives under Settings → Plugins → Plugin configuration → Custom web search, in the same form as the shipped Shell / Agent loop cards: edits stage locally (an "unsaved" badge appears in the header) and only Save writes, while Discard reverts to the stored values. Saving takes effect immediately — no restart. Card copy follows Settings → Language (zh / en). The API key input is write-only: leave it blank to keep the stored key.

How it works

you ──> chat LLM
            │ decides it needs live info
            ▼
     web_search tool (model-agnostic)
            │ ctx.web seam ──> diy-search provider
            ▼
     ├─ responses:        POST {baseURL}/responses   tools: [{ type: "web_search" }]
     ├─ zhipu-web-search: POST {baseURL}/web_search  (raw retrieval, no model turn)
     └─ zhipu-chat-search:POST {baseURL}/chat/completions  tools: [{ type: "web_search", web_search: {...} }]
            │
            ▼
     chat LLM answers grounded in the results

• responses: each search is one Responses API call (a full model turn). Results return as deduped sources[] (url + optional title from url_citation annotations) plus the model's grounded content. A response without any web_search_call block fails loudly with WEB_PROVIDER_ERROR — never a prose-scraping fallback.
• zhipu-web-search: search_result[] maps directly into deduped sources[] (url + title), and a digest of the top title-plus-snippet entries becomes the content overview. An empty result set is a valid outcome and returns empty sources[] rather than an error.
• zhipu-chat-search: choices[0].message.content is the grounded answer (content); the tool's search_result: true declaration makes the endpoint attach source details, which are parsed defensively from the message-level or root-level web_search field into sources[]. A grounded answer without source details is still a usable result.

Credential

Store the key through the web Models page / credentials service (the default reference is per mode: QWEN_TOKEN_PLAN_CN_API_KEY in responses mode, ZHIPU_API_KEY in the zhipu modes), or export it in the launching environment. The provider resolves it per search; no key is retained on the provider.

License

MIT — see LICENSE. Copyright (c) 2026 aaronlei.