dsh-baton

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macOS · Windows (guide) · no Node.js needed · zero dependencies · MIT

Claude Code and Codex each hand a task to DeepSeek Harness, and its subagents build this rainy-night street in 1 h 41 min (40 s, sound on):

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/72e2fdff-275e-48bc-8e5a-39ffb025a0a8

See it run

One Codex chat starts a task, queues a follow-up, steers the running turn, and waits for all three:

Codex and Claude take turns in the same Harness session, and every message is labelled with who sent it:

More demos →

Quick start

Requires DeepSeek Harness ≥ 0.2.1-rc.2 (signed in) and Claude Code or Codex. Nothing else: no Node.js, no terminal. The steps are the same on macOS and Windows.

1. Add the plugin in Harness: Plugins (插件) → Add plugin (添加插件) → type dsh-baton-host → Install (安装) → Enable now (立即启用).

Switched on, the plugin registers dsh-baton for Claude Code and Codex, for every folder, and Harness says so.

2. Check: in a new Claude Code or Codex conversation, ask it to call dsh_list_workspaces. It lists your Harness workspaces.

That is all. If Harness says it could not register, run npx -y dsh-baton-mcp setup in a terminal (this needs Node.js ≥ 22.15); it does the same registration. Updating, removing and Windows details are further down.

How it works

How each client waits (nothing to configure):

• Claude Code waits for a run in the background (the wait_command that dsh_send returns) and is woken once, when the run ends.
• Codex waits inside dsh_wait, up to 270 s per call, just under its 300 s tool timeout. An unfinished wait returns only the state, so Codex calls again without summarising. Codex gets no wait_command: its terminal cannot wake it, so it would poll.
• Codex asks you to approve MCP tool calls: approve the dsh-baton tools. For unattended codex exec runs, add --approve-for-me.

Tools

Full tool reference

Tool	What it does
dsh_list_workspaces	Workspaces in the Harness sidebar
dsh_create_workspace	Register a folder as a workspace (creates the folder if missing); returns the existing one if already registered
dsh_list_sessions	Sessions newest first, with title, folder and running state; filter by folder or text. Archived sessions are left out
dsh_read_session	Recent prompts and replies of one session (with tool names); archived: true for an archived session
dsh_send	Send a message: session_id continues that session; cwd or workspace_id starts a new one (a cwd that is not a workspace yet is registered first). Returns a run_id at once. In Harness the message is marked "Sent by Claude / ChatGPT from another chat". An archived session is refused: unarchive it in Harness, or start a new session
dsh_status	Run progress: state, recent text and tool calls, final reply; waiting_on when the turn is over but sub-agents or jobs still run; human_interjections when someone typed in the Harness UI mid-run; state interrupted for a run cut short by a Harness restart
dsh_wait	Wait for the run to end: up to 270 s per call for Codex, 50 s for other clients. Still going: returns timed_out with just the state; call it again. Clients that can wait in the background use dsh_send's wait_command instead. dsh_status is a one-off look, not a way to wait
dsh_session_activity	What a session is doing now: running turn, sub-agents (any depth), background jobs; archived: true for an archived session
dsh_cancel	Stop everything a session is doing, by run_id or session_id: turn, sub-agents, jobs (queued messages stay)
dsh_rename_session	Rename a session
dsh_rename_workspace	Rename a workspace (sidebar title only; the folder is not moved)
dsh_list_runs	Recent runs

CLI

dsh-baton workspaces
dsh-baton new-workspace ~/code/new-app --title "New App"
dsh-baton sessions --cwd ~/code/new-app
dsh-baton send --cwd ~/code/new-app "Scaffold the project"
dsh-baton send --session session-xxxx "Next: add tests"
dsh-baton send --session session-xxxx --mode steer "Interjection: don't change the API"
dsh-baton wait hrun-xxxx              # blocks, prints the final reply; exit 0 on success
dsh-baton status hrun-xxxx
dsh-baton activity session-xxxx       # running turn, sub-agents, background jobs
dsh-baton cancel --session session-xxxx
dsh-baton rename session-xxxx "New title"
dsh-baton rename-workspace ~/code/new-app "New name"

Configuration

Variable	Default	Meaning
DSH_BATON_BACKEND	auto	auto, host or headless
DSH_BATON_HOME	~/.dsh-baton	Socket and headless run records
DSH_BATON_SOCKET	$DSH_BATON_HOME/host.sock	Plugin socket path (must match on both sides); on Windows mapped to a per-user named pipe
DSH_BATON_WAIT_S	270 for Codex, else 50	How long one dsh_wait call waits; set it only if you raised the client's tool timeout, and keep it below that
DSH_BIN	the dsh inside the macOS app, else PATH	Harness CLI for headless mode
DSH_HOME	~/.dsh	Harness data folder (headless session reads)
DSH_BATON_ACCOUNT	1	0 uses the API-key route in headless mode
DSH_BATON_PATCHES	empty	Extra headless --patch overlays, :-separated

Headless fallback details

When the plugin is unreachable, the MCP server falls back to Harness's dsh headless command. It can only continue sessions it created itself (headless does not load agent presets such as standard), and new sessions do not appear in the desktop sidebar. By default patches/account.patch.yml reuses the desktop app's DeepSeek account sign-in, so no API key is needed.

Install details

What the plugin does when switched on. It copies the MCP server to ~/.dsh-baton/app, a folder that stays put, and writes the MCP entry into ~/.claude.json and ~/.codex/config.toml directly, keeping a *.bak-dsh-baton backup of each. It starts the server with your own Node.js ≥ 22.15 when it finds one on PATH; without one, with Harness's own runtime (the Harness app in Node mode, ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE=1), so nothing else has to be installed. Either way it works with only the desktop apps installed, when claude / codex are not on your PATH. It runs again on each Harness start: an entry that is already right, or a working one that starts another copy of dsh-baton, is left alone. In Harness, the source switches to the npm registry ("Official npm registry", 「npm 官方源」) by itself once you type the package name, and no restart is needed. To turn the registration off, set DSH_BATON_AUTO_REGISTER=0 for Harness.

npx -y dsh-baton-mcp setup does the same registration from a terminal: for a plugin that could not register, or when you come from an MCP directory. With the plugin already registered it changes nothing, then points you to the plugin if it is missing.

Updating. Harness has an update button only for its official plugins, so: Plugins → dsh-baton-host → Uninstall, then Add plugin → dsh-baton-host. For a while after a release, Harness installs the previous version instead (pnpm's minimumReleaseAge holds back versions published very recently, and the install dialog says so); to get the new one at once, type the version: [email protected]. Switched on again, the plugin brings the MCP server to the same version; new conversations use it. If the two are ever out of step, the first tool call that notices it says so.

Removing. Harness → Plugins → dsh-baton-host → Uninstall, then npx -y dsh-baton-mcp setup --remove. The plugin cannot tell an uninstall from Harness quitting, so it leaves the MCP entries to that command, which also deletes ~/.dsh-baton/app; run records stay in ~/.dsh-baton until you delete it.

Upgrading from dsh-bridge. In Harness, uninstall dsh-bridge-host, then add dsh-baton-host; switched on, it replaces the old dsh-bridge MCP entries. DSH_BRIDGE_* variables and an existing ~/.dsh-bridge folder keep working for now. Tools get a new prefix (mcp__dsh-baton__…), so update any permission allowlists. A plugin added before 0.4 by pasting ~/.dsh-baton/app/host still works but does not update with npm: uninstall it and add dsh-baton-host by name.

From source (to follow main or change the code): git clone https://github.com/JialaoLiu/dsh-baton.git, then in Harness add the plugin from the clone's host folder (Add plugin → paste the path). Switched on, it registers the clone itself, so changes run before they are published. Update with git pull. node dsh-baton/src/cli.mjs setup registers the clone from a terminal.

Windows. Same steps; WINDOWS.md covers what differs (a named pipe instead of a socket file) and fixes for a Plugins page that cannot install or uninstall.

Manual registration and the Claude desktop app

The plugin and setup write the same entries these commands would (with the absolute path of node, since desktop apps start MCP servers without your shell's PATH):

claude mcp add dsh-baton -s user -- "$(command -v node)" "$PWD/dsh-baton/src/server.mjs"
codex mcp add dsh-baton -- "$(command -v node)" "$PWD/dsh-baton/src/server.mjs"

-s user matters: without it, Claude Code registers the server for the current project folder only.

Claude desktop app (optional): for the chat app's connectors (separate from Claude Code), add this to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json and restart the app. It shows as a "Local dev" connector.

{ "mcpServers": { "dsh-baton": { "command": "/absolute/path/to/node", "args": ["/absolute/path/to/dsh-baton/src/server.mjs"] } } }

Security and limits

Any process running as your OS user can drive Harness through the socket, the same as running dsh directly. dsh-baton relies on Harness 0.2.1-series internal service APIs, so a major Harness update may need a follow-up release.

More demos →

License

MIT