Native LLM-provider vision bridge: images pasted in the chat are described by a vision model (Qwen3-VL via pi-ai/llama.cpp) and the text description is fed to text-only DeepSeek for the reply — image admission, routing and compaction all run through harness-native mechanisms, with an LRU description cache and 503 retry.
Install
# from npm (prebuilt)
dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-llm-vision-bridge
# from GitHub (first run asks for allowBuilds approval — follow the hint, retry)
dsh plugin --profile web add github:Einskyle/dsh-llm-vision-bridge
GitHub-sourced plugins run build scripts on your machine at install time. Only install sources you trust, and pin a commit (github:owner/repo#sha).
README
English | 中文
Let text-only LLMs (DeepSeek) "see" images in the dsh web GUI: paste an image into the chat and the plugin automatically routes it to a vision model (Qwen3-VL via your existing pi-ai / llama.cpp route), then feeds the resulting text description to DeepSeek, which continues the conversation as if it were a native multimodal model.
Features
- Native LLM provider — registers
deepseek-visionon the DSHLlmAdapterseam. Image admission, request routing, and session compaction all run through harness-native mechanisms; no UI changes, no front-end interception. - Zero overhead without images — image-free requests pass straight through to the fallback provider (default
deepseek-official). - Vision-assisted replies — each image block is described by the vision model (attached user text is included in the prompt), then replaced with a
[图片 N 描述]text block before the request reaches DeepSeek. - LRU description cache — the same image + prompt is never re-described; history replay and compaction do not re-run the vision model.
- 503/429 auto-retry — tolerates the desktop GPU's single-card exclusive scheduling (vision gateway returns 503 while other tools occupy VRAM).
- Configurable failure policy —
placeholder(insert a failure note and continue) orerror(fail the turn).
How it works
The chat composer natively supports image attachments: images enter the model request as {type:"image", attachment} content blocks. The DeepSeek chat-completions adapter rejects image blocks with UNSUPPORTED_CONTENT, so a text-only model cannot process them directly.
This plugin's bridge provider (deepseek-vision) declares inputModalities: ["text", "image"], which satisfies the host's image-admission check (MODEL_DOES_NOT_SUPPORT_IMAGES is otherwise thrown before the message ever reaches the agent). Inside its stream():
- No image →
yield* ctx.llm.stream({ ...options, provider: fallbackProvider })— passthrough, zero cost. - Has image → for each image block, call the vision model via a nested
ctx.llm.stream()against the configured vision provider (e.g. pi-ai'sllamaroute; image bytes are read automatically by the attachment service), then replace the image block with a[图片 N 描述]\n<description>text block and forward the rewritten messages to the fallback provider.
Session compaction reuses the provider of the most recent request, so image-bearing history is also bridged automatically. The optional autoRoute setting (default off) additionally rewrites deepseek-official agent requests to this provider, but it cannot bypass the host's image-admission check — it is only a fallback. To actually send images, set the main model to deepseek-vision.
Install
# From GitHub (plain JS, no build step, no allowBuilds needed)
dsh plugin --profile web add github:Einskyle/dsh-llm-vision-bridge
# Or from the npm registry
dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-llm-vision-bridge
# Restart the web service
pnpm dsh web
Manual install without pnpm (equivalent):
- Copy this package into
%USERPROFILE%\.dsh\profiles\web\node_modules\dsh-llm-vision-bridge\ - Edit
%USERPROFILE%\.dsh\profiles\web\package.json:- add
"dsh-llm-vision-bridge": "file:<absolute path>"todependencies - add
"dsh-llm-vision-bridge"todsh.profile.bundles
- add
- Restart the web service
Quick start
- Open Settings → Models: the new provider 「DeepSeek(视觉桥接)」 appears with models
deepseek-v4-flash/deepseek-v4-pro. - Set the main model to the bridge provider —
agent-default-model.provider: deepseek-vision. This is required: the host's image-admission check reads the session-selected model'sinputModalities, and only the bridge model advertisesimage. - Paste/upload an image (PNG/JPEG/WebP/GIF) in the chat composer, optionally with a question, and send. The image is described first (10–40s including cold load), then DeepSeek replies from the description.
- Switch the main model back to
deepseek-officialany time for pure text (image uploads are then rejected by admission, as expected).
Configuration (Settings → Models → llm-vision-bridge)
| Field | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
enabled |
true |
Master switch; when off the bridge provider degrades to pure passthrough |
autoRoute |
false |
Additionally rewrite deepseek-official agent requests to the bridge provider (cannot bypass image admission; fallback only) |
fallbackProvider |
deepseek-official |
The text-only provider that actually generates the reply |
visionProvider |
llama |
Vision provider route (pi-ai) |
visionModel |
/models/qwen3-vl-4b-thinking/Qwen3-VL-4B-Thinking-Q4_K_M.gguf |
Vision model id |
visionPrompt |
(built-in Chinese prompt) | System prompt for the vision model |
visionMaxTokens |
2048 |
Vision output cap (keep ≥1024; thinking consumes tokens) |
visionRetries |
3 |
Max retries for retryable errors (503/429/timeout) |
visionRetryDelayMs |
30000 |
Retry delay |
onVisionFailure |
placeholder |
Final failure policy: placeholder = insert a failure note and continue; error = fail the turn |
Vision model options
The vision call goes through the pi-ai adapter (ctx.llm.stream against visionProvider/visionModel), so any OpenAI-compatible vision endpoint works — a local llama.cpp gateway is only the default, not a requirement.
| Type | Example | API key | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local llama.cpp gateway (current default) | Qwen3-VL-4B via http://<desktop-ip>:18081/v1 |
No | Free, private, LAN-only; image bytes never leave your network |
| Cloud OpenAI-compatible APIs | qwen-vl-max (DashScope), glm-4v-plus (Zhipu), gpt-4o (OpenAI), OpenRouter/ SiliconFlow, … |
Yes | Stronger models; images are sent to the cloud provider |
Example — add a DashScope route to settings.yaml (or Settings → Models → llm-pi-ai) and point the bridge at it:
llm-pi-ai:
providers:
dashscope:
displayName: DashScope
apiKeyEnv: DASHSCOPE_API_KEY
api: openai-completions
baseURL: https://token-plan.cn-beijing.maas.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1
models:
- id: qwen-vl-max
name: Qwen-VL-Max
input: [ text, image ]
llm-vision-bridge:
visionProvider: dashscope
visionModel: qwen-vl-max
Settings changes apply without a restart. Constraints: the endpoint must be OpenAI-compatible and accept image input; the vision provider must not be the bridge provider itself (deepseek-vision, recursion guard); cloud routes need a stored credential (apiKeyEnv → Settings → Models), otherwise pi-ai reports MISSING_CREDENTIAL.
Prerequisites
- A vision model route on the pi-ai adapter, configured under Settings → Models → llm-pi-ai (e.g. the
llamaroute: baseURL pointing at the desktop llama.cpphttp://<desktop-ip>:18081/v1, model declaringinput: [text, image]). - If the vision provider declares
apiKeyEnvbut the credential is not set, pi-ai reportsMISSING_CREDENTIAL: store any placeholder value on the Settings page (local llama.cpp does not validate the key), or remove thatapiKeyEnv. - Single-GPU exclusive scheduling on the desktop: while other tools occupy VRAM the vision gateway returns 503, which this plugin retries automatically per
visionRetries.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| 「DeepSeek(视觉桥接)」 missing in Settings | Plugin not loaded; check the web service startup log and confirm the bundle is in the profile |
attachment-error / MODEL_DOES_NOT_SUPPORT_IMAGES on send |
Session model is not the bridge model: set agent-default-model.provider: deepseek-vision, or select 「DeepSeek(视觉桥接)」 for the session |
VISION_UNAVAILABLE |
Vision model unreachable: check the llama provider baseURL, the desktop is powered on, and LLAMA_API_KEY is present |
UNSUPPORTED_CONTENT after sending |
Request did not go through the bridge provider: confirm the main model is deepseek-vision, not deepseek-official |
| Slow vision replies | Qwen3-VL cold load of 10–40s is normal; on frequent 503, wait for other desktop GPU jobs |
License
MIT
Links
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