Johnny-xuan/dsh-paste-to-path

A universal attachment dock for DSH.

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[!IMPORTANT] Final release — v0.0.7

DSH now provides an official generic-file attachment pipeline, so the compatibility gap this plugin was created to fill has been closed. Version 0.0.7 is the final release; no further versions are planned.

DSH Native owns ordinary files and images by default. Enable Take over DSH Native attachments only when you explicitly want the classic path-backed P2P workflow. Long-text conversion remains independently available.

The rest of this README documents the classic P2P workflow available when takeover is enabled.

dsh-paste-to-path adds a general-purpose attachment Dock to the DSH Web composer.

Paste, drop, or choose images, PDFs, Word and Excel documents, archives, code, logs, and other files, then review and manage them together before sending.

The DSH 0.1.2-rc.1 Web composer has a native image attachment path, but PDFs, Office documents, archives, and other formats do not have the same model-independent entry point. Even an image may fail when the selected model does not support image input or the active adapter is text-only.

dsh-paste-to-path does not extend the model's native content types. It takes a simpler route:

File
  ↓
DSH Host
  ↓
Local path
  ↓
Agent
  ↓
Your own tools

Send images to your own vision tool, PDFs to a document reader, and archives to shell or extraction tools.

The plugin owns attachment intake, management, and path delivery. Your Agent tool stack decides how to read the file.

---

Path flow at a glance

---

What it does

Universal attachment Dock

Paste, drop, or choose a file and an attachment card appears above the composer. The plugin's paperclip button accepts any file type and routes it through this Dock rather than DSH's native image rail.

Each card shows the file name, size, category, and path. You can remove it before sending.

Images also have thumbnails and lightbox previews.

---

File-manager clipboard support

The plugin catches every real File object exposed by the browser, including empty files. It can also turn a pasted file: URI or absolute path into a card when that path already exists on the DSH Host.

Path conversion is transactional: every candidate path must exist on the DSH Host. If any candidate is unavailable, the original clipboard text is pasted normally without an attachment error or a partial conversion.

Browsers do not consistently expose non-image files copied from Windows Explorer, Finder, or Linux file managers. If the paste event contains neither file bytes nor a usable Host path, an ordinary web page cannot reconstruct the hidden OS clipboard entry. To address Issue #2, the plugin reads Explorer's FileDropList at this point when DSH runs on a local Windows Host through a direct localhost connection; remote clients never access the Host clipboard. In other cases, use the plugin's paperclip button or drag and drop. A path from a remote browser's device is not a path on the DSH Host.

---

One flow for many file types

Images, PDFs, Office documents, code, logs, archives, and other binary files all use the same attachment flow:

File → Save on Host → Path reference → Agent

You do not need a separate model-input protocol for every file type.

---

Turn long pasted text into an attachment

Normal text still pastes normally.

When pasted content crosses the configured threshold, the plugin can save it as a .txt file instead of putting tens of thousands of characters directly into the composer.

The default threshold is 8000 characters.

---

Edit text files before sending

Text and code attachments can be edited directly in the Dock when they are below the configured size limit.

The default limit is 1 MiB.

---

Open files with the system application

For a local DSH deployment, the authenticated session.openWorkspacePath Remote API can open an attachment with the system's default application.

---

Installation

Install into a DSH Web profile:

dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-paste-to-path

You can also install the current GitHub branch directly:

dsh plugin --profile web add github:Johnny-xuan/dsh-paste-to-path

Restart DSH after installation:

dsh web

The package includes a dsh.bundle manifest, so the required loader patch is loaded with the plugin.

---

How it works

When you paste, drop, or choose a file, the plugin catches it and saves a private copy on the DSH Host:

<workspace>/.dsh/pastes/<category>/

The composer does not contain the file's contents. It keeps an attachment reference instead.

If you paste an absolute path that already exists on the DSH Host, the plugin links that existing file instead of copying it. Linked files are never editable from the Dock.

When you send the message, DSH's reference codec expands that reference into a short path instruction:

Paste / drop file
        │
        ▼
Save on DSH Host
        │
        ▼
Attachment Dock
shows the file card
        │
        ▼
Send message
        │
        ▼
reference codec
creates a path instruction
        │
        ▼
Agent receives the path
        │
        ▼
Uses an available tool to read it

The implementation uses DSH's extension mechanisms:

• conversation.input.dock
• conversation.input.left
• input-trigger reference codec
• settingsScope

No DSH core modification is required.

---

What the Agent receives

The plugin does not put file bytes in the initial model request.

For example, a PDF expands to:

Document attachment: /absolute/path/to/report.pdf
Read it using an appropriate tool for this file format.

An image expands similarly:

Image attachment: /absolute/path/to/image.png
Inspect it using an available image-reading method.

Text, code, archives, and other formats receive equivalent path instructions.

The instructions do not require a particular tool. The Agent decides what to do next from the tools that are actually available in the current session.

---

Bring your own tools

dsh-paste-to-path does not parse file contents.

Connect whichever tools fit your Agent environment, for example:

• images → your own read_image or vision tool
• PDF / Word / Excel → document readers
• scans → OCR
• code / logs → shell or filesystem tools
• ZIP / TAR → archive extractors

The plugin does not install these tools or assume that the current model has their capabilities.

Any compatible tool that can access the file path on the DSH Host can read the stored attachment.

If the Agent has no suitable tool, the file still enters the Dock and is saved on the Host, but the Agent cannot understand its contents.

---

Why paths

In DSH's native attachment path, supported file formats and model capabilities are closely related.

In DSH 0.1.2-rc.1, the native Web image intake accepts:

• PNG
• JPEG
• WebP
• GIF

Other MIME types do not enter the same native image path.

An image that passes the format check may still fail if it reaches a model without image input or a text-only adapter.

dsh-paste-to-path separates two concerns:

Give the file to the Agent

and:

Understand the file's contents

The plugin handles only the first.

The file becomes an ordinary file on the Host. The Agent's tool layer handles the second.

---

Configuration

Version 0.0.7 exposes two primary choices:

Option	Default	Description
Take over DSH Native attachments	Off	When enabled, files, images, paste, drop, the picker, and the attachment Dock all use classic P2P. When disabled, ordinary attachments stay entirely with DSH Native.
Turn long pasted text into an attachment	On	Converts qualifying plain-text pastes into .txt attachments. This works with either attachment owner.

The long-text character threshold is a subordinate setting of the second option. It defaults to 8000 and remains editable from the plugin settings page.

The corresponding profile defaults are:

- insert:
    - id: paste-to-path
      name: dsh-paste-to-path
      config:
        takeOverNativeAttachments: false
        longTextAsAttachment: true
        longTextThreshold: 8000

With takeover off, P2P does not register its file picker or Dock and does not consume ordinary file paste or drop events. With takeover on, the complete classic workflow described in this README becomes active.

The settings UI follows DSH's Language preference and includes English and Simplified Chinese. Path instructions sent to the Agent remain stable English protocol text.

---

File storage

With a workspace, attachments are stored under:

<workspace>/.dsh/pastes/<category>/

Without a workspace, storage falls back to:

$DSH_HOME/tmp-paste/<category>/

Files copied into plugin storage use permissions:

0600

An existing Host path pasted as an attachment is linked in place. The plugin does not copy it, change its permissions, or allow Dock editing of the original file.

Removing an attachment from the Dock removes only its reference from the current draft. It does not delete the file from disk.

The path therefore remains valid for undo, re-send, or later reference.

---

Privacy

Files chosen, dropped, or exposed as browser File objects are uploaded to your own DSH Host and saved on its local filesystem. Existing Host paths are only linked in place.

In classic takeover mode, every plugin HTTP route uses DSH's browser authentication and Host/Origin trust checks. Attachment records are isolated by session, and route registrations are removed with the plugin's Cordis lifecycle.

The plugin itself does not:

• upload files directly to a model provider
• upload files to a third-party file service
• parse file contents during upload

The initial model request contains only the file path and a short instruction.

If the Agent later uses another tool or external service to process the file, that tool's own behavior and configuration apply.

---

Design boundary

dsh-paste-to-path owns only this part:

File
  ↓
Attachment Dock
  ↓
Host filesystem
  ↓
Path reference

This part:

Path
  ↓
Vision / PDF Reader / OCR / Shell / ...

belongs to the Agent's tool layer.

The plugin therefore does not:

• modify or replace a model adapter
• pretend that the model supports vision
• bind the workflow to a fixed vision, OCR, or document tool
• parse attachment contents during transport
• create a native DSH image content block

---

Compatibility

The final release, 0.0.7, targets:

DeepSeek Harness >= 0.1.5-rc.1 and < 0.2.0

It has been tested with DSH 0.1.6-alpha.2. Users maintaining older DSH installations without official generic-file attachments can pin dsh-paste-to-path@0.0.6.

No further plugin releases are planned because DSH now owns and maintains the attachment architecture this project originally supplied.