lilyblessing/dsh-mcp-skill-panel

---

✨ What it is

A settings-page panel that turns your MCP servers and Skill catalog into an actionable list: one toggle per entry — disabling releases context usage instantly, enabling works without a restart. It also ships an optional AI middle layer (autoManage): disabled MCP servers stay hidden from the model and are called on demand, while servers you enabled stay visible — your toggles decide exactly what the model context pays for.

🎯 Core features

Feature	Description
🟢 Real-time MCP toggle	Disable → loader entry is disposed (connection closed + all mcp__<server>__* tools unregistered), tools disappear from the model catalog immediately and their schema tokens are freed; enable → reconnect + tools restored, no restart
🧠 Skill toggle	Injects/removes disable-model-invocation: true in SKILL.md frontmatter; the model catalog updates in real time
📊 Backfill while disabled	Disabled MCP cards still show "N tools / ~N tokens in catalog" (last-good snapshot from the private catalog), so you can decide whether re-enabling is worth the context cost
🤖 AI middle layer (optional switch)	With autoManage on: disabled MCP servers are hidden from the model and used on demand via mcp_search (top-K catalog search with exact schemas) and mcp_call (keep-alive enable → in-plugin execute → idle 30s auto reaping); servers you enabled stay visible (e.g. memory for high-sensitivity recall, filesystem for direct IO); AI-temporarily-enabled servers never pollute context
🔒 Your toggles are never overridden by the model	The reaper only reclaims servers that AI enabled from a disabled state; servers you manually enabled are never auto-disabled (toggle clears AI marks)
💾 Survives restarts	MCP state is materialized into the preset composition file via the plugin state file (~/.dsh/dsh-mcp-skill-panel/state.json); catalog snapshots persist (catalog.json) and backfill after restart
⚡ Fast	Toggles flip instantly (optimistic UI + server confirmation); domain caches with event-driven invalidation (tools/change / skills/change); the MCP tab never triggers skill discovery
🌐 Bilingual UI	All copy zh/en, follows the DSH UI language; light/dark theme aware
🪶 Zero context footprint	The plugin itself registers no model tools and consumes no injection surface (with the switch off it behaves like it isn't installed)

🏗️ Two modes (the "AI Middle Layer" switch in the panel)

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Mode1Direct: autoManage off
    [*] --> Mode2Middle: autoManage on
    Mode1Direct --> Mode2Middle: panel switch / POST /config
    Mode2Middle --> Mode1Direct: panel switch / POST /config

    state Mode1Direct {
        direction LR
        M1: Model uses native tools of every enabled MCP directly (mcp__*)
        M1a: Enable/disable only via the panel
    }
    state Mode2Middle {
        direction LR
        M2: Disabled MCP servers hidden from model
        M2a: Model calls them on demand via mcp_search / mcp_call
        M2b: Servers you enabled stay visible
        M2c: AI-temporarily-enabled servers never pollute context
    }

Assembly filtering in mode 2 (evaluated every turn):

flowchart TD
    A[system-prompt/assemble] --> B{name starts with mcp__?}
    B -- no --> K[keep: enters model context]
    B -- yes --> C{parse server}
    C -- fail --> K
    C -- ok --> D{server state?}
    D -- user-enabled disabled=false and not AI-enabled --> K
    D -- user-disabled disabled=true --> F[filter out: hidden from model]
    D -- AI-temporary mcp_call keep-alive --> F
    F --> G[when needed: mcp_search / mcp_call on demand]

📦 Install

dsh plugin --profile web add "github:lilyblessing/dsh-mcp-skill-panel#main"

Prebuilt artifacts are committed (lib/), so the git-source one-liner installs without a build step. Restart dsh web after installing (bundles are composed at startup; hot reload does not apply), then open Settings → MCP & Skill Manager.

🚀 Usage

1. Settings → MCP & Skill Manager
2. MCP Servers tab: each card shows server name, status badge (Active / Disabled / No tools / Failed), a model-visibility badge (in middle-layer mode: user-enabled = visible, disabled / AI-temporary = hidden), tool count and estimated token usage; toggle with the button on the right
3. Skills tab: each card shows name, source, description, model-visibility badge; toggle on the right
4. AI Middle Layer switch: on → disabled MCP servers are used on demand by the model (see modes above); off → classic direct mode
5. Manual management (optional): edit the preset composition file (disabled: true rows) or SKILL.md frontmatter (disable-model-invocation: true) directly — takes effect on next restart/change

Badge meanings: 🟢 Active (has tools) / ⚪ Disabled / 🟡 No tools (process running but empty tool list — usually a failed server start or empty implementation) / 🔴 Failed (neither running nor disabled).

🔌 HTTP API

Method	Path	Description
GET	/api/mcp-skill-panel/state?session=<id>&part=<mcp|skills|all>	Catalog snapshot; part scopes the fetch (the UI lazy-loads per tab), defaults to all; without session, the first root agent is used
POST	/api/mcp-skill-panel/mcp/toggle	{ entryId, disabled }
POST	/api/mcp-skill-panel/skill/toggle	{ name, disabled }
GET	/api/mcp-skill-panel/config	Read the AI middle layer switch state
POST	/api/mcp-skill-panel/config	{ autoManage: boolean } toggle the AI middle layer (persisted to state.json)
GET	/api/mcp-skill-panel/debug	Catalog collection diagnostics (event counters / snapshot telemetry / in-memory catalog summary)
POST	/api/mcp-skill-panel/debug/collect	Trigger one catalog snapshot manually

The legacy prefix /api/runtime-inventory/* (≤0.3.1) is still registered for compatibility. Domain caches (60s TTL fallback) are invalidated precisely by events: tools/change / loader/partial-dispose → MCP domain; skills/change → Skill domain.

⚙️ How it works

flowchart LR
    subgraph Host["Host (Node, cordis plugin)"]
        R[webServer routes<br/>/api/mcp-skill-panel/*]
        C[catalog collector<br/>tools/change incremental + last-good persistence]
        L[loader toggle<br/>resolve + update disabled]
        F[assembly filter<br/>system-prompt/assemble]
        T[mcp_search / mcp_call<br/>keep-alive enable + idle reaping]
        R --> L
        C --> R
        F --> C
        T --> C
        T --> L
    end
    subgraph Browser["Browser (client bundle)"]
        P[Two-tab panel<br/>toggles + visibility badges + autoManage switch]
    end
    R <--fetch--> P

MCP toggling: each MCP row is a loader entry in the agent preset composition (agent.cordis.yml, @deepseek-ai/dsh-mcp-client, full id like include:agent-presets:mcp-cheatengine). loader.resolve(id).update({ disabled }) disposes/restarts the entry in real time.

Why persistence takes two steps: the preset tree's write() is an explicit no-op, and dsh-agent-presets detects preset-file changes via a {mtimeMs, size} stamp — writing that file at runtime triggers a standing remount without disposing old instances (serverName conflicts, session creation failures — a 0.1.0 incident). So toggles only write the plugin state file, and the intent is materialized into the preset file during apply (early startup, before the standing mount).

Middle-layer call chain (mcp_call against a disabled server):

sequenceDiagram
    participant M as Model
    participant P as Plugin (mcp_call)
    participant L as loader
    participant S as MCP server

    M->>P: mcp_call(server, tool, args)
    P->>L: entry.update({disabled:false}) (record AI owner)
    L->>S: spawn / reconnect
    P->>P: wait for registration (poll tools.get + tools/change)
    P->>S: tools.execute (in-plugin execution)
    S-->>P: result
    P-->>M: text result
    Note over P: refcount -1; idle 30s then reap (AI-enabled only)

Catalog collection: tools/change (root listener, 150ms debounce) incrementally snapshots enabled servers; when agents is unavailable in the apply context it falls back to agentPresets.standingKeyFor() to resolve the scope (v0.4.1 fix); empty snapshots never overwrite the on-disk last-good; catalog.json is written atomically (tmp + rename, 0600).

✅ Verification checklist

Check	Action	Expected
Panel entry	Restart, open Settings	"MCP & Skill Manager" appears with two tabs; zh/en follows UI language
Disable MCP	Turn a server off	Card shows "Disabled"; new turns no longer include mcp__<server>__*; the card still shows catalog tool count
Enable MCP	Turn it back on	Tools restored, no restart
Persistence	Disable, restart dsh	Server stays disabled
Skill toggle	Flip a skill	Card flips instantly without bouncing; model catalog updated
External change	Session A disables an MCP, session B opens the panel	Fresh state without manual refresh
AI middle layer	Turn autoManage on in the panel	Disabled servers hidden from the model, mcp_search/mcp_call available; user-enabled servers show the "visible" badge
Reaper safety	Let a model-called server idle 30s	AI-temporarily-enabled server auto-disables; user-enabled servers are never reclaimed

⚠️ Known limitations

• Toggles act at the preset layer: one server/skill switch affects all sessions under that preset.
• SKILL.md files without frontmatter cannot be toggled (the provider ignores them anyway).
• Tool counts/tokens are estimates (JSON.stringify(parameters).length / 4), approximate to the real injection surface.
• After disabling, tools disappear immediately, but the current turn's cached request (if any) may still reference old schemas; the next request refreshes naturally.
• Persistence lag: toggles take effect live; surviving a restart depends on materialization at next startup — if the plugin is hot-updated while sessions are running, this process does not materialize; the next restart applies it.
• Manually editing MCP rows in the preset file (e.g. removing disabled: true by hand) removes that row from the plugin's management (your edit is respected at next startup).
• Writing SKILL.md at runtime is safe (the skill-filesystem watcher expects edits); writing the preset composition file at runtime triggers the stamp-remount incident, which the plugin deliberately never does.
• The capability summary (mcp_search with no args) only covers servers that have a catalog snapshot or a configured serverSummary; servers that never started successfully (e.g. codegraph) are not listed.

🛠️ Development

npm run setup      # junction DSH closure types into node_modules/@deepseek-ai
npm run typecheck  # tsc type check (closure types)
npm run build      # tsc dts + tsdown (node external all @deepseek-ai/*)
npm run verify     # artifact verification (no inlined TOOL_RUNTIME_SCHEDULER, client wrapper intact)
node scripts/selftest-mcp.mjs  # catalog unit tests

The node-half tsdown build must use external: [/^@deepseek-ai\//]: inlining dsh-tools creates a second TOOL_RUNTIME_SCHEDULER Symbol and breaks tool dispatch (same lesson as dsh-context-doctor).

📋 Changelog

Version	Content
0.4.3	Performance pass: restore race fixed (a user manually enabling a server mid-call is never disabled on failure); per-turn visibility Map cache in the assembly filter (O(1) lookups); 500ms schemas reuse window; 300ms catalog persist debounce; in-memory state.json with write merging; 80-char summary truncation; disabled-state token estimate cache; proactive TTL pruning of cache maps; snapshotServer dead code removed
0.4.2	Assembly filter keyed by server state: MCP tools of user-enabled servers enter the model context (memory high-sensitivity recall); disabled ones are hidden and called on demand via mcp_search/mcp_call; AI-temporary enables never pollute context; manual enable clears AI marks (reaper safety); panel autoManage switch + model-visibility badges
0.4.1	Catalog collection pipeline fixes: empty agents in apply ctx made auto collection always empty (fallback to standingKeyFor for scope), last-good guard failure, empty-snapshot disk overwrite at startup, persist race; debug diagnostic endpoints; case retests passed (chrome→mimo cross-server, calcmcp burst zero-respawn + 30s reaping)
0.4.0	AI middle layer (autoManage): mcp_search/mcp_call on-demand MCP usage (keep-alive + idle reaping + assembly filter); private catalog persistence + disabled-state backfill
0.3.2	API prefix aligned with package name (legacy prefix kept); local dir renamed
0.3.1	Versioned MCP aggregate reuse; frontend fetch out-of-order guard
0.3.0	Scoped endpoints + domain caches + event-driven invalidation (tab lazy loading)
0.2.1	Skill toggle 30s UI lag root cause fixed (confirmed values override stale catalog)
0.2.0	Renamed to "MCP & Skill Manager" + GitHub repo dsh-mcp-skill-panel
0.1.1	MCP persistence rework (state file + early-startup materialization), fixing session creation failures caused by writing the preset file at runtime
0.1.0	Initial: MCP/Skill listing + toggles

📄 License

MIT © lilyblessing