deepseek-harness/docs/architecture.md

# DeepSeek Harness Architecture

The **DeepSeek Harness SDK** builds agent harnesses on Cordis. The principle is simple: **everything is a plugin**. The shipped loop is one plugin, not a privileged kernel.

## Overview

A harness is one [Cordis](cordis-primer.md) context. Packages contribute service keys, typed events, and disposable registrations: services expose stable calls (`ctx.llm`, `ctx.tools`, `ctx.sessions`), events provide interception and notifications (`agent/request`, `tools/pre-execute`, `session/event`), and registrations install prompt sections, tools, providers, adapters, or listeners.

`packages/core/` groups the default agent flow; surrounding capabilities are equally first-class Cordis plugins.

### Default Services

| ctx key | Package | Role |
|---|---|---|
| — | [`dsh-scope`](../packages/core/scope/README.md) | scoped-context registration primitive (library) |
| `ctx.sessions` | `dsh-session` | in-memory event-sourced sessions |
| `ctx.systemPrompt` | `dsh-system-prompt` | ordered prompt sections, tool schemas, and prompt variables |
| `ctx.tools` | `dsh-tools` | tool registry and [execution pipeline](tool-execution-pipeline.md) |
| `ctx.agents` | `dsh-agent` | live agent registry, public `Agent` handle, `agent/*` events |
| `ctx.agentLoop` | `dsh-agent-loop` | shipped `ReactLoopAgent` driver |

### Capability Services

| ctx key | Package family | Role |
|---|---|---|
| `ctx.llm` | [`llm/`](../packages/llm/README.md) | adapter registry and streaming model calls |
| `ctx.bash` | [`bash/`](../packages/bash/README.md) | foreground/background command execution |
| `ctx.sandbox` | [`sandbox/`](../packages/sandbox/README.md) | same-world process confinement (argv wrapping, per-call policy) |
| `ctx.codeRuntime` | [`code-runtime/`](../packages/code-runtime/README.md) | model-written program execution |
| `ctx.fs` | [`fs/`](../packages/fs/README.md) | filesystem provider primitives and policy events |
| `ctx.skills` | [`skill/`](../packages/skill/README.md) | skill provider registry and progressive disclosure |
| `ctx.web` | [`web/`](../packages/web/README.md) | search/fetch provider registries |
| `ctx.compact` | [`compact/`](../packages/compact/README.md) | session-log compaction |
| `ctx.subagents` | [`subagent/`](../packages/subagent/README.md) | named delegation providers |
| `ctx.tasks` | [`tasks/`](../packages/tasks/README.md) | background task registry + generic `task_*` control tools |
| `ctx.workflows` | [`workflow/`](../packages/workflow/README.md) | script-driven multi-agent orchestration |
| `ctx.sessionPersistence` | [`session-persistence/`](../packages/session-persistence/README.md) | durable storage for session logs |
| `ctx.sessionQuery` | [`session-query/`](../packages/session-query/README.md) | live-preferred logical-corpus and exact-event reads |

## Event

Events form the service extension API; see the exhaustive [events catalog](cordis-catalog/events.md) and [producer/consumer map](event-producer-consumer.md).

### Event Domains

- **Session events** are durable, replayable facts: boundaries, messages, tool activity, steering, compaction, and tool-owned records append to the log and flow through `session/event`.
- **Agent events** carry the live `Agent` handle for status, diagnostics, prompt admission, request shaping, result validation, and continuation policy.
- **Capability events** belong to their owning seam; `tools/*`, `llm/*`, `system-prompt/*`, `fs/*`, and `subagent/*` attach policy and adapters without importing the loop.

### Interception Semantics

Waterfall events behave like around-middleware: a listener delegates by calling `next()`; returning without it vetoes or takes over. Full rule: [Cordis waterfall semantics](cordis-primer.md#cordis-waterfall-semantics).

## Default Loop Lifecycle

The shipped loop drains work from prompt through checkpoint. Every pause is a service call or event available to plugins.

A **session** is one agent's append-only event log. An ordinary **turn** claims one queued message; an injection turn claims none. A turn ends when the model stops asking for tools and no plugin requests continuation. A **step** is one model request plus its tool executions. In the flow below ([sequence companion](agent-lifecycle.md)), quoted names are durable session events and event names are extension points.

### Turn Flow

```text
prepare private session + agent.ctx -> await unpublished setup
  -> enter session + agent -> session/created -> agent/created
  -> enable driving -> agent/session-start(source) -> start driver
forever:
  wait for a queued message
  emit agent/status(running)
  TURN:
    'turn/start'
    claimed message -> agent/prompt-submit
      allowed prompt -> 'user/message' plus injected context
      blocked prompt -> 'prompt/blocked' -> 'turn/end'(rejected)
    STEP loop:
      drain steering
      assemble system prompt and tool schemas
      agent/session-prefix (first step)
      agent/pre-step
      'step/start'
      snapshot the derived messages (the reconstruction boundary)
      agent/request (config only) -> log request/header -> llm/stream (frozen)
        'assistant/chunk'
      agent/step-result
      'assistant/message'
      each tool call:
        'tool/call'
        tools/pre-execute -> monotonic guards -> tools/execute -> tools/post-execute -> tools/result
        'tool/result'
      append post-tool context and steering
      'step/end'
      agent/turn-continuation
      agent/turn-stop (terminal policy)
      stop unless tools or continuation policy ask for another step
    'turn/end'
    checkpoint persistence and notify idle/running status
```

Each successful `send()` adds one FIFO item. Queued items run as consecutive ordinary turns under one running interval, each after the prior turn's durability checkpoint. Each step assembles ordered prompt sections, tool schemas, and `{{name}}` variables; unknown or valueless references fail the turn. `dsh-system-prompt` owns the harness identity and default persona, which an agent scope may shadow. The loop supplies `model` and `cwd` ([prompt-ownership RFC](rfc/implemented/architecture/2026-07-05-prompt-variables-and-tool-guidance-ownership.md)).

Post-tool context lands after all tool results so tool-call/result adjacency stays stable. Steering drains between steps; ordinary leftover steering after a turn is re-queued as input. A terminal `agent/turn-stop` is the explicit exception: it runs after ordinary continuation and steering folding, then remains authoritative through turn close and flush so steering from those later listeners is discarded rather than becoming another step or turn; ordinary queued prompts are preserved.

### Failure Boundaries

The turn is the containment boundary. A throwing listener, adapter error finish, or failed step ends it with an error reason and reports `agent/error` without killing the driver. `cancel()` clears queued and steering work, aborts the active model/tool boundary when possible, and records the turn end. Disposal stops the loop, awaits quiescence, unregisters the agent, and drains service disposers.

Every session event is turn-enclosed. Reloading preserves an interrupted tail and closes it with a synthetic `interrupted` turn end. Failures after durable turn close report only through `agent/error` because no safe in-turn position remains. Each turn has one `TurnEndReason`; [TurnEndReasonMap](core-data-structures/session.md#why-a-turn-ended-turnendreasonmap) owns the variants.

### Agent Handles

`ctx.agents` owns live agents and returns `AgentHandle { agent, dispose() }`. Plugins drive `Agent` through `send()`, `steer()`, `inject()`, `cancel()`, and `whenIdle()`. The caller fiber and factory provider structurally co-own programmatic lifecycles; the consumer handle is the only other teardown capability. All owners await one disposer.

### Agent Scope

Every live agent owns a scoped `agent.ctx`. Its registrations shadow globals, receive only that agent's dispatches, and unwind with it; async effects such as background-task cleanup are awaited. `CreateAgentOptions.setup(agentCtx)` composes the scope before publication. Typed resolvers derive carrier checks from merged `Events` signatures and `scopeTarget` ([semantic-gates RFC](rfc/implemented/process/2026-07-14-typescript-program-backed-semantic-gates.md)). See the [agent-scope RFC](rfc/implemented/architecture/2026-07-08-agent-scope-contexts.md) and [subagent composition controls](rfc/implemented/feature/2026-07-12-subagent-persona-tool-filter-and-depth.md).

## State

### Session Log

The session log is the source of truth. `deriveMessages()` projects session events into the `Message[]` sent to the model; raw `assistant/chunk` events stay in the log for replay and UI fidelity. Replay, fork, resume, transcript rendering, telemetry, and persistence all derive from the same event stream.

**Model-visible ⟺ logged**: the log reconstructs every request — messages at `step/start` fronted by the header's session prefix, headers by folding `request/header` — and dev invariants assert this ([reconstructability RFC](rfc/implemented/architecture/2026-07-05-reconstructable-requests.md)).

Durability is a plugin concern. Persistence backends buffer synchronous `session/event` notifications and the loop awaits a turn-end checkpoint before moving on. The `SessionPersistence` seam stores `SessionEvent` directly, with metadata in `SessionHeader`; JSONL and SQLite share one contract suite.

### Model Content

Messages contain typed blocks (`text`, `reasoning`, `tool-call`, `tool-result`) derived from merge-extensible `ContentBlockMap`; the same pattern types `MessageSource`, `FinishReason`, `TurnTrigger`, and `TurnEndReason`. New block types coordinate adapters, UI bridges, compaction pricing, and persistence as one repo-wide contract.

Streaming is a raw chunk protocol (`block-start` through `finish`) with `BlockAssembler` as the shared chunk-to-block assembler. The loop logs raw chunks while assembling them for dispatch. `LlmAdapter` is the provider seam: subclass, implement `stream()`, and register with `ctx.llm.registerAdapter(models, adapter)`. StreamChunk conventions live in [llm-streaming.md](core-data-structures/llm-streaming.md).

## Extension And Composition

### Capability Pattern

A swappable capability usually splits into **interface / implementation / consumer**: the interface owns its `ctx` key and events, an implementation registers a backend, and a consumer exposes model behavior through tools or prompts. Bash is the reference; the [capability graph](capability-seams.md) shows every family.

Some seams bend the template deliberately: LLM combines interface and consumer because adapters implement it; filesystem wraps provider primitives with policy; web keeps search/fetch provider registries behind one service; skills and subagents use named providers. Subagents spawn fresh, fork a completed-turn prefix, or use ACP children ([subagent.md](core-data-structures/subagent.md)).

`dsh-workspace-context` composes baselines on `agent/session-prefix` and appends `ctx.fs`-discovered nested changes on `tools/post-execute`; its [RFC](rfc/implemented/feature/2026-06-24-workspace-context.md) records isolation. `dsh-paths` owns shared paths.

### Bundles And Apps

`dsh-agent-spine-demo` bundles the default spine ([README](../packages/examples/agent-spine-demo/README.md)). `dsh-stdio-demo` adds a terminal front door; `dsh-acp-demo` adds stdout-pure ACP over JSON-RPC ([ui/](../packages/ui/README.md)). `dsh-jsonrpc-agent` boots external `cordis.yml`; the Python SDK supplies its default only without an explicit config channel and drives `dsh-jsonrpc` over line-delimited JSON-RPC ([Python SDK](../python/README.md)). Deployments remain thin leaves with swappable backends and optional product tools ([examples/](../examples/AGENTS.md), [runnable wirings](cookbook/extension-cookbook.md#runnable-wirings), [graph atlas](graph-atlas.md)).

### Where New Behavior Goes

New behavior should attach to a documented extension point; changing the shipped loop requires updating this map.

| Goal | Mechanism |
|---|---|
| Add a model provider | register an adapter on `ctx.llm` |
| Add a model-facing capability | register a tool on `ctx.tools`; schemas flow into prompt assembly |
| Add command execution | implement and register a `ctx.bash` backend |
| Add a long-running/background capability | register the work on `ctx.tasks`; the generic `task_*` tools collect/stop it |
| Add filesystem access or policy | implement a `ctx.fs` provider or listen on `fs/*` policy events |
| Confine spawned processes | a `ctx.sandbox` backend; consumers wrap their argv before spawning |
| Intercept prompts, requests, tool use, or continuation | listen on the relevant `agent/*` or `tools/*` waterfall; use serial `agent/turn-stop` for a monotonic terminal stop |
| Add a session-stable request prefix outside history | compose it on `agent/session-prefix`, once per loop instance; logged on the request header |
| Add UI or editor integration | drive `ctx.agents` and render from `session/event` |
| Add durable session state | add a `SessionEventMap` member and render/replay from the log |
| Fork a live session | use `ctx.sessions.fork(source, boundary?, childSessionId?)` |
| Scope a tool, prompt section, or listener to ONE agent | register it through that agent's `agent.ctx` (see Agent Scope) |

The [extension cookbook](cookbook/extension-cookbook.md) carries plugin skeletons and the feature-to-seam map; step-by-step guides cover [packages](cookbook/adding-a-package.md), [tools](cookbook/adding-a-tool.md), [LLM adapters](cookbook/adding-an-llm-adapter.md), and [vendored packages](cookbook/adding-a-vendored-package.md).

## Quick Reference
- Domain terms in the [glossary](glossary.md)
- Type definitions in [core-data-structures/](core-data-structures/core.md)
- Exact event and service signatures in [events](cordis-catalog/events.md)
- [services](cordis-catalog/services.md) catalogs
- package contracts in the [package map](../packages/README.md)
- [RFCs](rfc/README.md)