Every packages/*/* README now carries a canonical '## Known Limitations and
Deferred Work' section: condensed, evidence-backed bullets for consumer-visible
gaps (unimplemented features, platform caveats, MVP cuts) and consciously
postponed work (TODO/FIXME/XXX markers, RFC deferrals still open). The ten
pre-existing ad-hoc variants ('What is NOT here (TODO)', 'Deferred',
'Limitations (MVP)', 'Known limitations (tracked TODOs)', ...) are normalized
into the canonical heading.
A new doc-sync gate, scripts/verify-readme-limitations.ts, enforces the shape:
exactly one limitations-like heading per package README, byte-equal to the
canonical h2, with at least one bullet; near-miss headings fail so variants
cannot creep back. Packages with genuinely nothing to declare (dsh-brand,
dsh-timeout, dsh-subagent-mock, dsh-app-boot) are whitelisted in the script and
must NOT carry the section; whitelist entries are validated against the scanned
package set so a rename fails loud.
Wired into the doc-sync chain (package.json) and the run-gates doc-sync leaf
set; the standing rule lands in packages/AGENTS.md and the adding-a-package
cookbook; decision record in
docs/rfc/implemented/process/2026-07-10-readme-known-limitations-gate.md
(RFC index regenerated).
Also fixes two stale '(deferred)' markers claiming dsh-compact-basic is
unimplemented (the dsh-compact seam README's package table and the seam's
module doc comment).
Packages
Harness packages use the @deepseek-ai/dsh-* scope. Each is a Cordis plugin: a default Service subclass or functional plugin declaring ctx keys/events through declaration merging and contributing through ctx.effect(), ctx.on(), or ctx.waterfall(). Authoring conventions: AGENTS.md and root AGENTS.md § Conventions.
Hierarchy
Packages are grouped by modular role at packages/<group>/<pkg>/. The group directory is a pure container (no package.json); the package name stays @deepseek-ai/dsh-<pkg> regardless of group. Each group README is the canonical per-package map — package roles, ctx keys, and the product-vs-support split live there, next to the code.
| Group | Role | Release expectation |
|---|---|---|
core/ |
Product API spine: session, system-prompt, tools, agent, and the concrete loop | Product — stable surface |
llm/ |
LLM capability family: the abstract service + provider adapters | Product — stable surface |
bash/ |
Bash capability family: the executor seam, a local impl, and the model-facing tool | Product — stable surface |
code-runtime/ |
Code-execution capability family: the abstract runtime seam for model-written programs + a worker-thread backend | Product — stable surface |
sandbox/ |
Process-confinement seam; bwrap/Landlock/Seatbelt backends | Product — stable surface |
fs/ |
Filesystem capability family: the abstract seam, a local impl, and the model-facing file tools | Product — stable surface |
skill/ |
Skill capability family: the provider registry, local provider, and model-facing catalog/loader | Product — stable surface |
compact/ |
Compaction capability family: the abstract seam + a basic backend (tool deferred) | Product — stable surface |
subagent/ |
Subagent capability family: the provider-registry seam and the model-facing delegation tool | Product — stable surface |
workflow/ |
Workflow capability family: the script-engine seam, the worker-thread engine, and the model-facing workflow tool |
Product — stable surface |
web/ |
Web capability family: the abstract seam, search/fetch provider impls, and the model-facing web tools | Product — stable surface |
timeout/ |
Tool-call timeout policy: the tools/execute deadline enforcer |
Product — stable surface |
todo/ |
Todo/planning family: the model-facing todo_write tool |
Product — stable surface |
guard/ |
Loop-hygiene guards: advisory repeat-call reminders | Product — stable surface |
cordis/ |
Self-referential runtime toolset: inspect the live runtime's plugins and services, mount/unmount model-written plugins (design) | Product — stable surface |
hooks/ |
Hook bridges + the shared Claude Code / Codex wire-protocol library | Product — stable surface |
session-persistence/ |
Persistence capability family: the seam + JSONL/SQLite backends | Product — stable surface |
ui/ |
Editor/client integration surfaces: ACP bridge, app packages, user-approval and user-interaction seams, ask-user tool | Product — stable surface |
support/ |
Dev/test/example infrastructure (invariants, replay adapter, subagent mock) | Support — lower compatibility expectations |
util/ |
Low-level zero-dependency utilities shared across groups (the Branded<B> primitive) |
Support — small, stable, harness-dep-free |
The split is the point: a package's group says whether it is part of the product API or support/test/example infrastructure, so release and removal decisions do not treat every package as an equal public contract. New packages join an existing group; adding a new top-level group is a deliberate act (extend the group READMEs and this table).
Dependencies
The inter-package dependency graph is generated: docs/module-graph.md (pnpm run gen-module-graph, freshness-gated in CI).
The rule it must obey: extension plugins depend on interfaces, never on the concrete loop. dsh-agent-loop is swappable — UI/hook/tool plugins keep working against the dsh-agent vocabulary if the loop is replaced. The sanctioned exception is a composition/bundle package like dsh-agent-core, whose whole job is to assemble the concrete spine: it depends on dsh-agent-loop (and the other concrete spine plugins) on purpose. The rule constrains plugins that EXTEND the system, not the bundle that COMPOSES it. A swappable capability splits into interface / implementation / consumer packages (the bash trio is the template — see capability seams).
Each package has its own README.md with purpose, service API, events, extension points, and deliberate non-goals (TODOs).