Aqua for DeepSeek Harness: a glassmorphism theme you can switch off without touching DSH source

What Aqua changes in the DeepSeek Harness web UI

The DeepSeek Harness web client ships a fixed visual shell: a header, a sidebar, a composer, a stats line and a trajectory view. Aqua replaces the material of those regions with frosted glass. The README describes the header, sidebar, composer, stats line and trajectory view as becoming "panes of frosted glass", and the package description in package.json calls it "a highly customizable glassmorphism theme for the Web surface".

The intended audience is narrow and specific: people already running the DSH web profile who want to restyle it without forking DSH. The README is explicit that switching the plugin off restores the stock UI "exactly, with no source changes to DSH itself". That constraint shapes everything else. This is not a standalone theme engine, and it is not useful to anyone who has not installed DeepSeek Harness. It is a layer on top of a host application, and its lifetime is tied to that host's client API.

Mica mode, Compatibility Mode and the plugin layer mechanism

Aqua registers as a profile plugin layer rather than patching files. package.json declares a dsh.client block with platform "web" and an inject list naming the host packages it binds to: @deepseek-ai/dsh-client-runtime, @deepseek-ai/dsh-client-locale, @deepseek-ai/dsh-client-ui-theme, @deepseek-ai/dsh-client-ui-settings, @deepseek-ai/dsh-client-ui-slots and @deepseek-ai/dsh-client-ui-primitives. Those same packages appear as peerDependencies at ^0.1.0-rc.5. The plugin therefore consumes the host's theming, settings and slot primitives instead of reaching into the DOM on its own terms.

The two modes behave differently and the distinction matters. Mica, per the README, "restyles the layout into floating glass cards (blur and frost adjustable)". Compatibility Mode "keeps the stock layout byte-for-byte and only swaps the material to generic glass", and the README notes that other plugins' UI gets the same treatment automatically. Compatibility Mode is the safer of the two because it does not move anything.

The backdrop is either a fluid board with an adjustable hue or a user-supplied wallpaper that fills the page with aspect preserved and carries its own blur and frost controls. A background brightness setting follows the resolved scheme: dark mode darkens across 0 to 50, light mode brightens across 50 to 100, and 50 is unchanged. Two smaller pieces sit on top: a particle whale, described as a 2D port of the deepseek.com/harness particle engine, centered in the chat area right of the sidebar and rendered white on dark and gray on light; and a glossy "Harness" badge on the sidebar wordmark in dark mode, using a 135 degree gradient ring plus a soft glow. Edge fades are 5px gradient blur bands pinned to the top and bottom of the page above the chat content.

Installing Aqua and turning it on for the first time

The README recommends the npm route. Run this from a shell where the dsh CLI is available:

dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-client-ui-aqua

The command installs the latest version from npm and registers it as a profile plugin layer, described in the README as a dsh.bundle patch, and the README states it works on every platform. After it finishes, reload the web UI.

The fallback is a GitHub installer that needs neither an npm account nor git, falling back to a plain zip download. On Windows the README gives a single command:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Invoke-WebRequest 'https://github.com/WYH66666666/DSH-Transparent-UI-Plugin/raw/main/install.ps1' -OutFile install.ps1; .\install.ps1"

That script installs the latest release by default, links the plugin into the profile's node_modules and registers ui-aqua in cordis.patch.yml. The README calls it idempotent and safe to run again. Two flags are documented for pinning:

.\install.ps1 -Version 'v1.1.0'
.\install.ps1 -Version 'main'

macOS and Linux are manual, three steps. Clone a tag, symlink the DSH directory into the profile's node_modules under the scoped package name, then append the layer to the profile patch file:

- insert:
    - id: ui-aqua
      name: '@deepseek-ai/dsh-client-ui-aqua'

Once the UI reloads, Aqua is on by default. The master switch is at Settings, Plugins, Glass theme, and the README says it has the same shape as the other plugin cards. Every other control sits under Settings, General, Appearance with no title of its own: mode, blur and frost for Mica mode, fluid color, background brightness, backdrop choice with its wallpaper controls, and the particle-whale toggle. With the master switch off, the README states the whole control block under Appearance is hidden.

The update notice at the top of the README

The most important thing on the repository page is a warning the author placed above the feature list. It says that because DSH has been updated, the author is unable to promptly update the plugin with the new API due to academic commitments, and asks users to "use an alternative agent to replace or repair it yourself to avoid crashes when installing this plugin".

That is a maintenance statement from the maintainer, not an inference. It means the peer dependency range of ^0.1.0-rc.5 is the version line the plugin was built against, and a DSH client that has moved past it may not load the plugin cleanly. The README does not document a rollback procedure for a failed install, and it does not name a specific DSH version that is known to work. The repository was last pushed on 2026-08-22, and the newest release listed is v1.3.0 from 2026-08-16.

The practical consequence: treat Aqua as a pinned artifact, not a rolling dependency. If your DSH build matches the peer range, the plugin is a self-contained theme layer with a clean off switch. If it does not, the README's own advice is to repair it yourself or use something else. There is no compatibility matrix here to consult.

Where Aqua is the wrong tool, and what to use instead

Aqua is the wrong choice when you need a theme that keeps pace with DSH releases. The author says that is not happening right now. It is also wrong if you want a general browser-level restyling tool that works across many sites, because Aqua only targets the DSH web surface and only through DSH's own plugin and slot primitives.

The realistic alternative is a userstyle manager such as Stylus with a hand-written stylesheet for the DSH web UI. The difference in approach is structural. Aqua is a host-integrated plugin: it declares peer dependencies, injects into the DSH client runtime, settings and slots, and appears as a settings card with live controls for blur, frost, backdrop and brightness. A userstyle is injected at the browser level, has no knowledge of DSH's component tree, cannot add a settings card, and breaks whenever the host's class names or DOM structure change. In exchange, a userstyle does not need to match a peer dependency range and does not fail at plugin load time. If your DSH build is newer than the plugin's target, that trade may be the one you want.

A second alternative is simply running the stock DSH UI, since the README states the plugin is fully reversible and leaves no effect behind when disabled. If the visual change is not worth the version-matching work, disabling it costs nothing.

Licence, packaging and the cost of keeping Aqua current

The repository is licensed AGPL-3.0, while package.json declares "license": "MIT" for the published package. That is a real discrepancy and anyone redistributing or embedding the code should resolve it before relying on either label. This is not legal advice; the two files simply disagree, and the repository LICENSE file is the one that governs the source tree as published.

AGPL-3.0 matters most if you intend to run a modified Aqua as part of a network-accessible service. The plugin is a client-side theme for a web UI, so the ordinary use case of installing it locally for yourself does not raise the same questions as hosting a modified version for other users. If you fork it to repair the API drift the README describes, the licence terms travel with your fork.

Upgrade cost is the other number to weigh. The plugin has no build step in the install path: the npm route pulls a prebuilt lib/index.js, and the source tree carries tsdown.config.ts with bundle and watch scripts for anyone rebuilding from src. Because the plugin binds to six host packages at a caret range on a release candidate, every DSH client update is a potential break, and the README says the author is not currently absorbing those breaks. Budget for reading the diff yourself, or pin the DSH version alongside the plugin.

Editorial conclusion

Aqua is worth trying if you run the DeepSeek Harness web UI, want adjustable blur and frost rather than a fixed skin, and are willing to check the plugin against your DSH build before relying on it. Skip it if you need a theme that tracks DSH releases promptly, or if you cannot tolerate a crash during install, since the README itself says the author cannot keep pace with the new API. Verify three things first: that your DSH peer packages resolve against the versions listed in package.json, that Settings shows the Glass theme card after a reload, and that Compatibility Mode leaves the stock layout byte-for-byte as the README claims.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. Issues
2. License: AGPL-3.0
3. README
4. Releases
5. WYH66666666/DSH-Transparent-UI-Plugin on GitHub