dsh-legal-workbench

dsh-legal-workbench

A right-sidebar workbench for [DeepSeek Harness](https://github.com/deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness).

It turns your Obsidian notes into a working surface inside the chat window: look up SOPs,

keep a glossary, record meetings with live transcription and annotations, and search everything.

All files stay on your computer. No account, no telemetry. See [PRIVACY.md](./PRIVACY.md).

中文说明见 [README.zh.md](./README.zh.md)。

Install

Requires a DSH installation (0.2.0 or newer — check with dsh --version) and network access

(the package comes from npm).

Pick the command that matches your DSH:

DSH Desktop app

dsh plugin --profile desktop add dsh-legal-workbench

Self-hosted DSH Web (on your server)

dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-legal-workbench

Using a custom profile name? Replace desktop / web with yours (see ~/.dsh/profiles/).

Then restart DSH and click the workbench icon next to the session title, or press ⌥W.

No Obsidian required, no API keys, no account.

> Fully verified on macOS only. Other platforms install and run, but the two actions that call

> system commands ("open in Obsidian", "open console") may need a config tweak.

First run

Click the workbench icon next to the session title (or press ⌥W).

The first time, it asks for one thing: the full path of a folder holding your Markdown notes

(an Obsidian vault, or any folder — the plugin only touches .md files).

Fill it in and press save — that's it.

Nothing else is required. The optional extras (transcription, usage badges, Pkulaw points)

stay dormant until you provide your own credentials.

What you get

| Card | What it does | Needs |

|---|---|---|

| SOP | Browse your SOP folder as a tree, read and edit notes in place | a vault |

| Glossary | One row per term, edit inline, written back to a note | a vault |

| Recordings | Record, transcribe live, highlight and annotate the transcript, play back | a vault; transcription needs a Volcengine key |

| Search | Full-text search across notes, transcripts and annotations | a vault |

| Email | Draft emails from your own rule library | optional: your own skill folder |

| Usage badge | DeepSeek balance and remaining speech hours | optional: your own keys |

Where things live

• Your notes and recordings: inside your vault (folders are configurable on the first screen).
• Plugin configuration: ~/.dsh-workbench/config.json.
• Optional credentials: ~/.dsh-workbench/asr.json (mode 600, never in this repo).

Keyboard

• ⌥W — open or close the workbench wherever you are
• Esc — close it

Notes

• The right sidebar is per-session in DSH. If the workbench cannot dock there, it opens as an

overlay instead of failing silently.

• Transcription is off unless you configure a Volcengine key; recording and playback work without it.

Troubleshooting

• The panel opens but stays empty: click the refresh button at the top right of the panel.

This is a known first-load issue in 1.1.0; one refresh fixes it.

• Clicking the icon does nothing: some sessions have no right sidebar yet, so the workbench

opens as an overlay instead (shortcut ⌥W).

• It asks you to configure something: it just needs the folder holding your Markdown notes.

Fill it in once.

Known limitations

• Images in notes are not rendered. They appear as a filename label (e.g. 图片 photo.png).

Everything else in a note (headings, lists, bold, code, tables as text, wikilinks) is shown.

• Markdown support is deliberately minimal: no HTML, no embedded PDFs, no mermaid rendering.
• Annotations anchor to the first line of a multi-line selection.
• Highlight colour is fixed (yellow); the storage supports more, the UI does not expose it yet.
• The reimbursement card only checks that a template exists; it does not parse it yet.
• Transcribing an imported audio file shows no progress bar.
• The workbench reads and writes the vault directly. Edits made in Obsidian appear after a refresh,

and edits made here appear in Obsidian immediately (same files).

• DSH gives each session its own right sidebar; if the workbench cannot dock there it opens as an