Show and tell: dsh-plugin-doctor — the dsh plugin check from RFC #1629, now real

[zoahdev]

The dsh plugin check idea from RFC #1629 is now a real tool: dsh-plugin-doctor 🩺

It runs repeatable health checks on any DeepSeek Harness plugin bundle:

• manifest — package.json + dsh.bundle + dsh.bundle.patch + prepare + main
• patch — cordis.patch.yml parses and contains at least one insert row with an id
• entry — the main target exists (warns when not built yet)
• files — a files allowlist is declared
• build — pnpm run build succeeds (--build)
• pack + install — pnpm pack, install into a brand-new DSH_HOME profile, and confirm the plugin id in --dump-config (--full)

Exit code 0/1 and --json output make it CI-friendly:

dsh-plugin-doctor .                 # quick checks
dsh-plugin-doctor --build ./my-plugin
dsh-plugin-doctor --full ./my-plugin   # pack + fresh profile install + config check

Verified against the dsh-plugin-template: --full reports all checks PASS, including the packed tarball loading into a fresh profile with template-hello present in the composed config.

Why it matters: "loads fine" is not "works". pnpm can silently link an older RC into a plugin's peer slot, and manifest mistakes only surface on other people's machines. A local doctor turns both into immediate, actionable failures.

Repo: zoahdev/dsh-plugin-doctor · Release: v1.0.0 · RFC: #1629

Feedback and feature requests welcome — PRs too.

[moonquake2004]

Tested against a real published plugin (ours, @moonquake2004/dsh-doctor 0.2.1) — thanks for building this, the pack → fresh-profile-install → config loop is exactly the verification the ecosystem needed.

Two findings:

1. prepare as a hard manifest requirement false-positives on no-build plugins. We ship plain JS (no compile step) — there's nothing for prepare to do, and files-allowlist npm/file: installs work fine without it. The "required for git installs" rationale is real (pnpm runs prepare on github: installs), but for prebuilt/no-build bundles it isn't actionable. Suggest: warn instead of fail when the package ships its main target prebuilt and has no prepare, or only require prepare when the tarball wouldn't otherwise contain the entry.

2. --full's install check fails with ERR_PNPM_ADDING_TO_ROOT on pnpm 9 — for every plugin. The fresh profile is a pnpm workspace root; neither your tool nor dsh plugin add passes -w (or sets ignore-workspace-root-check=true). This is the dsh-market #20 family. Since you create the fresh profile, the fix belongs in your tool: write ignore-workspace-root-check=true into the profile's .npmrc before dsh plugin add (or pass -w). Happy to verify once you land it.

Everything else (patch / entry / files / pack) passes on our bundle — nice work.