DeepSeek Harness Web Search Plugin: Source-Traceable Brave / Tavily Search and Extraction

Introduction¶

The native search capability of DeepSeek Harness is useful during information discovery, but research workflows often require stable tool contracts and inspectable source trails. This plugin packages source-traceable real-time web search and URL extraction using Brave + Tavily as a native DeepSeek Harness plugin. It provides a transparent search experience by returning the provider, domain, rank, access time, source logs, extraction hash, and visible degradation notices, instead of hiding provider routing.

Core Features¶

The plugin installs a native Harness bundle in the web profile and provides the following tools:

• web_search: routes real-time search to Brave/Tavily.
• web_extract: performs clean URL extraction using Tavily.
• provider_status: performs a local, key-safe configuration check (does not make provider requests).
• health_check: explicitly probes auth, quota, rate limits, and timeouts.
• MCP bundle: bundles mcp-cctb-search.
• TaroCub: optional integration.

Installation and Configuration¶

1. Ensure DeepSeek Harness dsh is installed and the web profile is enabled.
2. Install the plugin:

    dsh plugin --profile web add github:cloveric/deepseek-harness-web-search-plugin

3. Restart Harness.
4. Set the API keys in the environment variables when starting Harness:

    export BRAVE_API_KEY="..."
    export TAVILY_API_KEY="..."

Note: `BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY` can also be used as an alias for `BRAVE_API_KEY`. The plugin does not write keys into the Harness profile.

Usage Examples¶

1. Start the web profile:

    dsh web

2. In a Harness session, call the status check (does not consume quota):

    mcp__cctb_search__provider_status

3. Run the health check (explicit probe):

    mcp__cctb_search__health_check

Available MCP tools include:
*   `mcp__cctb_search__web_search`
*   `mcp__cctb_search__web_extract`
*   `mcp__cctb_search__provider_status`
*   `mcp__cctb_search__health_check`

Security and Limitations¶

• Keys are only read from environment variables, never written to the Harness profile, and never returned by provider_status.
• web_extract accepts only HTTP(S) URLs.
• The project is licensed under the MIT License.

Conclusion¶

This plugin supports research workflows that require reliable and traceable information by integrating real-time search capabilities into the DSH ecosystem. Source code and documentation are available on GitHub.