Preface¶

Content creators often encounter a similar situation: throwing a half-formed thought into the chat box, where the AI immediately writes a piece for you. It reads smoothly, but no real questions are asked. dsh-sort-out-the-thoughts (maintainer: hulibuld, category: “Workflow”) addresses the problem before this step. It doesn’t rush to produce an article but first clarifies the idea, identifies flaws, and supplements materials before archiving it into a finished draft that can be reviewed and searched. Below is an introduction to the plugin’s three-phase progression, the scratchpad, and where the data resides.

What is this¶

One-sentence positioning: Adds a “Sort out” toggle in the DSH chat box. Once opened, it enters a three-phase mode of “Sort out -> Critique -> Research,” pushing the idea into a finished draft step-by-step, and saving it into the Thoughts Center by genre. It also features a scratchpad orb in the bottom-right corner, used for casually jotting down fragmented inspirations, which can be sorted out with one click when accumulated.

It is designed for people writing articles, speeches, and self-media content. The plugin itself is released under the MIT license. The README notes that the design references the “product per phase, gate between phases, traceable decisions” approach of lunheng-article-pipeline.

Core Features¶

Conversation-level toggle. An extra “Sort out” toggle appears to the left of the input box. When enabled, the AI won’t write immediately but will instead ask questions: What is this trying to say? Why is it valid? Who might disagree? What materials are missing? The toggle is conversation-specific and doesn’t persist across different conversations, so it won’t silently take over all discussions.

Three-phase progression.
* Sort out: Clearly list out your own views and the views derived from the conversation.
* Critique: Identify defects in the plan and your understanding.
* Research: Abstract the problem into searchable propositions, verify across domains, and then ground it back to your needs.

The conclusion of each phase exists separately within this train of thought; switching phases won’t overwrite the previous one. During the progression, the main idea, structure, and unresolved problems are noted along the way. When the toggle is disabled, this train of thought is archived into the Thoughts Center in settings, grouped by genre, and is searchable and viewable.

Phase gate. When a phase is nearing completion, the plugin pauses for you to choose: stay in the current phase to dig deeper or move to the next. Each phase is only asked once. You can also say “Go to the next phase” at any time. Additionally, a “Push to Phase N” button appears next to the input box. Before clicking, the plugin checks the checklist of deliverables for that phase; if something is missing, it reports which items are missing, and a second click allows you to force the progression. This checklist is judged by the machine for presence or absence; whether the judgment is good or bad remains the user’s responsibility.

Scratchpad. Clicking the orb in the bottom right turns it into a notepad instantly; clicking the × in the top right turns it back. The position doesn’t jump; both can be dragged. The position is saved, and dragging it to the screen edge will cause it to auto-bounce back. Four dots in the top right switch the paper color: beige, eye-protection green, white, and dark grey. Write a sentence and click “Save” or press ⌘/Ctrl + Enter. No genre or order is required.

When you have enough and want to sort them seriously, select one and click “Go Research.” The plugin opens a new conversation, types that sentence into the input box using a fixed template, and enables the sort toggle for you. If you want to limit the direction, you can add a sentence at the end and press Enter. Sparks that have been used are marked “Opened” but won’t disappear. Sparks and trains of thought are stored separately: sparks are raw material, and trains of thought are finished products.

Installation & Enablement¶

The official installation method is to have the agent execute the following in a DSH conversation:

plugin_manager action=install_bundle target=<directory absolute path>

No restart is required after installation; first check application: applied. Then, a toggle appears on the left side of the dialog box, and a scratchpad orb appears in the bottom-right corner.

The README also provides a command for an npm method at the top:

dsh plugin --profile desktop add dsh-sort-out-the-thoughts

This plugin requires DSH engine >=0.2.0-rc.1 and Node version ^22.19.0 || >=24.0.0.

Typical Usage¶

1. Open a conversation and click “Sort out” on the left of the input box.
2. Say the messy thoughts in your head directly; the rougher the better, no need to organize language.
3. Answer the questions. If you find it annoying, say “Stop asking, give me a skeleton first,” and the plugin will comply.
4. When ready to finish, say “About right, finalize,” and the entry will be archived.
5. Go to Settings -> Thoughts Center to find it. Each entry has a delete key on the right; clicking once confirms the deletion, and clicking again actually deletes it.

Data Location¶

All data is standard JSON, located at:

<DSH_HOME>/plugin-data/dsh-sort-out-the-thoughts/
  thoughts.json   (Thought Library)
  mode.json       (which conversations have sort mode enabled)
  sparks.json     (Scratchpad)
  prefs.json      (Preferences)

DSH_HOME defaults to ~/.dsh. It can be backed up or moved at any time.

There is only one configuration item:

Scenarios & Notes¶

Suitable for those who treat the first draft of ideas for writing, speeches, or self-media content as a process to run through, especially when staring at an empty input box causes a blockage and you need to be prompted to think clearly.

A few points to note:

• The plugin runs with the permissions of the current dsh process. Before installing, you should open the source code and LICENSE to inspect it yourself; do not just rely on the directory page description.
• It pushes ideas into structure but does not verify facts, quotes, or data for you. You still need to verify these yourself.
• The evolution trajectory only records snapshots of phases, main ideas, and titles; it does not store the full text of every version. To preserve the full text, export the Markdown yourself.
• To uninstall:

plugin_manager action=remove_bundle target=dsh-sort-out-the-thoughts

Uninstalling does not delete the thought library. To clear it completely, you must manually delete the data directory mentioned above.

Conclusion¶

The value of this plugin lies not in generation, but in splitting “thinking clearly” into three checkable phases: each phase has a product, there is a gate between phases, and decisions leave traces. If you often have AI push you to write finished products before your ideas are fully formed, it is worth installing and trying it.

Directory page: https://www.skillhub.cn/plugins/hulibuld/dsh-sort-out-the-thoughts
GitHub: https://github.com/hulibuld/dsh-sort-out-the-thoughts