The **DeepSeek Harness SDK** builds agent harnesses on Cordis. The principle is simple: **everything is a plugin**. The shipped loop is one plugin, not a privileged kernel.
Events form the service extension API; see the exhaustive [events catalog](cordis-catalog/events.md) and [producer/consumer map](event-producer-consumer.md).
- **Session events** are durable, replayable facts: boundaries, messages, tool activity, steering, compaction, and tool-owned records append to the log and flow through `session/event`.
- **Agent events** carry the live `Agent` handle for status, diagnostics, prompt admission, request shaping, result validation, and continuation policy.
- **Capability events** belong to their owning seam; `tools/*`, `llm/*`, `system-prompt/*`, `fs/*`, and `subagent/*` attach policy and adapters without importing the loop.
Waterfall events behave like around-middleware: a listener delegates by calling `next()`; returning without it vetoes or takes over. Full rule: [Cordis waterfall semantics](cordis-primer.md#cordis-waterfall-semantics).
A **session** is an append-only log. Each ordinary **turn** claims one queued `send()` item; injection claims none. A claimed `send()` successor awaits the preceding claimed ordinary turn's checkpoint but may share its `running` interval ([decision](../.agents/notes/implemented/simplification/2026-07-17-one-send-one-turn.md)). A turn ends when model and plugins stop it. A **step** is one model request plus tools. Below ([sequence companion](agent-lifecycle.md)), quotes mark durable events; other names are extension points.
Each step assembles ordered prompt sections, tool schemas, and `{{name}}` variables; unknown or valueless references fail the turn. `dsh-system-prompt` owns the harness identity and default persona, which an agent scope may shadow. The loop supplies `model` and `cwd` ([prompt ownership](../.agents/notes/implemented/architecture/2026-07-05-prompt-variables-and-tool-guidance-ownership.md)).
Tool-time context—including async `agent.inject()` notices and post-tool `additionalContexts`—settles, then follows recorded results. Steering drains before `agent/post-step`, which observes durable output, results, context, and steering before signal closure. Leftovers become queued input. Terminal `agent/turn-stop` runs after continuation and steering folding, stays authoritative through turn close and flush, and discards later steering but preserves queued prompts.
The turn is the containment boundary. Adapter failures close the step, entering `agent/request-error` with the exact `Error`, `LlmFailure`, and retry history. Retry opens a numbered step; success clears history; exhaustion stores the failure on `turn/end`. Failed chunks commit no message or tool.
Other failures use `agent/error`. Cancellation and disposal beat recovery; undispatched model tool calls receive synthetic `tool/call` and `ABORTED` result pairs before `turn/end`. `cancel()` clears queues and aborts active work; disposal awaits quiescence before unregistering.
Every session event is turn-enclosed. Reloading preserves an interrupted tail and closes it with a synthetic `interrupted` turn end. Failures after durable turn close report only through `agent/error` because no safe in-turn position remains. Each turn has one `TurnEndReason`; [TurnEndReasonMap](core-data-structures/session.md#why-a-turn-ended-turnendreasonmap) owns the variants.
`ctx.agents` owns live agents and returns `AgentHandle { agent, dispose() }`. Plugins drive `Agent` through `send()`, `steer()`, `inject()`, `cancel()`, and `whenIdle()`. The caller fiber and factory provider structurally co-own programmatic lifecycles; the consumer handle is the only other teardown capability. All owners await one disposer.
Every live agent owns a scoped `agent.ctx`. Its registrations shadow globals, receive only that agent's dispatches, and unwind with it; async effects such as background-task cleanup are awaited. `CreateAgentOptions.setup(agentCtx)` composes the scope before publication. Typed resolvers derive carrier checks from merged `Events` signatures and `scopeTarget` ([semantic gates](../.agents/notes/implemented/process/2026-07-14-typescript-program-backed-semantic-gates.md)). See [agent scope](../.agents/notes/implemented/architecture/2026-07-08-agent-scope-contexts.md) and [subagent composition controls](../.agents/notes/implemented/feature/2026-07-12-subagent-persona-tool-filter-and-depth.md). `AgentLoop` runs drivers inside `ctx.agents.withInitiator()`; private orchestration derives `agent.session`; other identities stay explicit ([decision](../.agents/notes/implemented/architecture/2026-07-15-agent-initiator-scope.md)).
The session log is the source of truth. `deriveMessages()` projects session events into the `Message[]` sent to the model; raw `assistant/chunk` events stay in the log for replay and UI fidelity. Replay, fork, resume, transcript rendering, telemetry, and persistence all derive from the same event stream.
**Model-visible ⟺ logged**: the log reconstructs every request — messages at `step/start` fronted by the header's session prefix, headers by folding `request/header` — and dev invariants assert this ([reconstructability](../.agents/notes/implemented/architecture/2026-07-05-reconstructable-requests.md)).
Durability is a plugin concern. Backends buffer synchronous `session/event` notifications; the loop awaits a turn-end checkpoint. `SessionPersistence` stores `SessionEvent` directly and metadata in `SessionHeader`; JSONL defaults to checksummed Zstandard, with SQLite under one contract.
Messages contain typed blocks (`text`, `reasoning`, `tool-call`, `tool-result`) derived from merge-extensible `ContentBlockMap`; the same pattern types `MessageSource`, `FinishReason`, `TurnTrigger`, and `TurnEndReason`. New block types coordinate adapters, UI bridges, compaction pricing, token metering, and persistence as one repo-wide contract; replay measurement types live in [token-meter.md](core-data-structures/token-meter.md).
Streaming uses raw chunks and `BlockAssembler`. One `LlmAdapter.stream()` is one provider attempt; adapters report facts, while recovery policy lives on `agent/request-error`. The loop logs chunks and successful provenance/replay state. Remote adapters stop stalled transport with per-read idle watchdogs. Replay state reaches targets only when routes share an adapter instance ([contract](core-data-structures/llm-streaming.md)).
A swappable capability usually splits into **interface / implementation / consumer**: the interface owns its `ctx` key and events, an implementation registers a backend, and a consumer exposes model behavior through tools or prompts. Bash is the reference; the [capability graph](capability-seams.md) shows every family.
Some seams bend the template deliberately: LLM combines interface and consumer because adapters implement it; filesystem wraps provider primitives with policy; web keeps search/fetch provider registries behind one service; skills and subagents use named providers. Subagents spawn fresh, fork a completed-turn prefix, or use ACP children ([subagent.md](core-data-structures/subagent.md)).
`dsh-workspace-context` composes baselines on `agent/session-prefix` and appends `ctx.fs`-discovered nested changes on `tools/post-execute`; its [decision](../.agents/notes/implemented/feature/2026-06-24-workspace-context.md) records isolation. `dsh-paths` owns shared paths.
`dsh-agent-spine-demo` bundles the default spine ([README](../packages/examples/agent-spine-demo/README.md)). `dsh-tui-demo` owns the interactive full-screen terminal; `dsh-cli-demo` runs one persisted headless turn with format-pure stdout; `dsh-acp-demo` adds stdout-pure ACP over JSON-RPC ([ui/](../packages/ui/README.md)). `dsh-jsonrpc-agent` boots external `cordis.yml`; the Python SDK supplies its default only without an explicit config channel and drives `dsh-jsonrpc` over line-delimited JSON-RPC ([Python SDK](../python/README.md)). Deployments remain thin leaves with swappable backends and optional product tools ([examples/](../examples/AGENTS.md), [runnable wirings](cookbook/extension-cookbook.md#runnable-wirings), [graph atlas](graph-atlas.md)).
| Intercept prompts, requests, model completion/failure, tool use, or continuation | listen on the relevant `agent/*` or `tools/*` event; use serial `agent/turn-stop` for a monotonic terminal stop |
The [extension cookbook](cookbook/extension-cookbook.md) carries plugin skeletons and the feature-to-seam map; step-by-step guides cover [packages](cookbook/adding-a-package.md), [tools](cookbook/adding-a-tool.md), [LLM adapters](cookbook/adding-an-llm-adapter.md), and [vendored packages](cookbook/adding-a-vendored-package.md).
