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. Final adapter-path and terminal in-band failures close the step before `agent/request-error`; retry opens a numbered step; otherwise, the provider error survives. Attempts reset on success.
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 (`block-start` through `finish`) and `BlockAssembler`. The loop logs and assembles chunks, storing provider/model provenance plus replay state. An `LlmAdapter` implements `stream()`, registers provider routes, and may expose selector metadata; it resolves and validates model ids. Replay state reaches targets only when both routes map to one adapter instance, which owns validation and conversion. The contract lives in [llm-streaming.md](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).
