deepseek-kubernetes-sandbox/docs/main-image.md

The main DSH Web image

This repository's primary artifact is a container image that packages DeepSeek Harness Web (dsh web) for Kubernetes and plain Docker. The Dockerfile at the repository root builds it; every version pin it uses lives in versions.env.

The image is image-first: it is the product, and the examples under examples/ are self-contained implementations that consume it.

What the build does

The Dockerfile is a two-stage build:

1. Build stage (node:24-trixie) clones DSH at the pinned git ref, installs dependencies with pnpm, runs the production build, packages the @deepseek-ai/dsh CLI with pnpm pack, and installs its production dependencies with npm.
2. Runtime stage (node:24-trixie-slim) copies /opt/dsh to /app, adds the CLI tools DSH agents commonly use (git, ripgrep, jq, yq, curl, wget, gh, tini, uv), installs bubblewrap as DSH's preferred command-sandbox runner, and starts dsh web through a small entrypoint.

Build it

make image          # canonical: builds the DSH Web image, no push

make image reads versions.env and passes the pins as build args. Pull requests that touch Dockerfile, .dockerignore or versions.env get the same build for linux/amd64 from the ci-image.yaml workflow — no registry login, no push — followed by a container smoke test. To reproduce the equivalent by hand:

docker build \
  --build-arg DSH_VERSION=dsh-v0.2.1-rc.5 \
  --build-arg RELEASE_REVISION= \
  --build-arg PNPM_VERSION=11.28.5 \
  --build-arg VCS_REF="$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)" \
  -t ghcr.io/sredevopsorg/deepseek-kubernetes-sandbox:dsh-v0.2.1-rc.5 .

Build args

Arg	Default / source	Purpose
DSH_REPO	https://github.com/deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness.git	Upstream DSH repository to clone.
DSH_VERSION	DSH_VERSION in versions.env	Upstream DSH git tag/ref to package; recorded as org.opencontainers.image.version.
RELEASE_REVISION	RELEASE_REVISION in versions.env	Repository revision suffix (rN); the release identity is DSH_VERSION-RELEASE_REVISION, recorded in the io.sredevopsorg.release.revision label. See versioning.
PNPM_VERSION	PNPM_VERSION in versions.env	pnpm version activated with corepack in both stages.
VCS_REF	git rev-parse --short HEAD (via make image)	Source revision recorded for traceability.
NODE_BUILD_IMAGE	docker.io/node:24-trixie	Build-stage base image.
NODE_RUNTIME_IMAGE	docker.io/node:24-trixie-slim	Runtime-stage base image.

Never hard-code a version outside versions.env: ./scripts/check-versions.sh (and make check) fails when a pin drifts.

Runtime contract

Entrypoint

The entrypoint is tini -- /usr/local/bin/dsh-entrypoint:

1. tini runs as PID 1 and reaps children/forwards signals.
2. The shell entrypoint applies defaults, derives a bind address when DSH_HOST is empty (the pod/container's first non-loopback IPv4), builds the dsh web command line, and execs it so signals reach the Node process.
3. localhost and 127.0.0.1 are always added to DSH's trusted-host list; each DSH_TRUSTED_HOSTS entry is added as an extra --trusted-host.

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Purpose
DSH_PORT	3080	Port DSH Web listens on inside the container.
DSH_HOST	auto-detected non-loopback IPv4	Bind address. Leave empty in Kubernetes so the pod IP is used automatically.
DSH_PUBLIC_URL	http://localhost:${DSH_PORT}	Public base URL used to build links and the launch-token URL printed in the logs. Set it when the container is published on a different host port or behind a proxy.
DSH_TRUSTED_HOSTS	empty	Extra Host/Origin allow-list entries, comma- or space-separated. localhost/127.0.0.1 are always trusted. Required when a proxy forwards the browser's Host.
DEEPSEEK_API_KEY	empty	Provider credential read by DSH. Inject it with -e/envFrom; never bake it into the image. Only model calls fail when it is missing.
DSH_HOME	/home/node/.dsh	DSH state directory (conversations, sessions, config, credentials). Mount a volume here to persist it.
HOME	/home/node	OS home: where ~ resolves and where tools keep caches and config. DSH's directory picker has no start-path setting, so it lists $HOME when opened. The shipped sandbox templates override it to /workspace so the picker opens on the persisted workspace; the trade-offs are below.
DSH_PERMISSION_MODE	workspace-write	Deployment default for DSH's file policy: read-only, workspace-write, or danger-full-access (which also turns approval prompts off). The confined modes need bubblewrap or Landlock inside the container; where neither is usable every bash command fails closed with SANDBOX_UNAVAILABLE. See the note below.

The image also sets NODE_ENV=production, HOME=/home/node, and a PATH that includes /app/node_modules/.bin.

HOME decides where DSH's folder picker starts. DSH has no start-path setting: the picker's browse backend lists $HOME when the dialog opens and labels that listing Home. With the image default (/home/node) that listing is outside a mounted volume; the example sandbox templates (minimal, agents as a service) set HOME=/workspace so the picker opens on the persisted agent workspace. ~ and every tool that keeps caches or config under $HOME (npm/pnpm, uv, git, gh, DSH's global ~/.agents instructions and skills) follow, so those dotfiles then live on the workspace volume too. DSH_HOME is separate and stays /home/node/.dsh, so sessions, config and credentials stay out of the workspace. An existing sandbox stamps this environment at pod creation, so the override only applies to sandboxes created after it was added.

DSH confines bash commands itself (a second layer inside whatever container sandbox you already run). Its Linux runners are bubblewrap and then Landlock, and it fails closed rather than running unconfined. The image ships bubblewrap, but Debian's binary is unsetuid: it needs unprivileged user namespaces plus the namespace/mount syscalls. A hardened pod — non-root, capabilities.drop: ["ALL"], seccompProfile: RuntimeDefault — usually cannot create one, and it may expose no Landlock runner either, in which case every command fails with SANDBOX_UNAVAILABLE. Set DSH_PERMISSION_MODE=danger-full-access only when the surrounding pod or VM is the isolation boundary you rely on; keep the confined modes when the host provides a working runner (check grep -o landlock /sys/kernel/security/lsm and bwrap --ro-bind / / true inside the container first).

Provider credentials

DSH resolves provider API keys from the environment when no stored credential exists. The packaged provider catalog maps each provider to its standard environment name. Commonly used names:

DEEPSEEK_API_KEY, OPENROUTER_API_KEY, GEMINI_API_KEY, NVIDIA_API_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, GROQ_API_KEY, XAI_API_KEY, MISTRAL_API_KEY, TOGETHER_API_KEY, CEREBRAS_API_KEY, AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY, HF_TOKEN.

Use GEMINI_API_KEY for Google Gemini (not GOOGLE_API_KEY), HF_TOKEN for Hugging Face, and AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY for the Vercel AI Gateway. Inject keys with -e/--env-file in Docker or a Secret + envFrom in Kubernetes; never bake them into the image.

A key saved through DSH's credential store ($DSH_HOME/.credentials.yaml) wins over the environment. The agents-as-a-service example documents the optional dsh-provider-keys-extra Secret and the pod-refresh procedure.

Ports, volumes and signals

Item	Value	Notes
Exposed port	3080/tcp	EXPOSE 3080; one port serves the UI, assets, API, SSE and WebSocket traffic.
State volume	/home/node/.dsh	Declared with VOLUME; use a named volume (Docker) or PVC (Kubernetes).
Working directory	/workspace	The agent workspace. Mount a volume here if agents should keep files; the agents-as-a-service example mounts the same PVC's workspace subPath here and points HOME at it, so DSH's folder picker opens on it.
Stop signal	SIGTERM	tini forwards it to dsh web; allow a graceful shutdown period.
User	node, UID/GID 1000	The process is non-root. A PVC mounted at DSH_HOME must be writable by UID 1000.

Health probes

/ is not a health endpoint: DSH returns 401 until a browser completes the launch-token handshake. Probe /favicon.svg instead — it is unauthenticated and served by the web layer, so it proves the HTTP server is up without triggering auth.

startupProbe:
  httpGet: {path: /favicon.svg, port: 3080}
  periodSeconds: 5
  failureThreshold: 24
readinessProbe:
  httpGet: {path: /favicon.svg, port: 3080}
  periodSeconds: 5
livenessProbe:
  httpGet: {path: /favicon.svg, port: 3080}
  periodSeconds: 15

The shipped templates use exactly this shape; see examples/minimal-single-tenant/manifests/sandbox-template.yaml. A startupProbe is important because plugin activation (or the first start of a large sandbox) can exceed a default liveness budget.

Launch token

DSH prints its one-time launch URL to the logs:

dsh web: http://<host>:${DSH_PORT}/?token=...

Open that URL once to obtain DSH's auth cookie. After that the UI works at the bare URL; without the cookie / answers 401 by design. The agents-as-a-service gateway performs this handshake server-side so browsers never see the token.

Published image names and tags

Registry layout: the main image is the repository itself, and every example component is a nested package below it:

ghcr.io/sredevopsorg/deepseek-kubernetes-sandbox                        # main DSH Web image
ghcr.io/sredevopsorg/deepseek-kubernetes-sandbox/dsh-agents-as-a-service/gateway   # example component

The main image is published multi-arch (linux/amd64, linux/arm64) to GitHub Container Registry:

Tag	Meaning
dsh-v0.2.1-rc.5	Current release identity. Immutable: once published it never moves.
latest	Most recent release; points at the same digest as the current identity.
main	Development channel rebuilt from every push to main; not a release, not for production.

Tags published before the release-identity scheme remain published but are not updated; new deployments use the current identity.

Release identities, channels and rollback rules are defined in versioning. Tags are immutable, so production deployments should pin a digest:

docker buildx imagetools inspect ghcr.io/sredevopsorg/deepseek-kubernetes-sandbox:dsh-v0.2.1-rc.5
# ... pin the digest in your deployment manifests:
#   image: ghcr.io/sredevopsorg/deepseek-kubernetes-sandbox@sha256:<digest>

Verifying an image

docker inspect ghcr.io/sredevopsorg/deepseek-kubernetes-sandbox:dsh-v0.2.1-rc.5 \
  --format '{{json .Config.Labels}}'
# org.opencontainers.image.title / .version / .source

Release builds also publish SBOM and provenance attestations from the release workflow (see SECURITY.md and gitflow).