Get started

Install it, start it, verify it

One setup for most people: the desktop app. Three alternates for special cases — the release zip, the repository starter, or a single bundle. All run the same blueprint in an isolated DSH_HOME.

Before you start

The suite runs on DSH. The desktop setup installs what is missing; only the TIA and PLCSIM tools need Siemens software.

Operating system: Windows 10/11 x64 for the desktop shell and all TIA/PLCSIM work. The non-TIA plugins can load on other platforms, but this guide assumes Windows.
DeepSeek Harness: The desktop setup reuses an installed DSH (≥ 0.2.1-rc.1; verified against 0.2.1-rc.2) and downloads the official runtime when it is missing. The zip and single-bundle paths expect it preinstalled.
TIA Portal V17: Only for the TIA tools: V17 with Openness — V16 and V18 are not compatible; TIA also brings the .NET Framework 4.8 runtime the controllers use. Requires Siemens.Engineering.dll under PublicAPI\V17 and the current user in the local “Siemens TIA Openness” group.
PLCSIM Advanced: Optional; only for the simulation tools. Needs PLCSIM Advanced with API 4.0 (4.0–7.0 runtimes work).
Git CLI: Only for the git tools. DSH does not bundle git; run git --version, or install Git for Windows.

Excel and PDF support is pure JavaScript/WASM — no Microsoft Office or Acrobat install. The only desktop software this suite calls is TIA Portal, PLCSIM Advanced and Git.

Install the desktop app

Recommended since 0.2.3: one setup exe, per-user, no Node, no console window. The wizard installs the WebView2 shell, a pre-built profile and the doctor, and downloads DeepSeek Harness and WebView2 first if either is missing.

Run the setup

Download dsh-automation-suite-setup-<version>.exe from Releases and run it. The binary is not code-signed, so Windows stops it once with the SmartScreen dialog below — “Unknown publisher” is expected here, not a sign of tampering.

SmartScreen before “More info” — the only visible button is “Don’t run”.
Allow it through SmartScreen

Click More info, check that the app is dsh-automation-suite-setup-<version>.exe with publisher “Unknown publisher”, then click Run anyway. If you want certainty first, compare the published SHA-256 with Get-FileHash.

After “More info”: the file name, the publisher, and “Run anyway”.
Welcome page

The wizard names the version it is about to install and asks you to close other applications. Nothing has been written yet; the close button leaves the machine untouched.

Setup - DSH Automation Suite, version 0.2.3.
Destination folder

The default is %LOCALAPPDATA%\dsh-automation-suite — per-user, no administrator rights, removable through Windows Settings. The profile ships with its node_modules already materialized, so setup needs about 218 MB; the stable shell, the versioned app layer, install.json and the uninstaller all live here.

$Destination location page with the path C:\Users\Ansel\AppData\Local\dsh-automation-suite and a note that 217.8 MB of free disk space is required.$
Destination: %LOCALAPPDATA%\dsh-automation-suite, at least 217.8 MB free.
Additional tasks

A desktop shortcut is the only optional task; the Start-menu entry is always created. Next starts the copy. If DSH or WebView2 is missing, the wizard then runs a PowerShell step that downloads the official package (DSH is about 300 MB) and verifies its SHA-512 and DeepSeek signature before installing it — that is the only part that needs a network. Afterwards it copies the fixed profile into dsh-automation-suite-home, merges any older overrides and runs doctor.

Additional icons: create a desktop shortcut (optional).
Finish and launch

Leave Launch DSH Automation Suite checked and click Finish. The app window opens with the suite profile already active — there is no console window to keep open.

Completing the wizard — uncheck the launch box to only install the shortcuts.
What opens

A WebView2 window with the same 40 px title bar as the DeepSeek Harness desktop app — Application and Edit menus on the left, window buttons on the right, the suite preset and its five right-hand tabs already loaded. There is no address bar and the shell never depends on your browser. Theme and language follow the app's own settings, as the two thumbnails below show.

The shell after setup: light theme, English UI.

Dark theme, English UI.

Dark theme, 中文 UI.
Working in it

A session in progress: the model runs the TIA tools one by one (project_status, workspace_describe, open_project, project_version_query, git_status), the chat shows its planning and the to-do list, and the Versions panel renders the last two commits with every changed block and whether the change touched the interface, the code, the comments or the block properties. This is the shipped UI, not a mockup.

A running session — tool calls, to-dos and the Versions panel in the dark shell.

The setup never bundles the DSH runtime: it reuses what you have, or fetches the official package from download.deepseek.com. A DSH newer than the verified 0.2.1-rc.2 is allowed after a warning; one older than 0.2.1-rc.1 is refused rather than overwritten. On an offline machine, install DSH and WebView2 first — after that the wizard works without a network, because nothing is fetched from npm.

Other install paths

Same blueprint, different packaging. Use these when you cannot run an installer, want the current worktree, or need a single bundle.

Release zip

No build, no Node; installs into a versioned profile under %USERPROFILE%\dsh-automation-suite-home and starts DSH from a console. Needs an installed DSH.

From source

For development. Runs the current worktree; needs Node 22.19+ and the pnpm bundled with DSH; -Mode pack tests the real tarballs.

One plugin only

Advanced. Every package is its own bundle; install its tarball and add the matching /tools row when it has one.

A · Release zip

PowerShell · release zip

$ .\install.cmd
$ .\start.cmd

Download dsh-automation-suite-<version>.zip from Releases and extract it first. Double-clicking the two .cmd files works too; install.cmd avoids the PowerShell execution-policy block on downloaded scripts.

B · From source

PowerShell · source

$ git clone https://github.com/voltarenyah/dsh-automation-suite
$ cd dsh-automation-suite
$ pwsh -NoProfile -File scripts\start-env.ps1

The starter builds the packages, materializes the profile in %USERPROFILE%\dsh-automation-suite-home, links the local packages, starts dsh and opens the tokenized URL. Use -Mode pack to test the release tarballs and -Restart to replace a running instance.

C · One plugin only

PowerShell · single bundle

$ dsh plugin --profile web add <tarball-url>

TIA, PLCSIM, graph and git expose model tools only after a /tools row is added; engineering-context also needs TIA and git at runtime. This path is for advanced users — the Architecture page has the surface matrix.

These three paths assume DeepSeek Harness is already installed: the zip installer exits with an error if it cannot find dsh.cmd. Only the desktop setup can fetch the runtime for you.

First start

From an opened window to a working session.

Open the window — or the printed URL

The desktop shell starts DSH for you and loads the tokenized URL into its own window; the zip path prints dsh web: http://127.0.0.1:<port>/?token=… in the console instead. Either way the token is required and changes on every start — the bare port returns 401, so do not share the URL.
Add a model API key

Settings → Models, or the first-run prompt. The release profile defaults to dsh-opencode-go / deepseek-v4.1-flash; add that provider's key or pick another model. Credentials stay in this DSH_HOME.
Add a workspace

Point at the project folder. The left sidebar is a registry stored in DSH_HOME, not a scan of the disk, so every workspace is added explicitly; since 0.2.3 the picker is the app's own directory surface, not the Windows folder dialog.
Verify the engineering path

TIA: open or create a project and make a read-only call. Graph: create_engineering_project should report a built database; “not built” often means .NET 8 is missing — install Microsoft.DotNet.Runtime.8. Git: run git --version.
Quit from the menu, not the X

The window's close button hides it to the tray and the app — TIA controller included — keeps running; use Application → Exit or the tray's Exit to stop everything. On the zip path, closing the console stops the service and start.cmd starts it again. Sessions, workspaces and credentials persist either way.

First TIA call: allow Openness access

The first tool call that touches TIA is gated by Portal itself: “Openness access (0033:…)” asks whether TiaOpennessV17Min.Controller.exe — the controller under the profile's node_modules — may attach to the running instance. That dialog is Siemens', not the suite's, and there is no silent bypass. Yes grants the current session only; Yes to all also saves the authorization in the V17 whitelist (HKLM\SOFTWARE\Siemens\Automation\Openness\17.0\Whitelist), which is what stops the prompt coming back after a rebuild or an upgrade — writing it needs an elevated TIA. No makes the call fail: retry and allow it.

Openness access — the suite's controller asking the running Portal for permission (open the full window).

Large projects and long calls

The default requestTimeoutMs is 300000 (5 minutes). Exporting a few hundred blocks already takes about 87 s, and compiling a large project can take more than 10 minutes. Raise it in the profile patch (or the matching settings row) before the first large TIA or graph call.

- id: tia-openness-v17-min
  config:
    requestTimeoutMs: 900000
- id: engineering-graph
  config:
    requestTimeoutMs: 900000

The same value bounds a single-device graph build; a 1,376-file project took about 30 s, but large projects deserve the headroom.

Installation notes

The things that most often go wrong, and the safe way to undo.

Topic	What to know
DSH runtime	The desktop setup reuses an installed DSH at or above 0.2.1-rc.1 and downloads the official runtime when it is missing, checking SHA-512 and the DeepSeek signature. The zip installer only finds an existing `dsh.cmd` (or `DSH_EXE`).
SmartScreen	Neither the setup exe nor the zip scripts are signed. For the setup: More info → Run anyway. For the scripts, use `install.cmd` / `start.cmd` (they set a process-level bypass and pause on errors); running `install.ps1` directly may close before you can read the error.
Two roots	Desktop: app files in `%LOCALAPPDATA%\dsh-automation-suite`, user data in `%USERPROFILE%\dsh-automation-suite-home` with the fixed profile name `dsh-automation-suite`. The zip path uses the same home with a versioned profile. Nothing is written to `~/.dsh`.
Upgrade / rollback	Desktop: exit the app, then run the next setup over the old one — the shell is replaced, the app layer gets a new versioned folder, and the fixed profile's `cordis.patch.yml` overrides are backed up as `.bak-<timestamp>` and merged. Web zip: each version gets its own profile, so start the older one to roll back.
Uninstall	Desktop: Windows Settings → Apps → DSH Automation Suite removes the shell, the app layers and the shortcuts; `dsh-automation-suite-home` is kept. Delete user data with `cmd /c rmdir /s /q "%USERPROFILE%\dsh-automation-suite-home"`; never use a recursive delete that follows junctions.
External runtimes	The shell needs Evergreen WebView2 (the setup installs the bootstrapper when it is missing). Only TIA and PLCSIM need Siemens software. The graph needs .NET 8; git needs `git.exe`; Excel/PDF need no Office or Acrobat. TIA and PLCSIM licensing is yours.
Network / proxy	The desktop setup needs GitHub for the download and `download.deepseek.com` for DSH/WebView2 when they are missing — never npm, because the profile ships materialized. The zip path needs GitHub and npm; on an isolated network, mirror the registry or pre-stage the tarballs.
Ports	The shell starts DSH with an OS-assigned free port (`--port 0`), so there is nothing to configure — the window loads whatever port was picked. The zip path's `start.cmd` picks 3093+ automatically instead; it also accepts `-Port`, and `-NoOpen` suppresses the browser.
Desktop shell	0.2.3 ships the WebView2 shell and the per-user installer: Start-menu entry, optional desktop shortcut, tray, single instance, logs reachable from the tray's Open logs. There is still no auto-update — upgrade by running the next setup.
Security	Treat the tokenized URL as a secret; it grants the session. Keep DSH_HOME out of source control — credentials and sessions live there.

Releases Repository README

Install it, start it, verify it

Before you start

Install the desktop app

Run the setup

Allow it through SmartScreen

Welcome page

Destination folder

Additional tasks

Finish and launch

What opens

Working in it

Other install paths

Release zip

From source

One plugin only

A · Release zip

B · From source

C · One plugin only

First start

Open the window — or the printed URL

Add a model API key

Add a workspace

Verify the engineering path

Quit from the menu, not the X

First TIA call: allow Openness access

Large projects and long calls

Installation notes