The model-facing `bash` tool registered over the `ctx.bash` executor seam. Foreground execution stays behind that seam; a background process handle is registered with the generic `ctx.tasks` runtime and controlled through `task_output`, `task_list`, and `task_kill` from `@deepseek-ai/dsh-tool-tasks`.
The package root exposes only the Cordis plugin contract (`name`, `inject`, `Config`, `apply`); result rendering and background-process adaptation remain implementation details covered by same-package tests.
The plugin also contributes the `tool:bash` prompt section (order 105): check the `[exit code: N]` marker on every result and investigate failures before moving on.
| `workdir` | string | Working directory for this call. Defaults to the filesystem identity of the calling agent's session cwd (`session.header.cwd`) so each session runs in its own workspace; a relative `workdir` is resolved against that same identity. |
| `sandbox_permissions` | string enum | ADVERTISED ONLY when the mounted executor sandboxes (`ctx.bash.sandboxMode` reports a confining default): the wider mode a denied command needs, from the closed target vocabulary `workspace-write`/`danger-full-access` (never cut down to the executor's default — the effective mode is per-session; strict widening is checked at execution against it, and a non-widening request fails without prompting anyone). |
| `justification` | string | Required together with `sandbox_permissions` (each without the other is a validation error): one sentence for the user explaining why this exact command needs the wider access. |
`command`, `workdir`, and `timeoutMs` are resolved against the executor's config defaults via `ctx.bash.resolve()` before execution, so the executor seam (`BashExecSpec`) receives explicit `workdir`/`timeoutMs` values. The workdir default is applied in the tool layer from the calling agent's `session.header.cwd` BEFORE `resolve()` — the per-session cwd must come from `exec.agent`, since N sessions share one executor; only when no session cwd is available does the executor fall back to its own config / `process.cwd()`. When sandbox policy is present, the tool reuses its already-canonical `workspaceRoot` as the workdir base so confinement and process launch cannot resolve the same session spelling differently.
Every foreground and background model bash call receives a newly collected trusted `DSH_*` environment. `DSH_HOME` is the absolute Harness home resolved by [`@deepseek-ai/dsh-paths`](../../util/paths/README.md) (`dshHome` config, then ambient `$DSH_HOME`, then `~/.dsh`) and `DSH_SHELL=1` identifies the managed child. Agent calls additionally receive `DSH_SESSION_ID=agent.session.header.id`; when the active persistence seam locates a JSONL artifact they also receive `DSH_SESSION_JSONL=<absolute target path>`. The JSONL path is a location hint: it may not exist before the first flush or contain the current buffered turn, and it is not an authorization credential.
`ctx.bashEnv` owns collection. Other plugins can register an effect-scoped contributor with a stable name, declared keys/descriptions, and `resolve(execution: ToolExecution)`; duplicate ownership and undeclared runtime keys fail loudly, while `list()` enumerates declarations without executing providers. Harness built-ins reserve `DSH_HOME`, `DSH_SHELL`, and `DSH_SESSION_ID`; tool-bash's persistence translator owns `DSH_SESSION_JSONL` by reading the backend-neutral `sessionPersistence.locate()` seam.
The overlay is computed from the current `ToolExecution` and passed through the dedicated `BashExecRequest.dshEnv` channel. The local executor removes all inherited `DSH_*` before merging that snapshot, so nested harnesses and concurrent parent/child agents cannot leak stale identities. `process.env` is never modified. The tool description teaches the generic `$DSH_*` convention rather than naming persistence-specific variables or adding a permanent system-prompt section.
Result text contains stdout, an optional `[stderr]` section, then applicable sandbox-denial, timeout, signal, exit-code, and truncation markers. Timeout is reported independently of final exit status; nonzero exit remains a model-interpreted result rather than `isError`. Truncation links a safe complete spill file or reports it unavailable. Only infrastructure failures such as spawn errors and aborts produce `isError`.
The canonical success is `{ kind: 'foreground', ...BashRunResult }` for a completed foreground process or `{ kind: 'background', taskId }` for a published task. The Native renderer preserves the text above, including exactly `started background task <id>`; programmatic consumers use the typed fields without parsing those strings. Executor stream caps remain acquisition limits on `BashRunResult` and carry their spill paths.
When `run_in_background` is true, this plugin preflights `ctx.tasks.start()` before spawning, registers the calling agent as owner, and adapts the returned `BashProcess` handle into generic cancel/done/incremental-output hooks. The task runtime owns ids, cross-session isolation, completion notices, waiting, and disposal cleanup; this plugin only maps bash exit/sandbox facts into task output and outcome detail. `enableRunInBackground: false` removes the parameter and rejects a forced background call at execution time.
The tool owns its `presentCall`/`presentResult` render intent. A foreground call is a terminal card carrying command, description, cwd, raw output, and parsed exit status. A background start is a generic execute card because it returns only a task id; the generic `task_*` tools own their own cards. These presenters are pure and replay-safe.
The `BashExecRequest` seam carries optional `stdoutMaxBytes`, `stdin`, ordinary `env`, and managed `dshEnv`, used by trusted in-process plugins and this tool's environment registry. The model-facing tool exposes none of `stdoutMaxBytes`, `stdin`, or `env`: it builds requests from named command/workdir/timeout/signal/sandbox fields plus the registry-collected `dshEnv`. Extra model keys are ignored and cannot replace managed values. Shell syntax provides equivalent command-level behavior, while the local executor scrubs ambient credentials and stale `DSH_*` values. See the [stdin/env Agent Note](../../../.agents/notes/implemented/architecture/2026-06-30-bash-stdin-env-trusted-plugin-surface.md).
Commands run with the executor's full authority unless a sandboxing executor ([`dsh-bash-sandbox`](../bash-sandbox/)) confines them — the deny-only sandbox reports denials as result facts, rendered here as the denial marker; per-call allow/deny/ask policy is the `tools/pre-execute` waterfall (see docs/architecture.md).
Escalating bash calls resolve `ctx.approval` before execution. `allowed-once` applies the requested mode only to that call; rejection, cancellation, unavailability, or missing approval context executes nothing and returns a distinct error. On a real denial, the model may retry the same command once in the same turn with the narrowest sufficient mode and justification; the approval prompt itself is the consent step. Escalation is never speculative, and a disabled or rejected approval is final. The [sandbox Agent Note](../../../.agents/notes/implemented/feature/2026-07-06-sandbox.md) owns the rationale.
For sandboxing executors, each call resolves mode as one-shot escalation, then session override, then executor default. Non-sandboxing and agent-less calls carry no session override. Neither the prompt nor a switch notice announces the standing mode; denial results report the effective mode when the boundary matters. See the [`dsh-bash` fold](../bash/README.md) and [sandbox switching contract](../../../.agents/notes/implemented/feature/2026-07-06-sandbox.md).
Every request in this plugin's registration scope contains the bash guidance below. A sandboxing executor adds no mode statement or switch notice. Scoped tool restrictions can hide the schemas without removing this independently registered section.
Small fixed input cost per request while the plugin is active, unchanged by sandbox mode or mode switches.
#### KV Cache effect
Prefix-stable while the registration scope and prompt text are unchanged. Plugin activation or disposal may invalidate reuse from this prompt section; sandbox mode switches do not.
The model sees the generated [`bash` schema](../../../docs/tool-catalog.md#deepseek-aidsh-tool-bash). `run_in_background` appears only when this producer enables it; `sandbox_permissions` and `justification` appear only when the mounted executor advertises sandboxing. Agent-scoped tool restrictions can remove the definition for that agent.
Fixed schema cost on every request where the tools are visible; sandbox support adds the escalation fields and its conditional description paragraph.
#### KV Cache effect
Prefix-stable while visibility, background support, and executor sandbox capabilities are unchanged. A restriction, config change, or executor change may invalidate reuse from the first changed tool definition.
The renderer emits the data-dependent stdout tail, then optional `[stderr]` and the stderr tail. With no output it emits exactly `(no output)`. Conditional lines are exactly `[output truncated; full output: <path-or-(unavailable)>]`, `[sandbox: file access denied under <mode> mode]`, `[timed out after <timeoutMs>ms]`, `[killed by signal: <signal>]`, and `[exit code: <exitCode>]`; the sandbox escalation and runner-failure lines are quoted in [`dsh-bash-sandbox`](../bash-sandbox/README.md).
Start returns exactly `started background task <taskId>`. This producer supplies incremental process output, optional `[some output was dropped from memory; full output: <paths-or-(unavailable)>]`, sandbox facts, and terminal detail such as `exit code: <exitCode>` or `signal: <signal>` to the generic task runtime. [`dsh-tool-tasks`](../../tasks/tool-tasks/README.md) owns the visible status line, completion notice, listing, and cancellation response.
The start acknowledgement is small and retained; collected output is data-dependent and bounded by the executor's stream buffers. Consuming reads do not repeat prior output.
Validation and policy failures are normalized as `Error: <message>`. This package's stable messages are `invalid command: expected a non-empty string`, `invalid description: expected a non-empty string`, `invalid timeoutMs: expected a positive number, got <value>`, `invalid escalation: sandbox_permissions requires a justification`, `invalid escalation: justification is only valid together with sandbox_permissions`, `invalid justification: expected a non-empty sentence`, `background execution is disabled for this bash tool`, `background tasks unavailable: load @deepseek-ai/dsh-tasks and @deepseek-ai/dsh-tool-tasks`, `sandbox_permissions is not available in this composition (no sandboxing executor to escalate)`, `sandbox escalation to "<mode>" is not strictly wider than this call's current "<mode>" mode`, the approval-availability/rejection/cancellation variants, and `command aborted`.
#### Token effect
Only the failing call adds these retained tokens; a rejected escalation does not add command output because the command does not run.
- **Replay exit pills parse from result text** — output whose final line happens to be exactly `[exit code: N]` / `[killed by signal: …]` shows a wrong pill on session replay; a display-only known residual.
- **The `bash` tool opts out of `timeout-policy` budgets** — it keeps the executor-owned `BASH_TIMEOUT` path, per [the tool-call timeout-policy Agent Note](../../../.agents/notes/implemented/architecture/2026-07-07-tool-call-timeout-policy.md).
