The [redundant-agent removal](../simplification/2026-07-20-remove-stdio-and-echo-agents.md) deletes the original `support/ui-stdio` surface instead of relocating it, and the [automation-only ACP decision](../simplification/2026-07-23-acp-automation-only-protocol.md) places ACP under `packages/acp/acp` instead of the human-UI group. The uniform depth-two hierarchy remains the decision owned here.
`packages/` was flat: 18 packages all sat at `packages/<name>/`, so a package's location said nothing about whether it was core product API, a swappable capability seam, a provider adapter, a product integration, or example/test support. The package README carried a `FIXME(package-hierarchy)` and `scripts/publint-all.ts` a `TODO(package-inventory)` flagging exactly this. Core packages, provider integrations, capability seams, example UI support, and snapshot-only replay support all looked equally foundational.
This was not just cosmetic. Because every top-level package looked like part of the same public surface, future removal was harder, and publish/lint/doc scripts had to encode intent through comments or hand-maintained static lists rather than reading it off the layout.
Packages are grouped by modular role at a uniform `packages/<group>/<pkg>/` depth. Group directories are pure containers (no `package.json`); every package keeps its `@deepseek-ai/dsh-<pkg>` name — this is repo structure and maintenance policy, not package renaming.
- **Same-name nesting for capability families.** A family's interface package sits at `packages/<group>/<group>/` (`llm/llm`, `bash/bash`, `session-persistence/session-persistence`), with implementations and consumers as flat siblings. There is no extra `adapters/`/`impls/` sub-tier — every package is exactly depth 2, which keeps the workspace glob a clean `packages/*/*` and lets one `@deepseek-ai/dsh-*` tsconfig wildcard resolve every package (unique dir names make first-on-disk-wins unambiguous).
- **`session` stays in `core/`; persistence is its own family.** The session log is core product API. Its storage backends form a parallel capability family (`session-persistence/`) mirroring `llm/` and `bash/`, rather than nesting under `core/session/`.
- **`agent-loop` is in `core/`.** It is the one concrete implementation of the `agent` seam, but it ships as the harness's default product loop, so it lives with the core spine. Plugins still depend on the `agent` vocabulary, never on `agent-loop`, so the loop stays swappable.
- **Product automation and human UI are separate groups.** `acp` is a product transport under `acp/`, while commands, approvals, interaction, and presentation adapters live under `ui/`. Dev-only invariants and replay infrastructure remain under `support/`.
-`tsconfig.base.json` maps every package through a single `@deepseek-ai/dsh-*``paths` wildcard listing one candidate per group, in place of per-package entries. The aggregate configs (`tsconfig.host.json`, `tsconfig.client.json`) reuse that source map and carry the explicit project references that keep package/vendor typecheck boundaries intact. (One subtlety this introduced: a path candidate contains `/*/`, which a naive regex comment-stripper mistakes for a block comment — `scripts/doc-typecheck.ts` reads the JSONC config through TypeScript's parser rather than stripping comments by hand for exactly this reason.)
- The aggregates' project `references` stay explicit lists — TypeScript project references have no wildcard form. Generating these from a manifest is left to a follow-up (see [discover package inventories](../../proposed/process/2026-06-20-discover-package-inventory.md)).
Two doc-sync/hygiene gates keep the structure and its references honest, so the manual checks this restructure required do not have to be repeated by hand:
-`scripts/verify-package-paths.ts` flags a `packages/<path>` reference (in Markdown or a `.ts` comment/string) that does not resolve **and** names a real package in a segment — i.e. a stale path to a moved package. A path naming a package that exists nowhere (a forward-looking proposal) is left alone, so the gate applies uniformly across proposed/implemented/rejected.
-`scripts/check-workspace-constraints.ts` asserts the `packages/<group>/<pkg>` shape: group dirs carry no `package.json`, and no package sits flat at the root or nests deeper. Group names stay open — a new group may be added without editing the gate; only the depth-2 shape is fixed.
- **A third tier (`adapters/` / `impls/` under each family)** — rejected: uniform depth 2 keeps the workspace glob a clean `packages/*/*` and lets one `@deepseek-ai/dsh-*` tsconfig wildcard resolve every package.
- **Nesting persistence under `core/session/`** — rejected: the storage backends form a parallel capability family mirroring `llm/` and `bash/`, while the session log itself stays core product API.
The restructure churned imports, workspace globs, doc links, build references, and package paths in one coordinated move. That churn is acceptable pre-release (per the AGENTS.md foundation-over-blast-radius stance) because it stops the flat layout from fossilizing support packages as product contracts, and it is a one-time cost: the wildcard `paths`, the glob-derived publint list, and the shape gate mean a new package needs no further structural edits.
