Agent Harness Kit

Agent Harness Kit is a local execution-governance layer for coding agents. It gives Codex and Claude Code durable project context, adaptive workflow selection, dependency-aware execution, ownership leases, proportional verification, and inspectable completion.

Install

uv tool install agent-harness-kit-cli

Or install from the same PyPI release with pipx or plain pip, including from the integrated terminal in VS Code:

pipx install agent-harness-kit-cli
python -m pip install agent-harness-kit-cli

On Windows, py -m pip install agent-harness-kit-cli is also supported. Prefer a virtual environment with plain pip.

Open a terminal inside a project and run:

agent-harness install

The recommended core profile is installed by default. Use --dry-run to preview or --profile core-learning to include optional, consented project-learning support.

The installer creates a contained agent-harness-kit/ directory plus root AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md entrypoints. Missing root files are created; existing instructions are preserved outside one managed bridge block. Open a new agent context at the project root after installation, then use agent-harness doctor to verify the entrypoints.

What it does

• four execution lanes (direct-trivial, vibe, graph-only, full-harness) independent from none|light|full assurance;
• evidence-first resume: probe current repository/runtime/check state, then read durable artifacts only to fill gaps;
• executable preflight for declared paths, scripts, environment names, commands, validator, browser/sandbox requirements, and worker capacity;
• PENDING.md for human decisions and macro gaps;
• TASK-GRAPH.md for dependencies, leases, progress, and execution;
• compact same-context specs and consumer-driven handoff/review artifacts;
• planned units targeting 15–30 active minutes, with justified exceptions;
• focused-first verification that climbs through workspace, integration, checkpoint, and delivery only as needed;
• scoped read_set, exclusive write_set, related impact_set, and source provenance to avoid unnecessary repository rescans;
• maximum-cardinality collision-free scheduling for hosts with proven parallel capacity;
• atomic compare-and-swap graph transitions, hash-chained events, append-only run metrics, and lighter-lane suggestions;
• bounded native Codex dispatch packets and fresh-context review when the host provides those capabilities;
• hackathon mode for compressed discovery and demo-first MVP delivery;
• a validator covering source, packaged profiles, and installed-host behavior.

The CLI performs deterministic installation, inspection, routing, preflight, scheduling, state transitions, metrics, and dispatch-packet operations. Capable agent hosts perform the actual coding and agent creation. The Kit has no unattended background daemon and does not lock operating-system files, merge branches, or deploy software on its own.

Documentation, source, audio overview, and examples are available in the GitHub repository.