https://github.com/harnessprotocol/harness-kit
Your plugins, skills, MCP servers, hooks, conventions, and governance packaged into a single config
https://github.com/harnessprotocol/harness-kit
ai ai-tools claude-code claude-code-plugin claude-code-skills developer-tools harness harness-engineering harness-framework knowledge-management research
Last synced: 28 days ago
JSON representation
Your plugins, skills, MCP servers, hooks, conventions, and governance packaged into a single config
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/harnessprotocol/harness-kit
- Owner: harnessprotocol
- License: apache-2.0
- Created: 2026-03-07T14:46:09.000Z (3 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-05-11T04:14:12.000Z (about 1 month ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-05-11T06:31:18.154Z (about 1 month ago)
- Topics: ai, ai-tools, claude-code, claude-code-plugin, claude-code-skills, developer-tools, harness, harness-engineering, harness-framework, knowledge-management, research
- Language: TypeScript
- Homepage: https://harnesskit.ai
- Size: 4.66 MB
- Stars: 9
- Watchers: 0
- Forks: 1
- Open Issues: 10
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
- Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md
- License: LICENSE
- Security: SECURITY.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# harness-kit
Portable configuration for AI coding tools.
[](https://github.com/harnessprotocol/harness-kit/releases)
[](https://github.com/harnessprotocol/harness-kit/actions/workflows/validate.yml)
[](https://github.com/harnessprotocol/harness-kit/actions/workflows/build.yml)
[](LICENSE)
[](.claude-plugin/marketplace.json)
[](CONTRIBUTING.md)
Works with [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/claude-code) · [Cursor](https://cursor.com) · [GitHub Copilot](https://github.com/features/copilot) · [Codex](https://openai.com/codex) · [OpenCode](https://opencode.ai) · [Windsurf](https://codeium.com/windsurf) · [Gemini CLI](https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli) · [Junie](https://www.jetbrains.com/junie/)
## 🧰 What is harness-kit?
Your AI coding setup — plugins, skills, MCP servers, hooks, conventions — packaged into a single config you can apply to any tool on any machine. Build it once, share it with your team in one file.
## 📦 Install
**Skills & Plugins** (Claude Code):
```
/plugin marketplace add harnessprotocol/harness-kit
```
**CLI** (`harness validate`, `compile`, `sync`, ...):
```bash
brew tap harnessprotocol/tap && brew install harness-kit
# or: npm install -g @harness-kit/cli # requires Node.js 22+
```
**Desktop App**:
```bash
brew tap harnessprotocol/tap # skip if you already ran this above
brew install --cask harness-kit
```
Or download the `.dmg` directly from the [latest release](https://github.com/harnessprotocol/harness-kit/releases/latest) and drag **Harness Kit.app** to `/Applications`. Note: the app is not notarized — right-click and select **Open** on first launch.
Nightly builds (latest main, rebuilt daily — may be unstable)
```bash
brew tap harnessprotocol/tap # skip if already added
brew install harnessprotocol/tap/harness-kit-nightly # CLI nightly → installs as harness-kit-nightly
brew install --cask harnessprotocol/tap/'harness-kit@nightly' # desktop nightly
```
Nightly builds track the tip of `main` and are rebuilt every day at midnight UTC. Use them to get the latest features before a stable release — at the cost of stability guarantees.
Fallback: install skills with script (no Node required)
If your Claude Code build doesn't support the plugin marketplace:
```bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/harnessprotocol/harness-kit/main/install.sh | bash
```
Downloads skill files to `~/.claude/skills/` over HTTPS. The full plugin experience (scripts, hooks, agents) requires the marketplace install.
## ⚡ Quick Start
Install `explain` — no dependencies, works in any codebase:
```
/plugin install explain@harness-kit
```
Then try it:
```
/explain src/auth/middleware.ts # explain a specific file
/explain the payment processing flow # search the codebase for a concept
/explain src/services/ # map a directory
```
Produces a layered explanation: summary, key components, how it connects, patterns, gotchas, and where to start if you need to change it.
## 🔌 Plugins
A few highlights to get started:
| Plugin | What it does | Try it |
|--------|-------------|--------|
| [`explain`](plugins/explain/skills/explain/README.md) | Layered code explanations for files, functions, directories, or concepts | `/explain src/auth/` |
| [`research`](plugins/research/skills/research/README.md) | Process any source into a structured, compounding knowledge base | `/research https://...` |
| [`review`](plugins/review/skills/review/README.md) | Code review with severity labels and cross-file analysis | `/review` |
| [`lineage`](plugins/lineage/skills/lineage/README.md) | Column-level data lineage through SQL, Kafka, Spark, and JDBC | `/lineage orders.amount` |
> 📋 **[Browse all 16 plugins →](.claude-plugin/marketplace.json)** or run `/plugin marketplace browse harness-kit`
### 🌍 Community
| Plugin | Author | What it does |
|--------|--------|-------------|
| [`superpowers`](https://github.com/obra/superpowers) | [Jesse Vincent](https://github.com/obra) | TDD, systematic debugging, brainstorming-before-coding, subagent delegation, git worktree isolation |
```
/plugin marketplace add obra/superpowers-marketplace
/plugin install superpowers@obra
```
## 🔄 Share Your Setup
Export your plugin setup to a `harness.yaml`, commit it to your dotfiles, and restore it anywhere.
| Command | What it does |
|---------|-------------|
| `/harness-export` | Write `harness.yaml` from your current setup |
| `/harness-import harness.yaml` | Interactive wizard — pick what to install |
| `/harness-compile` | Compile to native configs for Claude Code, Cursor, and Copilot |
| `/harness-sync` | Keep all three tools' configs aligned |
| `/harness-validate` | Validate against the [Harness Protocol v1](https://harnessprotocol.io) schema |
Shell fallback (no Claude Code required)
```bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/harnessprotocol/harness-kit/main/harness-restore.sh | bash -s -- harness.yaml
```
See [`harness.yaml.example`](harness.yaml.example) for the config format. `harness.yaml` follows the [Harness Protocol v1](https://harnessprotocol.io) open spec — a vendor-neutral format for portable AI coding harnesses.
## 🔒 Security & Privacy
- **No telemetry, no data collection** — harness-kit never phones home. Optional stats are local-only.
- **Secrets stay out of config** — plugins declare environment variables they need (`requires.env` in `plugin.json`) with `required`, `optional`, and `sensitive` flags. Values live in your shell profile, direnv, or a secrets manager — never in checked-in files. The framework validates existence but never reads or logs values.
- **Plain text, fully inspectable** — plugins are markdown and JSON. No binaries, no background processes, no network calls on install. Scripts and hooks only run when you explicitly invoke a skill.
- **Granular permissions** — tool-level allow/deny/ask, path-level write restrictions, and network host allowlists. All configurable per-project.
- **Audit logging** — permission changes, secret access, and preset applications are logged with timestamps.
- **Prompt injection detection** — the research plugin treats all external content as untrusted, scanning for injection attempts before processing.
See the [Secrets Management guide](website/content/docs/guides/secrets-management.md) for setup with 1Password, direnv, Google Secret Manager, and CI environments.
## 🖥️ Desktop App
A Tauri desktop companion that brings the harness concept to a native UI.
- **Sync engine** — compiles `harness.yaml` to platform configs
- **Plugin explorer** — browse and manage installed plugins
- **Marketplace** — embedded plugin browser for discovering and installing from the marketplace
- **Observatory** — live session dashboard with stats and transcripts
- **Comparator** — structured evaluation workbench: configure harnesses, run side-by-side comparisons, review file diffs, and judge results across a 4-phase workflow
- **Harness editor** — inline editing with custom profiles
- **Board** — kanban project board with real-time Claude-to-web sync; per-card agent execution via LangGraph with live phase/progress streaming, subtask tracking, steering, pause/resume, and tool-level permission controls
- **Roadmap** — AI-driven product roadmap with competitor analysis, generated via Claude
- **Parity** — cross-platform feature parity tracking across AI coding tools
- **Security** — permissions editor, secrets management, and audit logging
- **Memory** — [membrain](https://github.com/siracusa5/membrain) MCP server: graph-based agent memory with 11 graph tools, semantic dedup, and token-savings telemetry
- **Team chat** — IRC-style chat backed by a self-hosted WebSocket relay
- **AI Chat** — streaming conversations with local LLMs via Ollama, with session persistence and inline model downloads
See [`apps/desktop/`](apps/desktop/) for build instructions. The desktop app is a separate product from the plugin marketplace.
## 🌐 Cross-Platform
- **Claude Code** — native plugin marketplace support
- **Cursor** — SKILL.md files work as prompt instructions; `/harness-compile` generates native config
- **GitHub Copilot** — reads `CLAUDE.md` natively via `chat.useClaudeMdFile`
See the [Harness Protocol spec](https://harnessprotocol.io) for the full cross-platform target mapping.
## 📚 Docs
- **[FAQ](docs/FAQ.md)** — What is this, why do I need it, how does it work
- **[Plugins vs. Skills](docs/plugins-vs-skills.md)** — Why everything ships as a plugin, even when it's just a prompt
- **[Claude Conventions](docs/claude-md-conventions.md)** — Organizing `CLAUDE.md`, `AGENT.md`, and `SOUL.md` with separation of concerns
- **[Understanding Agents](https://harnessprotocol.io/docs/concepts/agents)** — AGENT.md, custom subagents, and "AI agent" disambiguation
## 🤝 Contributing
See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for plugin guidelines, skill conventions, and PR process.
## 📬 Contact
- **General** — [contact@harnesskit.ai](mailto:contact@harnesskit.ai)
- **Security** — [security@harnesskit.ai](mailto:security@harnesskit.ai) (see [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md))
## 📄 License
[Apache 2.0](LICENSE)