A self-optimizing, agent-agnostic harness for structured AI-assisted development.
Use the Quick Start prompt to have your coding agent adapt this template to the target repository's real structure, tooling, and workflows.
It keeps planning, execution, and validation artifacts inside the repository as file-based state: no chat-history dependency, no external services, and no orchestration layer. Works with Claude, Codex, or any LLM-based coding agent.
Most agent failures come from weak repo context and inconsistent execution structure. This template fixes that by bootstrapping a repeatable task loop, then having the agent self-optimize the harness for each target repo.
A brief defines what, a plan defines how, and a run record proves it worked.
- Copy the harness files into your repo root:
HARNESS.md,ARCHITECTURE.md,SETUP.md,.harness/, anddocs/ - Open
SETUP.mdand paste the prompt into your coding agent - The agent self-optimizes the harness to your repo's real structure and workflows
That's it. After setup, follow the Task Loop in HARNESS.md.
| Path | Purpose |
|---|---|
HARNESS.md |
Agent entry point — repo map, working rules, task loop |
ARCHITECTURE.md |
Structure, data flow, and constraints |
SETUP.md |
Easy Mode bootstrap prompt (deleted after setup) |
docs/briefs/ |
Task brief template |
docs/plans/ |
Implementation plan template |
.harness/tasks/ |
Task packet template (JSON) |
.harness/runs/ |
Run record template (JSON) |
If you prefer to configure the harness by hand instead of using Easy Mode:
- Copy the harness files listed above into your repo root
- Read
HARNESS.mdandARCHITECTURE.md - Edit
HARNESS.mdto map your real repo (replace all TODO lines) - Edit
ARCHITECTURE.mdto describe your actual structure - Create or append to your agent's config file (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md) with a pointer to HARNESS.md
- Delete
SETUP.md - Start using the Task Loop
- File-based state — everything lives in the repo, versioned with git
- Agent-agnostic — no agent-specific files; works with any LLM coding tool
- Self-optimizing setup — Quick Start prompt adapts templates to the target repo
- Minimal surface — small set of templates, zero dependencies
- Starting point, not framework — adapt the templates to fit how you work
MIT