Harness Tool

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Contract-first engineering base with a thin core and a narrow OpenHarness bridge.

What problem this project solves

Repositories usually fail in one of two ways:

• the core is too soft, so structure and validation drift
• the core is too heavy, so every integration pulls runtime logic into the base

Harness Tool exists to keep a stable middle line:

• explicit contract
• predictable validation
• bounded extension surfaces
• external runtime integration without turning the repository into a runtime host

What it is

Harness Tool is:

• an upstream engineering base
• a contract-first repository structure
• a validation and scaffold toolset
• intended for module development, maintenance, handoff, and AI-assisted work

harness_core owns protocol, validation, stages, and scaffold semantics.

What it is not

Harness Tool is not:

• a full agent runtime
• a workflow host
• a plugin platform
• an OpenHarness replacement
• a thick framework

Architecture at a glance

The repository is split into three layers:

• harness_core/ protocol, validation, stages, scaffold semantics
• extension surfaces profiles/, templates/, .openclaw_skill/, and local extensions
• bridge layer adapters/, scripts/openharness_*, and the OpenHarness examples

The contract stays in core. Variation stays outside core. External runtimes connect through bridges.

Relationship to OpenHarness

OpenHarness is an external runtime. It is not owned by this repository’s core.

Harness Tool provides:

• project contract
• validation entrypoints
• module context
• boundary discipline

OpenHarness provides:

• agent runtime
• tools and providers
• middleware composition
• execution flow

Current support is real but narrow:

• bridge and binding documents
• harness_validate process transport
• context injection
• internal and external examples

This repository does not claim:

• runtime ownership in harness_core
• live provider wiring
• live middleware wiring
• full session or conversation integration

Quick start

Initialize a module:

python tools/init_module.py my_module

Apply Harness Tool to an existing module:

python tools/apply_harness.py path/to/module
python tools/apply_harness.py path/to/module --profile python-service

Validate a module:

python tools/validate_module.py path/to/module
python tools/validate_module.py path/to/module --strict

Validate the OpenHarness example:

python tools/validate_module.py examples/openharness_app --strict --profile default

Repository layout

• README.md primary entrypoint
• docs/ protocols, specs, integration docs, release notes
• harness_core/ core implementation
• tools/ init, apply, validate, repair entrypoints
• examples/ reference modules and the OpenHarness example
• adapters/ bridge-side integration code
• release/ packaged release material

Current scope and limitations

Current scope is intentionally narrow:

• OpenHarness support is bridge-side only
• harness_core does not host runtime responsibilities
• provider and middleware handling remain outside core
• full session and conversation integration is out of scope
• examples/openharness_app may skip npm smoke when local dependencies are absent

This repository is a usable engineering base and a real bridge source. It is not a complete runtime product.

Documentation map

• Core docs
• Extension docs
• OpenHarness integration
• Operations notes
• Release notes