harness-install

name	harness-install
description	Install Harness Anything into a project and verify the full init flow end to end. Use whenever a user asks to install, set up, onboard, or initialize Harness Anything in a repository, or to verify that a fresh install actually works (init, daemon, first task, gate blocking a fake completion).

Harness Install

Goal

Take a repository from "no harness" to "harness working, verified" — and prove it by watching the completion gate block an evidence-free completion. Do not report success from command exit codes alone; the verification step below is the definition of installed.

Preconditions

1. Node.js >= 24 (node --version).
2. The target directory is a git repository (git rev-parse --show-toplevel). If it is not, ask before running git init.
3. The environment must NOT define HARNESS_AUTHORITY_MANIFEST. That variable binds a daemon to one specific production repository; if it leaks into a fresh project the daemon autostart fails with "Daemon unavailable". Check with env | grep HARNESS_AUTHORITY_MANIFEST and unset it for this shell if present.

Install

Published package (preferred once available on npm):

npm install --save-dev harness-anything
npx harness-anything --help

From a source checkout (before the npm release, or for development builds):

# in the harness-anything checkout
npm install && npm run build
npm pack --workspace @harness-anything/cli
# in the target project
npm install --save-dev <path-to-generated-tarball>

Either way, npx ha --help (alias of npx harness-anything --help) must print the command surface before you continue.

Initialize

Writes to the ledger require explicit actor attribution. Set it before init and keep it set for every subsequent command:

export HARNESS_ACTOR="agent:<your-agent-id>"      # or pass --actor human:<person-id>
export HARNESS_GIT_AUTHOR_NAME="<committer name>"
export HARNESS_GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL="<committer email>"

npx ha init --name <project-name> --add-npm-scripts

init scaffolds harness/ (the authored ledger, its own git history) and .harness/ (machine state, git-ignored). If the receipt reports a missing machine identity, re-run ha init with the two GIT author variables set — it registers the current host/uid credential in ~/.harness/people.yaml.

Daemon

The daemon starts automatically on the first write. To manage it explicitly:

npx ha daemon status --json
npx ha daemon start --service     # if status reports unreachable

Verify (this step defines "installed")

1. Create a real task through a preset:

   npx ha task create --title "Install verification" --vertical software/coding --preset standard-task
   

2. Prove the accountability gate works — claim the task, then try to complete it with no submitted execution and no evidence:

   npx ha task claim <task-id>
   npx ha task complete <task-id>
   

   The completion MUST be rejected (missing submitted execution / review). A rejection here is the success signal: the gate blocked a fake completion.

3. Confirm reads work: npx ha task show <task-id> --json returns the task with status unchanged.

Report the three receipts (create ok, complete rejected with reason, show ok) to the user as the installation proof.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause and fix
Local CLI writes require explicit actor attribution	HARNESS_ACTOR (or --actor) plus both HARNESS_GIT_AUTHOR_* variables are missing. Set them and retry.
Local writes require a machine identity	ha init ran without the GIT author variables. Re-run ha init with them set, or add the host/uid credential to ~/.harness/people.yaml.
Daemon unavailable ... connect ENOENT on a fresh project	Almost always HARNESS_AUTHORITY_MANIFEST leaking from the environment (see Preconditions). Unset it, then retry; the isolated daemon autostarts.
Writes hang or report a held lock	Another daemon owns the global lock. npx ha daemon status --json shows the holder; do not delete lock files by hand.