harness

name	harness
description	Use when maintaining, reviewing, or improving this repository's agent harness, including agent instructions, docs/harness, verification routing, first-agent review, release evidence, or the repo-local harness skill itself, without requiring HarnessForge to be installed.

Harness Skill

Status: active for this repository. Generated target copies start pending first-agent review.

Use for instructions, docs/harness, state, verification routing, agent tools, CI/workflows, release controls, evidence, or this skill.

Zero-Install Rule

Maintain the harness from repo files alone. HarnessForge CLI and the HarnessForge GitHub Action are optional owner tools, not contributor prerequisites or project source of truth. Prefer repo-owned commands, docs, tests, and maintainer decisions.

Startup

1. Read references/repo-harness.md.
2. Load only root files or harness docs needed for the task.
3. Keep durable repo facts in repo-owned docs, not this skill.

Rules

• Keep root instructions short; route durable detail into focused docs.
• Update the authoritative owner first; touch only needed surfaces.
• Do not promote HarnessForge report suggestions into project requirements until repo-owned docs, tests, policy, or a maintainer accepts them.
• Do not add machine-local paths, user-specific tool mandates, personal preferences, autonomous repair workflows, credential rotation, pushes, or PRs.
• Preserve project-owned instruction files unless explicit.
• Treat structural scores as harness-health signals, not real-agent effectiveness evidence.
• When editing this skill, make the description the trigger contract, keep SKILL.md lean, and ground changes in real misses, traces, or pressure prompts.

Improvement Loop

1. Confirm objective and surfaces.
2. Inspect the repo before editing generated placeholders.
3. Prefer deleting stale guidance, merging duplicates, or tightening checks.
4. Make the smallest harness change that prevents the miss.
5. Validate skill frontmatter, references, and trigger behavior when .agents/skills/ changes.
6. Run repo-owned commands from the verification matrix.
7. Record pass/fail, skipped checks, risk, and next step.
8. Retire placeholders after accepted guidance moves to docs, tests, policy, or state.

Optional Owner Tools

If installed, optional owner tools include harnessforge report, harnessforge plan, harnessforge audit, and harnessforge update --drift-report.

Treat the output as advisory unless the repo owner has adopted HarnessForge or the HarnessForge Action as an explicit maintenance gate.