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Agent skill

Harness Map

by alchemiststudiosDOTai in alchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering

Map a repository's mechanical harness layers: canonical check command, local and CI gates, architecture boundaries, structural rules, behavioral verification, docs ratchets, evidence workflows, and…

MITAuto-check passedAgent Workflows

Install Harness Map

skills CLI
$ npx skills add alchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering --skill harness-map -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install alchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering harness-map --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/alchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/harness-map .claude/skills/harness-map && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
harness-map
GitHub stars
105
Token cost
~1.8k tokens
SKILL.md length
658 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
8
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Map a repository's mechanical harness layers: canonical check command, local and CI gates, architecture boundaries, structural rules, behavioral verification, docs ratchets, evidence workflows, and…

  • Works in 9 steps: Find the canonical local entrypoint → Find CI gate execution → Find architecture enforcement → …
  • You need to understand how a repo keeps change safe
  • SKILL.md covers Core Principle, What Counts as Harness, When to Use and Workflow, plus 4 more sections
  • Calls just, make and npm

What it does

Harness Map is an agent skill from alchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering. Map a repository's mechanical harness layers: canonical check command, local and CI gates, architecture boundaries, structural rules, behavioral verification, docs ratchets, evidence workflows, and operator-facing surfaces. Use when you need to understand how a repo keeps change safe.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.8k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Agent Workflows. The repository describes itself as: harness-engineering discussion of shortcuts, automation, hacks and overall productivity with code agents like claude code, codex, and other harness. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • You need to understand how a repo keeps change safe

Example prompts

  • “/harness-map”

Requirements

  • Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Read, Write, Edit, Bash(find:*), Bash(rg:*), Bash(grep:*), Bash(git:*)

Workflow steps

9 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Find the canonical local entrypoint
  2. Find CI gate execution
  3. Find architecture enforcement
  4. Find structural rule enforcement
  5. Find behavioral verification layers
  6. Find docs ratchets
  7. Find evidence workflows
  8. Find operator-facing surfaces
  9. Synthesize the harness map

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 7a9fa15. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

    • Read
    • Write
    • Edit
    • Bash(find:*)
    • Bash(rg:*)
    • Bash(grep:*)
    • Bash(git:*)

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • just
    • make
    • npm

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use npm, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Harness Map loads about 1.8k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 74 tokens; SKILL.md has 658 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~74
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.8k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from alchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering at commit 7a9fa15, republished under its MIT licence (© alchemiststudiosDOTai). 658 words, ~1,785 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/harness-map/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
harness-map
description
Map a repository's mechanical harness layers: canonical check command, local and CI gates, architecture boundaries, structural rules, behavioral verification, docs ratchets, evidence workflows, and operator-facing surfaces. Use when you need to understand how a repo keeps change safe.
allowed-tools
Read, Write, Edit, Bash(find:*), Bash(rg:*), Bash(grep:*), Bash(git:*)
writes-to
memory-bank/research/
hard-guards
Facts first - identify what exists before making recommendations, Include exact file paths and line anchors when applicable, Do not modify source code while…

Harness Map

Map the repository's actual harness: the mechanical checks, policies, workflows, and artifacts that make change safe.

This skill is narrower than generic codebase research. It is specifically for answering questions like:

  • "What is the harness in this repo?"
  • "What does check actually run?"
  • "Which layers are local vs CI vs docs vs evidence?"
  • "How is architecture enforced here?"
  • "What operator surfaces teach agents how to use the harness?"

Core Principle

Map the harness as implemented, not as imagined.

Prefer:

  • commands that actually run
  • config files that actually enforce policy
  • CI workflows that actually gate merges
  • docs and playbooks that actually structure investigations
  • agent/operator files that actually expose the workflow

Avoid:

  • aspirational architecture prose without enforcement
  • recommendations before the map exists
  • broad codebase summaries that skip the gate structure

What Counts as Harness

A repo harness usually includes some or all of these layers:

  1. Canonical local command
    • just check, make check, task check, npm test, etc.
  2. Architecture boundaries
    • Import Linter, dependency-cruiser, Bazel visibility, custom dependency tests
  3. Structural rules
    • ast-grep, semgrep, custom lint rules, codemod rule tests
  4. Behavioral verification
    • unit/integration tests, snapshots, goldens, deterministic checks, build verification
  5. Docs ratchets
    • docs link checks, nav checks, metadata/frontmatter checks, allowlists
  6. CI decomposition
    • matrix jobs or separate workflows that mirror harness gates
  7. Evidence workflows
    • session logs, diff reports, chunk docs, experiment records, replay/debug artifacts
  8. Operator surface
    • AGENTS.md, .codex/, environment files, repo-local skills, slash commands

When to Use

Use this skill when the user asks to:

  • map or explain the harness
  • identify all gate layers in a repo
  • compare local checks with CI checks
  • document how architectural constraints are enforced
  • understand how agents/operators are expected to use the repo safely

Workflow

1. Find the canonical local entrypoint

Inspect common entrypoint files first:

  • justfile
  • Makefile
  • package.json
  • pyproject.toml
  • task runner config files

Capture:

  • the canonical command name
  • every subcommand it runs
  • whether it chains all gates or only a subset
2. Find CI gate execution

Inspect CI workflows:

  • .github/workflows/*.yml
  • other CI configs (.gitlab-ci.yml, buildkite, etc.)

Capture:

  • job names
  • matrix dimensions
  • whether fail-fast is enabled
  • which local gates are mirrored in CI
  • which gates only exist in CI
3. Find architecture enforcement

Look for:

  • Import Linter / grimp
  • dependency-cruiser
  • layering tests
  • package-boundary configs
  • forbidden import tests

Capture:

  • contract names
  • source and forbidden modules
  • ignore lists / allowed exceptions
  • exact config path
Show full SKILL.md (269 more words)Show less
4. Find structural rule enforcement

Look for:

  • sgconfig.yml, ast-grep rule directories
  • semgrep configs
  • custom lint rule packages
  • rule tests and snapshots

Capture:

  • rule config files
  • rule directories
  • test directories
  • snapshot/baseline locations
  • any custom parser or language extensions
5. Find behavioral verification layers

Look for:

  • test commands
  • snapshot directories
  • golden outputs
  • deterministic helpers
  • numerical equivalence docs
  • build verification steps

Capture:

  • exact commands
  • test conventions docs
  • locations of snapshots/goldens
  • special validation steps outside the main test runner
6. Find docs ratchets

Look for:

  • docs check scripts
  • nav validation
  • broken-link validation
  • frontmatter/tag checks
  • allowlists / baselines

Capture:

  • categories of docs failures
  • allowlist file paths
  • whether the check behaves as a ratchet
7. Find evidence workflows

Look for:

  • chunk docs
  • debugging session logs
  • replay/trace diff playbooks
  • benchmark result docs
  • evidence indexes

Capture:

  • index files
  • per-session or per-chunk docs
  • required evidence fields
  • exact commands recorded in those artifacts
8. Find operator-facing surfaces

Look for:

  • AGENTS.md
  • .codex/environments/*
  • .codex/skills/*
  • command docs
  • plugin manifests

Capture:

  • setup / run / test actions
  • repo-local skills that wrap harness flows
  • operator instructions that point to real commands
9. Synthesize the harness map

Write a research artifact to:

memory-bank/research/YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS_<repo>-harness-map.md

Recommended structure:

markdown
---
title: "<repo> – Harness Map"
phase: Research
date: "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS"
owner: "<agent_or_user>"
tags: [research, harness, <repo>]
---

## Canonical Entry Point
- `path:line-line` → command and subcommands

## Harness Layers
### Layer 1: Local checks
### Layer 2: Architecture boundaries
### Layer 3: Structural rules
### Layer 4: Behavioral verification
### Layer 5: Docs ratchet
### Layer 6: CI matrix
### Layer 7: Evidence workflow
### Layer 8: Operator surface

## Source Index
- `path:line-line` → what this file contributes

## Observed Command Chain
- ordered list of checks from the main command

Output Requirements

Your harness map must:

  • identify the single best local entrypoint if one exists
  • show where each layer is enforced
  • distinguish between enforced config and descriptive docs
  • include exact file paths
  • include line numbers when they materially improve traceability
  • describe what exists before suggesting changes

Good Output Example

markdown
## Canonical Entry Point
- `justfile:22-29` defines `check *args:` and runs Ruff, Import Linter, ty, docs checks, ast-grep, pytest, and Zig checks.

## Layer 2: Architecture Boundaries
- `pyproject.toml:80-110` defines four Import Linter forbidden contracts.

## Layer 6: CI Matrix
- `.github/workflows/ci.yml:13-79` runs seven matrix tasks with `fail-fast: false`.

Bad Output Example

markdown
The repo appears to care about quality and uses several tools.
It has some tests and some linting.

Handoff

Common next steps after this skill:

  • generate a condensed harness summary for operators
  • compare two repos' harnesses
  • use plan-phase if the user wants to add or improve a harness layer

© alchemiststudiosDOTai, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/harness-map of alchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 7a9fa15

Compare with similar skills

Harness Map next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Harness Map compared with similar skills
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Harness Map this skillalchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering105—~1.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
MCP Server Builderanthropics/skills180k64 repos~2.3kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Hook Development for Claude Code Pluginsanthropics/claude-plugins-official38k11 repos~4.1kAutomated safety check: NotesApache-2.0
Using Superpowersfarm-fe/farm5.6k35 repos~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Executing Plans Inlineobra/superpowers296k2 repos~5.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Claude Code Agent Developmentanthropics/claude-plugins-official38k8 repos~2.8kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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All 8 skills in this repo

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  • Research Phase

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    This skill should be used when mapping or researching a codebase to understand its structure, patterns, and architecture.

    105 GitHub stars~1.4k tokensUpdated 6 mo ago
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  • Execute Phase

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  • Agents Md Mapper

    alchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering

    This skill should be used when creating, refreshing, or validating a repository AGENTS.md so it stays concise, current, and grounded in repository evidence.

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  • Differential Session Runner

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  • Plan Phase

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Categories

Questions about Harness Map

What does Harness Map do?

Map a repository's mechanical harness layers: canonical check command, local and CI gates, architecture boundaries, structural rules, behavioral verification, docs ratchets, evidence workflows, and…. Harness Map is an agent skill from alchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering. Map a repository's mechanical harness layers: canonical check command, local and CI gates, architecture boundaries, structural rules, behavioral verification, docs ratchets, evidence workflows, and operator-facing surfaces.

When should I use Harness Map?

Harness Map fits situations like: you need to understand how a repo keeps change safe.

How do I install Harness Map in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add alchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering --skill harness-map -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/harness-map in alchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering) into .claude/skills/harness-map in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Harness Map in Codex?

Run `npx skills add alchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering --skill harness-map -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/harness-map in alchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering) into .agents/skills/harness-map in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Harness Map in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add alchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering --skill harness-map -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/harness-map, .gemini/skills/harness-map, .github/skills/harness-map and .opencode/skills/harness-map in your project.

What does Harness Map need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Harness Map needs the command-line tools its instructions call (just, make and npm). Its frontmatter pre-approves these tools: Read, Write, Edit, Bash(find:*), Bash(rg:*), Bash(grep:*), Bash(git:*).

Does Harness Map access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use npm, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Harness Map safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Harness Map use?

Harness Map is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Harness Map use?

About 1.8k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 7.1k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Harness Map?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Harness Map: MCP Server Builder (anthropics/skills, 180k stars), Hook Development for Claude Code Plugins (anthropics/claude-plugins-official, 38k stars), Using Superpowers (farm-fe/farm, 5.6k stars) and Executing Plans Inline (obra/superpowers, 296k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Harness Map?

alchemiststudiosDOTai (a GitHub organization) maintains it in alchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering, which has 105 GitHub stars. The repository holds 8 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on March 17, 2026.

Source: alchemiststudiosDOTai/harness-engineering on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.