Scope Creep Guard
lennney/stop-that-shit
Keeps an agent focused on the requested work by applying a five-step ladder that checks for direct solutions, real gaps and speculative defenses before adding anything.
This skill should be used when the user asks about "harness engineering", "what is a harness", "harness framework", "AI code quality", "context engineering", "architectural constraints", "garbage…
Install Harness Engineering
$ npx skills add Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers --skill harness-engineering -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers harness-engineering --agent claude-codeProject scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineering .claude/skills/harness-engineering && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.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/
Install the "harness-engineering" agent skill from https://github.com/Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers/tree/main/ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineering into .claude/skills/harness-engineering/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "harness-engineering", then confirm the skill loads.Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$skill-installer install https://github.com/Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers/tree/main/ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineeringType this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.
$ npx skills add Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers --skill harness-engineering -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers harness-engineering --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineering .agents/skills/harness-engineering && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "harness-engineering" agent skill from https://github.com/Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers/tree/main/ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineering into .agents/skills/harness-engineering/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "harness-engineering", then confirm the skill loads.Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers --skill harness-engineering -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers harness-engineering --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineering .cursor/skills/harness-engineering && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.
Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/
Install the "harness-engineering" agent skill from https://github.com/Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers/tree/main/ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineering into .cursor/skills/harness-engineering/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "harness-engineering", then confirm the skill loads.Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gemini skills install https://github.com/Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers.git --path ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineering--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.
$ npx skills add Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers --skill harness-engineering -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers harness-engineering --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineering .gemini/skills/harness-engineering && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.
Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "harness-engineering" agent skill from https://github.com/Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers/tree/main/ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineering into .gemini/skills/harness-engineering/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "harness-engineering", then confirm the skill loads.Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gh skill install Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers harness-engineeringInstalls for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ npx skills add Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers --skill harness-engineering -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineering .github/skills/harness-engineering && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.
GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "harness-engineering" agent skill from https://github.com/Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers/tree/main/ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineering into .github/skills/harness-engineering/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "harness-engineering", then confirm the skill loads.GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers --skill harness-engineering -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers harness-engineering --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineering .opencode/skills/harness-engineering && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.
OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "harness-engineering" agent skill from https://github.com/Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers/tree/main/ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineering into .opencode/skills/harness-engineering/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "harness-engineering", then confirm the skill loads.OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
Facts
- Skill name
harness-engineering- GitHub stars
- 114
- Token cost
- ~1.4k tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 707 words
- Files
- 2 (incl. references)
- Skills in repo
- 42
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- Custom licence
At a glance
This skill should be used when the user asks about "harness engineering", "what is a harness", "harness framework", "AI code quality", "context engineering", "architectural constraints", "garbage…
- Works in 3 steps: Unverified — declared intent, no… → Agent — LLM-based review against the… → Deterministic — tool-backed enforcement…
- Asks about harness engineering
- SKILL.md covers The Three Components, The Living Harness, Progressive Hardening and Testing the Harness Itself, plus 4 more sections
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
What it does
Harness Engineering is an agent skill from Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers. This skill should be used when the user asks about "harness engineering", "what is a harness", "harness framework", "AI code quality", "context engineering", "architectural constraints", "garbage collection for code", or wants to understand the conceptual foundation behind the harness-engineering plugin.
Its SKILL.md is about 1.4k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files, including reference files (for example `references/boeckeler-summary.md`).
It sits in Agent Workflows, covering Context engineering and Code quality. The repository describes itself as: A set of Claude Code and GitHub Copilot plugins providing the AI Literacy framework's complete development workflow — harness engineering, agent orchestration, literate….
When your agent uses it
- Asks about harness engineering
- What is a harness
- Harness framework
- AI code quality
Example prompts
- “harness engineering”
- “what is a harness”
- “harness framework”
- “/harness-engineering”
Workflow steps
3 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.
- Unverified — declared intent, no automation yet
- Agent — LLM-based review against the constraint's prose rule
- Deterministic — tool-backed enforcement (linter, formatter, test)
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 9d35995. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.
Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md.
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 Engineering loads about 1.4k tokens when it runs, and up to ~2.3k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 81 tokens; SKILL.md has 707 words of instructions outside code blocks.
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
Its licence (Custom licence) doesn't allow us to republish the file, so here is its outline and opening line. It has 707 words (~1,439 tokens).
“A harness is the combined set of deterministic tooling and LLM-based agents that keeps AI code generation trustworthy and maintainable at scale. The concept originates from Birgitta Boeckeler's article "Harness Engineering" (2026), which identifies three components that together form a…”
- name
- harness-engineering
Files
SKILL.md and 1 other file (references) in ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineering of Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers.
- SKILL.md
- references/boeckeler-summary.md
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 9d35995
Compare with similar skills
Harness Engineering 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.
| Skill | Stars | Used in | Tokens | Auto-check | Licence | Repo updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harness Engineering this skillHabitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers | 114 | — | ~1.4k | Automated safety check: Pass | Custom licence | |
| Scope Creep Guardlennney/stop-that-shit | 2.5k | 1 repos | ~2k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| ccc Semantic Code Searchcocoindex-io/cocoindex-code | 2.8k | — | ~938 | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| Repomix Codebase Packeryamadashy/repomix | 29k | — | ~1.3k | Automated safety check: Notes | MIT | |
| Harness Engineering GuideOdradekAI/harness-engineering-guide | 125 | 1 repos | ~4.3k | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| Agent Setup Health Audittw93/Waza | 7.2k | — | ~5.2k | Automated safety check: Notes | MIT |
Similar skills
ccc Semantic Code Search
cocoindex-io/cocoindex-code
Semantic code search and index management with the ccc CLI: the agent initializes, indexes and queries the project by concept, filtering by language or path.
Repomix Codebase Packer
yamadashy/repomix
Packs a local directory or remote GitHub repository into one AI-friendly file with Repomix, then searches it to explore structure, find patterns and count tokens.
Harness Engineering Guide
OdradekAI/harness-engineering-guide
Audit, design, and implement AI agent harnesses for any codebase.
Agent Setup Health Audit
tw93/Waza
Audits a project's agent configuration, instruction drift, hooks, MCP and AI maintainability, then reports prioritized findings with evidence and next actions.
Self-Improve Evolutionary Loop
Yeachan-Heo/oh-my-claudecode
Runs an autonomous improvement loop on a repository: agents propose and execute plans, a tournament picks the winner by benchmark, and each round is recorded and plotted.
More from Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers
All 42 skills in this repoAdvocatus Diaboli
Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers
A skill your agent uses when acting as the adversarial spec reviewer — raises steel-manned objections across six categories before plan approval, requires evidence per objection, and discloses what…
AI Literacy Assessment
Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers
This skill should be used when the user asks to "assess AI literacy", "run an assessment", "check literacy level", "evaluate our AI collaboration", "where are we on the framework", or wants to…
Carpaccio
Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers
A skill your agent uses when acting as the cadence governor — slices a raw task description into thin, end-to-end-complete pieces before any spec is written; produces a structured slicing record for…
Choice Cartographer
Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers
A skill your agent uses when acting as the decision-archaeology agent — surfaces decisions a spec has made (including the silent ones), emits each material choice as a Henney-style pattern story for…
Constraint Design
Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers
This skill should be used when the user asks to "add a constraint", "design a constraint", "write a harness rule", "choose enforcement type", "promote a constraint", "configure a verification slot"…
Cost Tracking
Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers
A skill your agent uses when the user wants to capture AI tool costs, review spending trends, set cost budgets, or integrate cost data into health snapshots — guides quarterly cost capture, records…
Related
Categories
Questions about Harness Engineering
What does Harness Engineering do?
This skill should be used when the user asks about "harness engineering", "what is a harness", "harness framework", "AI code quality", "context engineering", "architectural constraints", "garbage…. Harness Engineering is an agent skill from Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers. This skill should be used when the user asks about "harness engineering", "what is a harness", "harness framework", "AI code quality", "context engineering", "architectural constraints", "garbage collection for code", or wants to understand the conceptual foundation behind the harness-engineering plugin.
When should I use Harness Engineering?
Harness Engineering fits situations like: asks about harness engineering; what is a harness; harness framework; AI code quality.
How do I install Harness Engineering in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers --skill harness-engineering -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineering in Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers) into .claude/skills/harness-engineering in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Harness Engineering in Codex?
Run `npx skills add Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers --skill harness-engineering -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (ai-literacy-superpowers/skills/harness-engineering in Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers) into .agents/skills/harness-engineering in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Harness Engineering 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 Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers --skill harness-engineering -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-engineering, .gemini/skills/harness-engineering, .github/skills/harness-engineering and .opencode/skills/harness-engineering in your project.
What does Harness Engineering need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Harness Engineering is instructions for the agent only.
Does Harness Engineering access the network?
SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.
Is Harness Engineering 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 Engineering use?
Harness Engineering has a licence file (the repository's licence) that doesn't match a standard licence. Read it on GitHub before reusing the skill.
How many tokens does Harness Engineering use?
About 1.4k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 5.8k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 824 tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.
What are the alternatives to Harness Engineering?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Harness Engineering: Scope Creep Guard (lennney/stop-that-shit, 2.5k stars), ccc Semantic Code Search (cocoindex-io/cocoindex-code, 2.8k stars), Repomix Codebase Packer (yamadashy/repomix, 29k stars) and Harness Engineering Guide (OdradekAI/harness-engineering-guide, 125 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Harness Engineering?
Habitat-Thinking (a GitHub organization) maintains it in Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers, which has 114 GitHub stars. The repository holds 42 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 20, 2026.
Source: Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.