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Agent skill

Harness Update

by harnessworks in harnessworks/harness-starter-kit

Refresh an adopted target repository from the latest Harness Starter Kit reference.

MITAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Harness Update

skills CLI
$ npx skills add harnessworks/harness-starter-kit --skill harness-update -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install harnessworks/harness-starter-kit harness-update --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/harnessworks/harness-starter-kit.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/agent-skills/skills/harness-update .claude/skills/harness-update && 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-update
GitHub stars
115
Token cost
~291 tokens
SKILL.md length
113 words
Files
2
Skills in repo
6
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Refresh an adopted target repository from the latest Harness Starter Kit reference.

  • Works in 9 steps: Read ../../references/package-contract.md. → Read ../../references/update-workflow.md. → If… → …
  • The user asks for /harness update
  • SKILL.md covers Steps and Boundaries
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Harness Update is an agent skill from harnessworks/harness-starter-kit. Refresh an adopted target repository from the latest Harness Starter Kit reference. Use when the user asks for /harness update or wants source tracking and selective harness updates.

Its SKILL.md is about 290 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files (for example `agents/openai.yaml`).

It sits in Development, covering Project scaffolding. The repository describes itself as: 🐴 Prompt-first harness engineering for safer AI coding agent workflows. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • The user asks for /harness update
  • Wants source tracking and selective harness updates

Example prompts

  • “/harness-update”

Workflow steps

9 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Read ../../references/package-contract.md.
  2. Read ../../references/update-workflow.md.
  3. If ./harness-starter-kit/commands/harness-update.md exists in the target,
  4. Inspect target status before editing.
  5. Refresh or inspect the local kit reference without destructive operations.
  6. Classify candidates as safe, patch carefully, reference only, manual
  7. Apply only target-specific, non-conflicting updates.
  8. Update source tracking only when the current kit source is known.
  9. Run checks and produce the Harness Update Report.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 62437be. 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 Update loads about 291 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 49 tokens; SKILL.md has 113 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~49
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~291

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 harnessworks/harness-starter-kit at commit 62437be, republished under its MIT licence (© harnessworks). 113 words, ~291 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/harness-update/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
harness-update
description
Refresh an adopted target repository from the latest Harness Starter Kit reference. Use when the user asks for /harness update or wants source tracking and selective harness updates.
argument-hint
[target details]

Harness Update

Refresh a target repository's harness from a confirmed kit source.

Steps

  1. Read ../../references/package-contract.md.
  2. Read ../../references/update-workflow.md.
  3. If ./harness-starter-kit/commands/harness-update.md exists in the target, prefer that canonical workflow.
  4. Inspect target status before editing.
  5. Refresh or inspect the local kit reference without destructive operations.
  6. Classify candidates as safe, patch carefully, reference only, manual review, or deferred.
  7. Apply only target-specific, non-conflicting updates.
  8. Update source tracking only when the current kit source is known.
  9. Run checks and produce the Harness Update Report.

Boundaries

  • Never blindly overwrite target files.
  • Never delete, replace, or re-clone a dirty target-local kit reference.
  • Keep source tracking separate from patches to pre-existing dirty files.

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

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file in agent-skills/skills/harness-update of harnessworks/harness-starter-kit.

  • SKILL.md
  • agents/openai.yaml

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 62437be

Compare with similar skills

Harness Update 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 Update compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Harness Update this skillharnessworks/harness-starter-kit115—~291Automated safety check: PassMIT
Nx Generatenomcopter/react-mosaic4.8k7 repos~1.9kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
PonytailDavidObando/gsharp5648 repos~1.7kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Run Nx Generatornrwl/nx29k2 repos~592Automated safety check: NotesMIT
Conductor Setupgemini-cli-extensions/conductor3.8k—~4.2kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Mirage VFS Adapter Authoringstrukto-ai/mirage3.7k—~2.5kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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Categories

Questions about Harness Update

What does Harness Update do?

Refresh an adopted target repository from the latest Harness Starter Kit reference. Harness Update is an agent skill from harnessworks/harness-starter-kit. Refresh an adopted target repository from the latest Harness Starter Kit reference.

When should I use Harness Update?

Harness Update fits situations like: the user asks for /harness update; wants source tracking and selective harness updates.

How do I install Harness Update in Claude Code?

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

How do I install Harness Update in Codex?

Run `npx skills add harnessworks/harness-starter-kit --skill harness-update -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (agent-skills/skills/harness-update in harnessworks/harness-starter-kit) into .agents/skills/harness-update in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Harness Update 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 harnessworks/harness-starter-kit --skill harness-update -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-update, .gemini/skills/harness-update, .github/skills/harness-update and .opencode/skills/harness-update in your project.

What does Harness Update need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Harness Update is instructions for the agent only.

Does Harness Update 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 Update 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 Update use?

Harness Update 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 Update use?

About 291 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 1.2k 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 Update?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Harness Update: Nx Generate (nomcopter/react-mosaic, 4.8k stars), Ponytail (DavidObando/gsharp, 564 stars), Run Nx Generator (nrwl/nx, 29k stars) and Conductor Setup (gemini-cli-extensions/conductor, 3.8k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Harness Update?

harnessworks (a GitHub organization) maintains it in harnessworks/harness-starter-kit, which has 115 GitHub stars. The repository holds 6 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on June 18, 2026.

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