better-harness
An open-source Harness Engineering platform for coding agents—define harnesses as code, run controlled experiments, inspect evidence, and compare outcomes. Turn task evidence into actionable team and organization insights.
Better Harness is an open-source engineering platform plugin for coding agents that evaluates AI-assisted development workflows across five dimensions: task understanding, controlled execution, change validation, reliable delivery, and learning capture. It analyzes both project configuration (AGENTS.md, specs, skills) and session evidence (when supported by the host) to generate evidence-backed reports with prioritized findings, each linked to concrete repair actions. The plugin works with Claude Code, Codex, Qoder, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and other coding agents, producing HTML and Markdown reports that make missing evidence explicit rather than fabricating scores.
Key Features
Use Cases
- 01Auditing AI coding agent workflows to identify where goals, execution paths, or validation are incomplete
- 02Generating evidence-backed improvement reports after agent coding sessions to prevent recurring friction
- 03Comparing agent workflow quality over time through historical trend analysis of the five loop dimensions
- 04Establishing team-level coding standards for AI agents through documented harness configurations
- 05Debugging why an AI agent solved the wrong problem by tracing task understanding and execution evidence
- 06Creating reproducible agent workflows with explicit validation and delivery checkpoints
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better-harness — FAQ
What is Better Harness?+
Better Harness is an open-source plugin that analyzes AI coding agent workflows by evaluating five connected dimensions (task understanding, controlled execution, change validation, reliable delivery, and learning capture) and generates evidence-backed reports with prioritized findings. It turns project and session evidence into actionable improvements while keeping missing evidence explicit.
How do I install Better Harness in Claude Code?+
Register the repository as a marketplace with '/plugin marketplace add QoderAI/better-harness', then install with '/plugin install better-harness@better-harness'. Start a new Claude session in your project and run '/better-harness analyze this project's AI coding workflow and generate an evidence-backed report'.
Which coding agents and clients does Better Harness support?+
Better Harness supports Claude Code, Codex Desktop, Codex CLI, Qoder Desktop, Qoder CLI, Cursor, GitHub Copilot CLI, Qwen Code, Pi, Kimi Code, WorkBuddy, and Grok. Installation steps and session evidence coverage differ by host; some produce native Canvas reports while others generate self-contained HTML with Markdown.
Does Better Harness require API keys or external services?+
No, Better Harness runs locally within your coding agent host and analyzes project files and session evidence available in your workspace. It does not require external API keys or send data to third-party services.
Is Better Harness free to use?+
Yes, Better Harness is open-source software licensed under the MIT License, free for both personal and commercial use.
What are the prerequisites for using Better Harness?+
You need a supported coding agent host (Claude Code, Codex, Qoder, Cursor, etc.) installed and a project repository to analyze. For development from source, Node.js >=22.20.0 <25.0.0 and npm >=10.9.3 <12.0.0 are required.
How do I install better-harness?+
Open the source repository on GitHub and follow its README. better-harness is a plugin — MCP Agents Market links you directly to the official repo.
Is better-harness free?+
better-harness is an open-source project hosted on GitHub. Check the repository for its license and any usage requirements.