# N Agentic Harnesses Anthropic

Design, evaluate, and improve agentic harnesses, the orchestration layer around...

- Repository: https://github.com/NateBJones-Projects/OB1 (4752 stars)
- Category: Design
- License: see repository
- Last updated: 2026-11-01
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add NateBJones-Projects/OB1 --skill n-agentic-harnesses-anthropic -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add NateBJones-Projects/OB1 --skill n-agentic-harnesses-anthropic -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add NateBJones-Projects/OB1 --skill n-agentic-harnesses-anthropic -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add NateBJones-Projects/OB1 --skill n-agentic-harnesses-anthropic -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Design, evaluate, and improve agentic harnesses, the orchestration layer around LLM-powered tools, agents, assistants, copilots, workflow runtimes, and AI-driven product features. Use this skill whenever the user mentions building an agentic system, structuring tool use, adding permissions or approval gates, designing multi-step AI workflows, managing context windows or memory, making agents durable or resumable, evaluating or pressure-testing an existing harness, planning phased implementation for an AI product, reviewing agent architecture, improving agent UX or observability, or asking how to know if their harness is actually good. Also use when the user describes problems that imply harness gaps, like agents doing unexpected things, context getting stale, sessions not surviving crashes, tools running without permission, or costs spiraling, even if they do not use the word "harness.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# N Agentic Harnesses For Anthropic

Use this skill as a router for designing, building, and evaluating agentic harnesses.

Read only the files you need. Do not load the entire reference set unless the request genuinely spans multiple subsystems.

Default posture:

- Bias toward lean, solo-maintainable architecture.
- Start with a single-agent design unless clear constraints justify more.
- Require an evaluation plan even for greenfield builds.
- Prefer explicit system boundaries, permission policy, and workflow state over prompt cleverness.
- Translate ideas into implementation phases, success criteria, and failure tests.

## Step 0: Gather Context

Before routing, make sure you have enough to work with.

If the user is asking for a **design**, confirm you understand:

- what product or system the harness serves
- what actions the agent will take
- who the users are
- any known constraints (solo dev, team, existing stack, timeline)

If the user is asking for an **evaluation**, you need access to the harness itself:

- read their codebase, CLAUDE.md, settings, skills, hooks, or architecture docs
- if none of that is available, ask what they have and where it lives
- do not evaluate from vibes alone, gather evidence first

If the request is vague ("help me build an agent" or "is my harness any good"), ask one or two clarifying questions before proceeding. Do not stall the conversation with an interview, get enough to pick a mode and start.

## Step 1: Classify The Request

Choose one mode before reading reference files.

### `design`

Use when the user is creating a new harness, planning a major rebuild, or asking for architecture, MVP, or implementation sequencing.

Default reads:

- `references/01-principles-and-solo-dev-defaults.md`
- `references/02-harness-shapes-and-architecture.md`
- `references/08-design-and-build-playbook.md`

Add subsystem files only as needed.

### `evaluation`

The rest: https://github.com/NateBJones-Projects/OB1/blob/HEAD/skills/n-agentic-harnesses/variants/anthropic/SKILL.md