Getting Started

Getting Started

Requirements

• python3 on your PATH — all scripts are standard-library only.
• Hooks require Claude Code's hook support (.claude/settings.json); on other surfaces the docs-and-audit layers still work.
• Git recommended — audits use history to find what changed.

Install the skill

Any of:

• Save the packaged skill — in Claude Desktop / Cowork, save the project-harness.skill file and click Save skill.
• From a marketplace repo — /plugin marketplace add <owner>/<repo> then /plugin install project-harness@<marketplace>.
• Claude Code, manual — copy the skill folder into ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or <project>/.claude/skills/ (per-project).

Run setup at kickoff

In the repo you're setting up, during planning, say something like:

Set this project up with a proper harness before we start building.

The skill runs setup mode (triggered when there is no .claude/harness.json yet). Expect:

1. Recon — if code exists, it scans the subsystems your work will touch.
2. An interview — one question at a time, ordered by architectural blast radius, tradeoffs attached so you decide on substance. Answer as you go.
3. An unknowns register — everything surfaced is filed into docs/UNKNOWNS.md with the right move per quadrant (see Discovery and the Four Quadrants).
4. A tier recommendation — it proposes the smallest Tiers that fits; you confirm before anything installs.
5. Installed docs under docs/, plus a manifest at .claude/harness.json.
6. A passing self-test as the completion proof — setup is not done until python3 scripts/harness_selftest.py . passes.

Run the audit at every phase boundary

When a phase ends (or after a rough week), say:

Run the phase audit.

The skill runs audit mode (triggered when .claude/harness.json exists) and writes a report to docs/audits/audit-YYYY-MM-DD.md with a PROCEED / PROCEED-WITH-FIXES / BLOCKED verdict and at most a couple of findings that actually matter. Details in The Phase Audit.

Ask for a single discovery move mid-phase

You don't have to run a whole mode. Mid-phase, ask for one move — "what are we missing in this subsystem?", porting logic across languages, an ambiguous feature — and the skill runs just that (dispatch mode). The menu is in Discovery and the Four Quadrants.