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Josemalyson Oliveira edited this page Jun 27, 2026 · 2 revisions

HES Wiki

Welcome to the Harness Engineer Standard (HES) wiki! This is your complete guide to understanding, using, and contributing to HES.

Quick Links

Page Description
Getting-Started Installation and first steps
Architecture Technical architecture reference
Commands All 26 HES commands
Skills Skill files overview
Phases The 10-phase workflow
Rules The 34 rules
Agents Agent registry and v4.0 roadmap
Security Security policies and gates
Troubleshooting Common issues and solutions
Contributing How to contribute

What is HES?

HES is a skill-based orchestration system for AI coding agents. It is a collection of Markdown-based skill files, configuration protocols, and shell/Python helper scripts that are injected into an LLM-powered AI coding assistant to make it execute software development workflows in a structured, phase-locked, quality-controlled manner.

Core Philosophy

"Agent = Model + Harness" (LangChain, 2026)

  • The LLM is the Model
  • HES is the Harness

When invoked (via /hes), the LLM reads HES's skill files and becomes a "HES Harness Engineer" — an AI agent that guides software development through a strict 10-phase workflow.

The 10-Phase Workflow

ZERO → DISCOVERY → SPEC → DESIGN → DATA → RED → GREEN → SECURITY → REVIEW → DONE

Each phase has:

  • A skill file (skills/XX-name.md)
  • A gate (condition that must be met before advancing)
  • Artifacts (files that must be created)
  • A step budget (maximum actions before escalation)

Quick Start

# Install HES
git clone https://github.com/josemalyson/hes.git
cd hes
./setup

# Start using
/hes start

See Getting-Started for detailed instructions.

Compatible Agents

  • Claude Code (Anthropic) — Native support
  • Cursor — Native support
  • GitHub Copilot — Via copilot-instructions.md
  • Windsurf — Via .windsurfrules
  • Gemini CLI — Via .agents/skills/
  • Codex CLI — Via .agents/skills/
  • OpenCode — Via .agents/skills/
  • Kiro (AWS) — Native support

Contributing

We welcome contributions! See Contributing for how to get started.

Last updated: June 2026

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