Dual Mode

Dual Mode

Harness runs in two ways with the same CLI logic:

VS Code Extension (default)

Extension UI  ←IPC→  CLI daemon (--ipc)  ←→  Agents

• Extension spawns node cli/dist/index.js --ipc
• JSON frames on stdin/stdout
• All file I/O and HTTP in the CLI process

Standalone CLI

harness chat -a copilot "Explain this repo"
harness run -a claude "Refactor utils"
harness check getGoat
harness init
harness setup
harness aidlc install

No extension required. Uses the same AgentRouter and config layering.

When to use which

Use case	Mode
Daily coding in VS Code	Extension
CI/CD, scripts, servers	CLI
Debugging agents	CLI harness chat + stderr logs
Kiro bootstrap / AI-DLC	Either (harness setup)

Config

Both modes read:

• .harness/config.yaml
• Environment variables
• Extension adds VS Code secrets via HARNESS_SETTINGS_JSON

See Configuration.