Getting Started

Getting Started

Get Harness running in under 10 minutes.

Harness lets you use Copilot, Claude, Cursor, Devin, and Kiro from one VS Code sidebar, with specs and file context shared across providers. Read Why Harness for the full picture.

Requirements

Requirement	Version
VS Code	≥ 1.85
Node.js	≥ 20 (on PATH — extension spawns the bundled CLI)
GitHub account	For Copilot (recommended first agent)

1. Install the extension

From release: Download harness-vscode.vsix from Releases → Ctrl+Shift+P → Extensions: Install from VSIX... → Reload.

From source:

git clone https://github.com/nbsjunior/harness.git
cd harness
npm install
npm run package:vsix
code --install-extension packages/extension/harness-vscode.vsix

The .vsix includes the compiled CLI — no separate install needed.

2. Open Harness

1. Open a project folder in VS Code
2. Click the Harness icon in the Activity Bar (sidebar)
3. Wait for Harness CLI daemon ready in View → Output → Harness

3. Configure GitHub Copilot

1. Ctrl+Shift+P → Harness: Copilot Login (or run gh auth login --scopes copilot)
2. Open Harness: Open Configuration → verify Copilot shows ready
3. Run Harness: Check getGoat to confirm agents

4. Send your first message

1. In the chat panel, select Copilot at the bottom
2. Mode Ask (default)
3. Type a question → Ctrl+Enter or click ↑

Next steps

• Chat Interface — providers, modes, new chat
• Copilot Modes — Ask / Agent / Spec+Agent
• Configuration — all agents and API keys
• Troubleshooting — common errors