# Profiles & installation

> Phase 3 (+3.5) · designs: [install pipeline](design-phase-3-install.md) ·
> [marketplace emitter](design-phase-3.5-marketplace-emitter.md) ·
> [profile concept](design-profiles.md)

A **profile** is a versioned, installable bundle: MCP servers plus resources
(skills, hooks, sub-agents, rules, commands). Its entries are *references* to
platform resources, so installing a profile fetches the current bodies from
the server — the CLI never works off local manifests.

## Installing

### Claude Code — plugin marketplace (preferred)

The server emits a Claude-Code-native plugin marketplace. Create a
marketplace-scoped PAT (Tokens page), then:

```
claude plugin marketplace add <PUBLIC_BASE_URL>/api/marketplace/<token>/marketplace.json
claude plugin install <profile>@harness-nexus-<username>
```

Claude Code then owns install/update/uninstall itself. The emitted
`.mcp.json` defaults to one `hnx mcp serve` entry per profile (client-dialed,
no secrets inlined). Requires `PUBLIC_BASE_URL` to be the public HTTPS
origin in production.

### Other targets — the `hnx` adapter pipeline

```
hnx install --profile <id> --target <hermes|codex> [--out] [--apply]
```

`--out` previews the plan (per-file writes with snapshots); `--apply` writes
it. `hnx uninstall` reverses an install from the ledger (restores snapshots,
keeps your later edits as `*.hnx.bak`). Upgrades are a re-run of `install` —
plans are idempotent overwrites.

## Runtime config alongside profiles

Machines can also receive **provider config** (model route + credential)
per agent target — see
[Harness runtime management](harness-runtime-management.md).