Agent Harness

As AI agents move from one-shot chat to file access, command execution, and multi-step work, the hard part is replacing models, tools, and approval policies without rewriting the core. DeepSeek Harness builds on an everything-is-a-plugin architecture and Cordis, with a Web UI, a headless runner, and composable profiles and bundles.

Pi Agent Harness starts with a minimal terminal agent core and separates model interfaces, tool execution, sessions, extensions, and sandbox boundaries. This article covers the architecture, CLI quick start, skills and extensions, and a practical path to containerized AI coding agents.

CowAgent is an open-source Agent Harness that combines task planning, tool loops, long-term memory, a topic-oriented knowledge base, Skills, MCP, multiple model providers, and multiple channels in one long-running AI assistant runtime.