dev-harness-architect

Audits, diagnoses, and designs development harnesses for coding agents across any stack.

6|Updated Feb 25, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/emilianoeloi/cowboy --skill dev-harness-architect-emilianoeloi
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent▼
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: dev-harness-architect
Source: https://github.com/emilianoeloi/cowboy/tree/main/.github/skills/dev-harness-architect
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/emilianoeloi/cowboy --skill dev-harness-architect-emilianoeloi

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

💡 This Skill includes references (resource) components.

What problem does it solve? Coding agents like Claude Code, Copilot, Codex, and Cursor produce inconsistent or unsafe output when the surrounding development harness — instructions, linters, CI tiers, pre-commit hooks, and runtime guardrails — is incomplete, misconfigured, or silently diverging. This Skill audits what your harness has and lacks, diagnoses why a specific rule is not being enforced, and designs a harness from scratch for a new project. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Harness Audit: Scans the repository for inferential guides (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, copilot-instructions.md, skills, prompts) and computational sensors (linters, pre-commit hooks, CI tiers, fitness functions, runtime guardrails), then reports gaps in a guides-by-sensors table. - Rule Enforcement Diagnosis: Walks a four-step checklist — is the rule documented, does a sensor verify it, is the sensor actually running, is it strong enough — to explain why an agent keeps violating a rule. - Harness Design from Scratch: Selects stack-appropriate tools (Python, Node/TS, Swift/iOS, Kotlin/Android, Go) from an adaptation table, defines CI tiers, and establishes a single source of truth for multi-agent instruction files. - Use Case: A team notices their Copilot agent repeatedly writes network calls outside the designated Networking module. Use this Skill to trace the failure to a missing fitness function and convert the prose rule into a deterministic architectural test. ## Quick Start Audit my repository's development harness and tell me which guides and sensors are missing for my coding agent.

Frequently Asked Questions about dev-harness-architect

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I audit my repository's coding agent harness?▼

Scan for inferential guides (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, copilot-instructions.md, skills, prompts) and computational sensors (linter configs, pre-commit hooks, CI workflows, fitness functions, runtime guardrails). Report findings in a guides-by-sensors table and prioritize the two or three highest-risk gaps.

Why is my coding agent ignoring a documented rule?▼

Check four things in order: whether the rule is documented in the agent's root file, whether a sensor verifies it, whether that sensor actually runs in pre-commit or CI, and whether the sensor is strong enough. A repeatedly failing inferential sensor should be converted into a deterministic computational check.

Does this harness approach work with Swift, Kotlin, or Go projects?▼

Yes, the model is stack-agnostic and includes an adaptation table mapping generic slots like lint, type check, test runner, coverage, and security scan to concrete tools for Python, Node/TypeScript, Swift/iOS, Kotlin/Android, and Go.

How should CLAUDE.md and copilot-instructions.md coexist in one repo?▼

Keep a thin root file per tool that only points to a single source of truth such as AGENTS.md, and declare an explicit precedence order for conflicts. Duplicating rules across files causes them to diverge silently over time.

What checks belong in pre-commit versus CI?▼

Only sensors faster than about five seconds belong in pre-commit or local hooks, typically lint, format, and fast type checks. Slower sensors like test coverage, security scans, and architectural fitness functions belong in tiered CI stages.