A few windows into the relationship.
Harness is a collection of simple, speculative apps about working alongside AI agents. What should be shared? What should interrupt you? What should remain entirely under your control?
Each app isolates one of those questions. Together they make an agent’s work visible through ordinary desktop objects: a board, a list, an inbox, a clock. Some give the agent a way to communicate. Others are for the human at the keyboard.
A shared picture of the work.
Backlog is the center of the collection. Human and agent can read the same kanban board, with cards moving through Backlog, Active, Review, and Done. Dependencies make blocked work explicit; a timeline records how the project changed.
The design exploration is about making coordination concrete. A task can occupy a column. A boundary can occupy a list. A question can wait somewhere without stopping everything else.
Backlog
A shared project board with dependencies and a timeline. Both human and agent can move the work forward.
Todo
Things to do, and things not to do. The agent can read both; the “don’t” column belongs to the human.
The agent leaves a question. You answer when you are ready. A place for a conversation that can wait.
Help
A visible, audible alert when something needs attention, with separate levels for concerning, urgent, and critical messages.
Timer
A pomodoro clock the agent can check. A work session gets a duration both of you can see.
Stop!
A direct kill switch for Claude, Codex, or both. One deliberate button to stop the process.
Thought
A floating input for the idea that arrives while something else is running. Save it as a timestamped Markdown note.
Breath
An expanding and contracting circle. A small pause for the person doing the work.
Small tools, explicit agreements.
The apps connect through local interfaces and a supplied instruction file that teaches an agent when and how to use them. That setup matters: the collection is built around understandable agreements between person and software, with each interaction visible in its own place.