<p>The hard part of AI coding isn't generating code — it's controlling quality, safety, and drift. Kaushik and Iury break down harness engineering: the five pillars for shaping an agent's environment and what it looks like when teams build custom harnesses from scratch.</p>
<p><a href="https://fragmentedpodcast.com/episodes/307" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>Full shownotes at fragmentedpodcast.com</i></a><i>.</i></p>
<h1>Show Notes</h1>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://openai.com/index/harness-engineering/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Harness Engineering</a> -<br>
  OpenAI's post on building their Codex codebase (~1M lines of code, 1,500 PRs<br>
  merged, zero manually written)</li>
</ul>
<h2>Shaping the harness</h2>
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://iurysouza.dev/newsletter/the-feeds-lost-and-found-01/" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Feed's Lost and Found</a> -<br>
  Iury's newsletter consolidating harness engineering themes</li>
</ul>
<ol>
 <li>Agent legibility</li>
 <li>Closed feedback loops</li>
 <li>Persistent memory</li>
 <li>Entropy control</li>
 <li>Blast radius controls</li>
</ol>
<h2>Building the harness</h2>
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://stripe.dev/blog/minions-stripes-one-shot-end-to-end-coding-agents" rel="noopener noreferrer">Minions: Stripe's one-shot, end-to-end coding agents</a> -<br>
  Stripe forked Goose to build custom agents for their codebase</li>
 <li><a href="https://github.com/block/goose" rel="noopener noreferrer">Goose</a> - open-source coding agent from Block</li>
 <li><a href="https://github.com/obra/superpowers" rel="noopener noreferrer">Superpowers</a> by Jesse Vincent - skills<br>
  that enforce a proper software engineering process</li>
 <li><a href="https://opencode.ai/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Open Code</a> - open-source coding agent you can fork and<br>
  customize</li>
</ul>
<h2>Other resources</h2>
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://latentpatterns.com/glossary/agent-harness" rel="noopener noreferrer">Agent Harness Glossary</a> -<br>
  Latent Patterns</li>
 <li><a href="https://cursor.com/blog/self-driving-codebases" rel="noopener noreferrer">Towards self-driving codebases</a> -<br>
  Cursor</li>
 <li><a href="https://githubnext.com/projects/agentic-workflows" rel="noopener noreferrer">Agentic Workflows</a> -<br>
  GitHub Next</li>
 <li><a href="https://www.thoughtworks.com/content/dam/thoughtworks/documents/report/tw_future%20_of_software_development_retreat_%20key_takeaways.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer">Future of Software Development</a> -<br>
  ThoughtWorks</li>
</ul>
<h1>Get in touch</h1>
<p>We'd love to hear from you. <a href="mailto:contact@fragmentedpodcast.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Email</a> is the<br>
 best way to reach us or you can check our <a rel="noopener noreferrer">contact page</a> for other<br>
 ways.</p>
<p>We want to hear all the feedback: what's working, what's not, topics you'd like<br>
 to hear more on.</p>
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://fragmentedpodcast.com/contact" rel="noopener noreferrer">Contact us</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://buttondown.com/fragmentedcast" rel="noopener noreferrer">Newsletter</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@fragmentedpodcast" rel="noopener noreferrer">Youtube</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://fragmentedpodcast.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Website</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Co-hosts:</h2>
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://kau.sh/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kaushik Gopal</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://iurysouza.dev/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Iury Souza</a></li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
 <p>[!fyi] We transitioned from Android development to AI starting with<br><a rel="noopener noreferrer">Ep. #300</a>. Listen to that episode for the full story behind<br>
  our new direction.</p>
</blockquote>


<description>&lt;p&gt;The hard part of AI coding isn't generating code — it's controlling quality, safety, and drift. Kaushik and Iury break down harness engineering: the five pillars for shaping an agent's environment and what it looks like when teams build custom harnesses from scratch.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://fragmentedpodcast.com/episodes/307" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Full shownotes at fragmentedpodcast.com&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;i&gt;.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h1&gt;Show Notes&lt;/h1&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Why it matters&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://openai.com/index/harness-engineering/" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Harness Engineering&lt;/a&gt; -&lt;br&gt;
  OpenAI's post on building their Codex codebase (~1M lines of code, 1,500 PRs&lt;br&gt;
  merged, zero manually written)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Shaping the harness&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://iurysouza.dev/newsletter/the-feeds-lost-and-found-01/" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;The Feed's Lost and Found&lt;/a&gt; -&lt;br&gt;
  Iury's newsletter consolidating harness engineering themes&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;Agent legibility&lt;/li&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;Closed feedback loops&lt;/li&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;Persistent memory&lt;/li&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;Entropy control&lt;/li&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;Blast radius controls&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Building the harness&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://stripe.dev/blog/minions-stripes-one-shot-end-to-end-coding-agents" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Minions: Stripe's one-shot, end-to-end coding agents&lt;/a&gt; -&lt;br&gt;
  Stripe forked Goose to build custom agents for their codebase&lt;/li&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://github.com/block/goose" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Goose&lt;/a&gt; - open-source coding agent from Block&lt;/li&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://github.com/obra/superpowers" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Superpowers&lt;/a&gt; by Jesse Vincent - skills&lt;br&gt;
  that enforce a proper software engineering process&lt;/li&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://opencode.ai/" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Open Code&lt;/a&gt; - open-source coding agent you can fork and&lt;br&gt;
  customize&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Other resources&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://latentpatterns.com/glossary/agent-harness" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Agent Harness Glossary&lt;/a&gt; -&lt;br&gt;
  Latent Patterns&lt;/li&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://cursor.com/blog/self-driving-codebases" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Towards self-driving codebases&lt;/a&gt; -&lt;br&gt;
  Cursor&lt;/li&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://githubnext.com/projects/agentic-workflows" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Agentic Workflows&lt;/a&gt; -&lt;br&gt;
  GitHub Next&lt;/li&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.thoughtworks.com/content/dam/thoughtworks/documents/report/tw_future%20_of_software_development_retreat_%20key_takeaways.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Future of Software Development&lt;/a&gt; -&lt;br&gt;
  ThoughtWorks&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;h1&gt;Get in touch&lt;/h1&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We'd love to hear from you. &lt;a href="mailto:contact@fragmentedpodcast.com" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Email&lt;/a&gt; is the&lt;br&gt;
 best way to reach us or you can check our &lt;a rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;contact page&lt;/a&gt; for other&lt;br&gt;
 ways.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We want to hear all the feedback: what's working, what's not, topics you'd like&lt;br&gt;
 to hear more on.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://fragmentedpodcast.com/contact" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Contact us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://buttondown.com/fragmentedcast" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Newsletter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/@fragmentedpodcast" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Youtube&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://fragmentedpodcast.com" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Website&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Co-hosts:&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://kau.sh/" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Kaushik Gopal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://iurysouza.dev/" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Iury Souza&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
 &lt;p&gt;[!fyi] We transitioned from Android development to AI starting with&lt;br&gt;&lt;a rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;Ep. #300&lt;/a&gt;. Listen to that episode for the full story behind&lt;br&gt;
  our new direction.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
</description>

The hard part of AI coding isn't generating code — it's controlling quality, safety, and drift. Kaushik and Iury break down harness engineering: the five pillars for shaping an agent's environment and what it looks like when teams build custom harnesses from scratch.

Full shownotes at - https://fragmentedpodcast.com/episodes/307

Fragmented - AI Developer Podcast

307 - Harness Engineering - the hard part of AI coding

307 - Harness Engineering - the hard part of AI coding

Description