rein-aharness/INTENT.md
tegwick 8e700c07de Rename repo to rein-aharness per glas-harness ADR-001
Repo-identity rename only (directory, git remote, pyproject name,
self-referencing docs). CLI/package/deploy rename tracked separately
in REIN-A-WP-0002-T02 since it touches a live Railiance deployment.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-26 12:28:44 +02:00

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# INTENT
> This file explains why agent-harness (repo renamed `rein-aharness`, see
> glas-harness ADR-001) exists — the problem it solves, the principle that
> governs its boundaries, and what it must never become. Established by
> DEC-2026-002 (binky-control DecisionQueue, resolved 2026-07-17) and
> ADR-001 in this repo.
>
> **Naming note (post-rename):** this repo is one of possibly several
> **reins** — concrete harness implementations for different operating
> circumstances, analogous to how "rails" name different workload
> operations models. glas-harness is the meta-framework that routes
> between reins; `rein-aharness` is the Claude-Code-CLI-based rein for
> governed, unattended/scheduled tenant work. See
> `../glas-harness/docs/adr/ADR-001-rein-harness-family.md`.
## Why it exists
Agentic work in the ecosystem requires combining many rapidly evolving
ingredients: agent blueprints (kaizen-agentic), LLM compute (llm-connect),
scheduling (activity-core), credentials (OpenBao/ops-warden), policy gates
(net-kingdom/flex-auth), memory (phase-memory, `.kaizen/` state), and
reporting (Custodian State Hub). Without a shared runtime, every project
that wants unattended agents must re-wire all of this — and every base-
technology shift multiplies into N project upgrades. The first concrete
casualty: binky-control's daily rhythm depended on a workstation cron
bridge because no workstation-independent runtime existed.
agent-harness exists so that **any project can run governed, unattended
agent instances by committing a small declarative manifest — while all the
fast-evolving wiring lives, evolves, and is enforced in exactly one
place.**
## The governing principle: three layers
1. **Blueprint (class)** — owned by kaizen-agentic. Versioned, reusable,
centrally improved agent definitions.
2. **Instance** — owned by the consuming repo. Declarative state only:
which blueprints run, cadence, autonomy lane, named tool profile,
budget, plus `.kaizen/` memory and metrics. Never code, never
credentials, never tool wiring.
3. **Harness (runtime)** — this repo. The single shared, multi-tenant
runtime: consumes tasks emitted by activity-core, loads the blueprint
(ADR-005 `schedule prepare`), binds instance state, acquires
credentials, runs the bounded agentic session via llm-connect,
verifies the local commit, reports to the State Hub and to the
instance's kaizen metrics.
The harness is the **only credential holder and the only policy
enforcement point** for agent sessions. Instances declare policy; the
harness enforces it. Instances pin a harness major version; upgrades
happen centrally.
## Strategic role
This is the "federated execution" half of the hub-and-spoke AgentOps
model (agentic-resources intent): central standards and runtime, per-repo
instances. It closes the gap the other repos deliberately leave open —
activity-core answers when/what/where and *does not execute*;
kaizen-agentic declares and prepares and *does not invoke LLMs*;
llm-connect abstracts providers and *does not orchestrate*.
## What it must never become
- **Not a scheduler.** Triggering and task emission stay in
activity-core. The harness only consumes.
- **Not a blueprint author.** Agent definitions, measurement conventions,
and improvement loops stay in kaizen-agentic.
- **Not a per-project logic container.** Anything specific to one tenant
belongs in that tenant's manifest or blueprint — the harness stays
generic or the instance model has failed.
- **Not an LLM abstraction.** Provider handling stays in llm-connect.
- **Not a state store.** Run history, task lifecycle, and decisions live
in the State Hub; agent memory lives with the instance (and later
phase-memory profiles).
- **Not autonomous beyond its grant.** Sessions run under named tool
profiles with hard allow-lists; the harness never pushes beyond the
target repo grant and never widens its own permissions.