Agent Harness Doctor#

Based on Anthropic's "Effective Harnesses for Long-Running Agents" and ClawHub's agent-harness-architect, this skill automatically diagnoses and hardens your OpenClaw harness.

The 8 Dimensions#

DimensionWhat it checksWhy it mattersSession BridgeIs there a structured state file ( agent-progress.json) that survives restarts?Without this, every session starts blankFixed Startup SequenceDoes the agent have a mandatory first N steps (read bridge, smoke test, etc.)?Prevents skipping crucial initializationSmoke TestDoes the agent verify environment (network, API keys, disk) before tasks?Catches failures earlyAtomic CheckpointAfter each task, does agent commit/save state?Ensures progress isn't lostOutput Self-VerificationBefore saying "done", does agent validate the result?Prevents false completionsState File FormatIs state stored as JSON (not Markdown) to resist accidental edits?Markdown is too easy for LLM to mangleMulti-Agent ProtocolIf multiple agents, is there clear message passing?Avoids race conditions and confusionFallback PlanDoes agent have a Plan B if a dependency fails?Increases robustness

Usage#

Run Diagnostic#

bash

tool("agent-harness-doctor", "harness_check", {"fix_apply": []})

Output includes:

json

{
  "summary": {
    "score": 6.5,
    "grade": "B",
    "weakest_dimension": "Session Bridge"
  },
  "dimensions": [
    {
      "id": "session_bridge",
      "name": "Session Bridge",
      "score": 2,
      "max": 10,
      "finding": "No agent-progress.json file found",
      "recommendation": "Create agent-progress.json with lastSession, taskTracking, environmentStatus sections",
      "p0": true
    },
    ...
  ],
  "plan": {
    "P0": ["create_session_bridge", "fix_startup_sequence"],
    "P1": ["add_smoke_test", "enable_atomic_checkpoint"],
    "P2": ["output_verification_gate", "multi_agent_protocol"]
  }
}

Auto-Apply P0 Fixes#

bash

tool("agent-harness-doctor", "harness_check", {"fix_apply": ["create_session_bridge", "fix_startup_sequence"]})

The tool will:

1. Create agent-progress.json in workspace root with template
2. Update AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md to include a fixed startup sequence section
3. Log changes made

Apply Single Fix#

bash

tool("agent-harness-doctor", "apply_fix", {"fix_id": "create_session_bridge"})

Fixes Implemented#

• create_session_bridge — generates agent-progress.json with schema v1.0
• fix_startup_sequence — inserts mandatory startup steps into AGENTS.md (if present)
• add_smoke_test — adds pre-task environment check (gateway status, API connectivity)
• enable_atomic_checkpoint — adds post-task commit template
• output_verification_gate — injects self-check prompt into system instructions
• state_json_format — migrates existing state files from MD to JSON
• fallback_plan_template — adds fallback handling patterns to AGENTS.md

Integration with Memory Stack#

If memory-stack-core is installed, harness doctor will:

• Check WAL and buffer health as part of "Session Bridge" score
• Recommend enabling WAL auto-capture if missing
• Verify buffer threshold is set appropriately

Pricing#

$99 one-time. Includes:

• Unlimited diagnostics
• Auto-fix application
• Future dimension additions

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Based on ClawHub's agent-harness-architect skill, extended with auto-fix capabilities.