TOPIC OVERVIEW · AGENT HARNESS
Autonomy becomes workable only with boundaries.
A harness holds together brief, state, permissions, events and trace. It keeps an agent active enough to remove work — and bounded enough to earn trust.
// FOUR PARTS
What makes action traceable
An agent is more than a chat that sounds especially determined. It can organise information, use tools and pursue a task across several steps. To keep this ability from becoming blind activity, it needs a frame: the rules, states, permissions and control points around the agent.
01 · StateWhat is known, what has happened, and what remains open?
02 · PermissionsWhich tools may the agent use, and which effects are blocked?
03 · StopsAt which event must work return to a person?
CORE METHOD
The harness card
One page connects the brief, working state, permitted rights, stops and the required trace. It keeps the boundary visible before any action with consequences.
Plan an agent first for a preparatory, reversible step. Add further permissions only once the trace holds.