Agent Harnesses MCP Server

Agent-harness picks and decision guides; pick_infrastructure adds live GitHub/HN discovery. This MCP entry surfaces a curated ranking/list from the project README rather than a classic multi-tool integration surface. It runs locally over stdio via the published package.

People who work with agent framework, agentic ai and coding agents and want it reachable from Claude, Cursor, VS Code, or another MCP client. The project is written in Python.

VERIFIED ACTIVE

LAST COMMIT 2026-09-14 · ★ 897 · #14 OF 229 MAINTAINED CODING AGENT · VERIFIED 2026-09-18

CC-BY-SA-4.0 · Python servers · how we verify → /methodology

01 · Install Agent Harnesses

Claude Code

claude mcp add ryanalberts-best-of-agent-harnesses -- uvx agent-harnesses-mcp

Claude Desktop / Cursor / VS Code - add to config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ryanalberts-best-of-agent-harnesses": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "agent-harnesses-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Same JSON for Cursor. For VS Code, rename the top-level key from `mcpServers` to `servers`.

Using another client? Same JSON, different key

Claude Desktop · mcpServers

Cursor · mcpServers

VS Code · servers

Windsurf · mcpServers

Zed · context_servers

Cline · mcpServers

Roo Code · mcpServers

Continue · mcpServers

LibreChat · mcpServers

Gemini CLI · mcpServers

Codex CLI · mcp_servers

Full setup guides: every client.

02 · Evidence

Security posture

What to check before giving this server access to your agent - from the registry, GitHub, and our own probes. We don't score safety; we show what's verifiable.

runs as local process (stdio) - runs on your machine with your user's permissions

license CC-BY-SA-4.0 - declared in the repository

pypi package agent-harnesses-mcp - check the name against the project README before installing (PyPI has no namespace ownership)

registry namespace io.github.RyanAlberts is GitHub-verified and matches the repo owner

03 · What Agent Harnesses can do

Prose above is summarized from the project's README and registry record - no invented capabilities.

Latest releases

list-2026-09-2 · 2026-09-14

What's new · Three harnesses from the YC Paper Club talk are in. Prime Agent (Prime Intellect, 95.5% on ARC-AGI-3 with Opus 5), QM (Y Combinator's multiplayer harness for work), and OpenJarvis (Stanford's local-first…

list-2026-09 · 2026-09-09

What changed since August 12 · MCP server works again. agent-harnesses-mcp 0.5.2 pins the MCP SDK below 2.0. The 2.0 release (July 28) renamed FastMCP, and 0.5.1 crashed on startup for anyone who installed it. Install…

04 · Who maintains Agent Harnesses

agent-harnesses is maintained by ryanalberts. It's the only MCP server we track from this author; the repo dates to Mar 2026.

05 · Facts

repository: github.com/ryanalberts/best-of-agent-harnesses
category: coding agent - ranked #14 of 229 actively-maintained coding agent servers as of 2026-09-18.
release cadence: 2 releases in the last 90 days (latest 2026-09-14)
registry: io.github.RyanAlberts/agent-harnesses (active, first published 2026-06-12 · 8 versions)
packages: pypi:agent-harnesses-mcp

06 · Agent Harnesses FAQ

What is Agent Harnesses?

Is Agent Harnesses still maintained?

Yes - as of 2026-09-18, its last commit was 2026-09-14 and it shipped 2 releases in the last 90 days. We re-verify nightly.

How do I install Agent Harnesses?

Run `uvx agent-harnesses-mcp`. You can also paste the ready-made client config above.

Does Agent Harnesses run locally?

Yes - it's a stdio server: it runs on your machine (via uvx) with your user's permissions. Your data stays local unless the server itself calls external APIs.

07 · Alternatives to Agent Harnesses

Alternatives to Agent Harnesses

Maintained coding agent servers if Agent Harnesses isn't the fit.

More coding agent MCP servers · Sourced · Builderforce · Weavatrix · Speclock · Sinter

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