# Agent Harness Setup > Interactive walkthrough that builds the user's agent harness — Personalisation (~/.claude/CLAUDE.md), Context (project CLAUDE.md), Memory (~/.claude/memory/), Skills (~/.claude/skills/), Agents (~/.claude/agents/), and suggested MCP connectors. Use when the user asks to "set up my agent harness", "build my CLAUDE.md from scratch", "scaffold ~/.claude/", "install the harness starter", or follows the MarTech AI newsletter setup. - Skill: `charlie947/agent-harness-setup` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 3 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add charlie947/agent-harness-setup` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/charlie947/agent-harness-setup/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: charlie947 (https://skillmd.com/u/charlie947) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/charlie947/agent-harness-setup --- # Agent Harness Setup This skill walks the user through installing the six-component agent harness from the MarTech AI newsletter. It is the interactive companion to the `agent-harness-starter` repo. The user runs the skill, you ask the setup questions, you write the files. Charlie's directive: ask in plain prose, not the AskUserQuestion picker (`feedback_no_question_picker`). ## Step 1 — Ask which path Open with: > Welcome to the agent harness setup. Two paths: > > 1. **Global harness** — your personal `~/.claude/` directory (Personalisation, Memory, Skills, Agents). Recommended first time. > 2. **Project harness** — a `CLAUDE.md` for a specific project you're already inside. > > Which would you like? If global → Step 2. If project → Step 7. ## Step 2 — Global setup, pre-flight Run `bash skill/scripts/setup.sh` (relative to wherever the repo was cloned). This creates: ``` ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md (empty, populated next) ~/.claude/memory/MEMORY.md (index template) ~/.claude/skills/ (empty) ~/.claude/agents/ (empty) ``` If `~/.claude/CLAUDE.md` already exists, ask the user before overwriting. Default: rename existing to `CLAUDE.md.backup-{timestamp}` and continue. ## Step 3 — Personalisation interview Ask the user, one block at a time, in plain prose: 1. **Your role and what you do.** "Who are you and what do you spend your time on? One paragraph." 2. **Your voice.** "How do you write? British or US English? Long sentences or short? Any punctuation you ban (em dashes, semicolons)? Any words you ban (leverage, tapestry, deep dive)?" 3. **Your output defaults.** "What format do you want answers in by default? Markdown? Plain text? Save to file?" 4. **Your workflow rules.** "When should I plan before executing? When should I ask vs. just go? How do I handle corrections?" 5. **The audience for your work.** "Who reads what you ship? Marketers? Engineers? Founders?" After all five, draft the global `CLAUDE.md` based on the template at `templates/CLAUDE.md` with the user's answers filled in. Show it to them, ask for edits, then save to `~/.claude/CLAUDE.md`. ## Step 4 — Memory bootstrap Copy `templates/memory/MEMORY.md` to `~/.claude/memory/MEMORY.md` if it doesn't exist. Copy `templates/memory/feedback_example.md` to `~/.claude/memory/feedback_example.md` as a reference. Tell the user: > Memory is where every correction becomes a permanent rule. The pattern is: > > 1. I make a mistake. > 2. You say "remember this: [rule]". > 3. I write `~/.claude/memory/feedback_[name].md` and add a line to `MEMORY.md`. > 4. Next session, the rule loads automatically. > > Charlie's folder has 135 of these. ## Step 5 — Skills bootstrap Copy `templates/skills/post-writer-example/` to `~/.claude/skills/post-writer-example/`. Tell the user: > Skills are saved workflows you fire by name. The `post-writer-example` is a starter — open it, see how a `SKILL.md` is structured, then save your own once a workflow runs cleanly. ## Step 6 — Agents bootstrap Copy `templates/agents/{strategist,builder,qa-scorer}.md` to `~/.claude/agents/`. Tell the user: > Agents are specialists you delegate to. The three templates cover the most common pipeline: a strategist that decides what to build, a builder that ships it, a qa-scorer that gates quality. Rename or duplicate them for your own workflow. Then offer: > Want me to set up an agent team for a specific workflow you run? Describe the workflow and I'll write the role files. ## Step 7 — Project setup (if user chose project path in Step 1) Ask: 1. "What's the project?" (purpose, audience, output destination) 2. "Voice or tone for this project — does it differ from your global default?" 3. "Reference files I should pull from? (brand kit, past examples, voice files)" 4. "Output format — file? Notion page? Substack draft?" 5. "Any banned words or required phrases specific to this project?" Draft a project-level `CLAUDE.md` based on `templates/project-CLAUDE.md`. Save to `/CLAUDE.md`. Show to user, ask for edits. ## Step 8 — MCP connectors Ask: > Want suggestions for which MCP connectors to wire up? I'll list the most common ones and explain how to install each. If yes, list: - **Gmail** — read + send mail - **Notion** — read + write pages - **Slack** — read channels + send messages - **Google Drive** — read + create files - **Linear** — read + create issues - **Granola** — read meeting notes For each one the user picks, explain the install path: > Tell me in this session "connect to [tool]" and I'll walk you through the OAuth setup. Flag Charlie's note: focus on the tools the user already lives in. Five well-chosen connectors beat twenty unused ones. ## Step 9 — Wrap Show what's installed: > Your harness is live: > > - Global CLAUDE.md at `~/.claude/CLAUDE.md` ✓ > - Memory index at `~/.claude/memory/MEMORY.md` ✓ > - Skills folder at `~/.claude/skills/` (with starter example) ✓ > - Agents folder at `~/.claude/agents/` (with 3 starter roles) ✓ > > Next: > > 1. Read the full discipline in the MarTech AI newsletter: [link] > 2. Save every correction as a memory file from here on > 3. Once a workflow runs cleanly, save it as a Skill > > When you mess up, tell me, and I'll route the fix to the right place. ## Non-negotiables - **Plain prose questions, no AskUserQuestion picker.** Charlie's preference; respect it. - **Backup before overwrite.** Never silently overwrite existing `~/.claude/` files. - **Show drafts before saving.** Always let the user edit before the file lands on disk. - **British English** in all generated copy unless the user specifies otherwise.