# Harness Compatibility Protocol

> Cross-vendor parity invariants, lifecycle delegation, and seven external-drift dimensions shared by the harness compatibility checker and fixer.

- Skill: `wahidyankf/harness-compatibility-protocol` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 13 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add wahidyankf/harness-compatibility-protocol`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/wahidyankf/harness-compatibility-protocol/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: wahidyankf (https://skillmd.com/u/wahidyankf)
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/wahidyankf/harness-compatibility-protocol

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# Repository Harness Compatibility Protocol

## Overview

Two agents share one taxonomy: deterministic and semantic Phase 0 parity invariants (offline,
Bash-based) and seven Phase 1 external-drift dimensions (web-research-backed). The checker
detects; the fixer remediates what's safely mechanical and flags the rest for human judgment.

## Reference Modules

- [phase0-parity-invariants.md](./reference/phase0-parity-invariants.md) — the five
  invariants, each with detection tool/pass/fail/criticality AND fix scope (auto-fixable vs.
  human-required)
- [phase0-quality-gate-filter.md](./reference/phase0-quality-gate-filter.md) — exact-ID delegation
  and retained semantic parity for quality-gate invocation
- [phase1-drift-dimensions-d1-d3.md](./reference/phase1-drift-dimensions-d1-d3.md) and
  [phase1-drift-dimensions-d4-d7.md](./reference/phase1-drift-dimensions-d4-d7.md) — the
  seven dimensions (D1–D7), each with drift indicator/criticality AND fix target/action
- [checker-workflow.md](./reference/checker-workflow.md) and
  [checker-finding-format.md](./reference/checker-finding-format.md) — the checker's own
  workflow steps, research delegation pattern, and finding format
- [fixer-confidence-and-scope.md](./reference/fixer-confidence-and-scope.md),
  [fixer-patterns-and-process.md](./reference/fixer-patterns-and-process.md), and
  [fixer-report-format.md](./reference/fixer-report-format.md) — the fixer's own confidence
  re-validation, fix patterns, process summary, fix report format, and FALSE_POSITIVE
  carry-forward

## Core Principles

1. **Standalone Phase 0 runs in full.** In the quality-gate workflow, exact
   `delegated-gate-ids` filter registered vendor, binding, ownership, catalog, and duplication
   predicates. Missing/stale evidence is `pending`, not a fallback run; unregistered semantic
   parity still runs.
2. **Only Invariant 3 (binding sync) and most Phase 1 dimensions auto-fix** — anything touching
   governance prose, root-instruction files, agent-set divergence, or a new color/tier mapping
   requires human judgment.
3. **Confidence propagates from the checker's cited source**: `[Verified]` → HIGH,
   `[Needs Verification]`/`[Unverified]` → MEDIUM (fixer downgrades and skips),
   `[Outdated]` → FALSE_POSITIVE.
4. **Conservative drift threshold** — flag substantive changes only (a different filename, a
   renamed directory, a removed required field), never minor wording differences.

## Related Agents

`harness-compatibility-checker`, `harness-compatibility-fixer`, `web-researcher`
(delegated Phase 1 research), `rules-checker` and `rules-propagation` (different scope).