TECH Signal 494
Attribute agent behavior to the harness, not the model
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Illustration only Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash
The article clarifies the agent stack, distinguishing the model, inference service, and harness, and advises attributing agent behavior to the harness.
For engineers building agent systems, this distinction pinpoints where to debug and improve. If a model gives bad answers, the harness may need better context; if it's slow or expensive, the inference service is the culprit. Adopting this terminology prevents misattributing failures and guides optimization.
Written by elseif from the cluster below · every claim links back to a sourceThe three things worth knowing
An agent system consists of a harness, an inference service, and a model.
The harness shapes inputs and interprets outputs, while the inference service runs the model and tracks usage.
When an agent misbehaves, the issue likely lies in the harness, not the model.
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