Harness engineering is a core skill: build a minimal agent loop first, learn the knobs
omarsar0 · x · 2026-09-02
Elvis Saravia argues agent harnesses are not one-size-fits-all: a good harness solves your context engineering problems, and its edge comes from understanding low-level details like system prompts, caching, and effective tool calling. He recommends building a tiny minimal harness in your favorite language — basic agent loop, system prompt, tool calling — then testing, verifying, and iterating on a real use case. These skills transfer directly to production harnesses, letting you tune them far more effectively. It's not just fundamentals; it's knowing which knobs to turn.
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