LangChain's Harrison Chase: how vertical agents differentiate via context, harness and model
hwchase17 · x · 2026-10-20
LangChain founder Harrison Chase, on the 20VC podcast with Harry Stebbings, explains why he's bullish on vertical agents and how to differentiate from horizontal ones at three layers: context (prompts, skills, tools — easiest), harness (harder, but changes fundamental behavior), and model (hardest, biggest impact). He notes most agent engineers today still tweak layers 1 and 2, in that order. Key caveat: as base models change, revisit your context/harness/model stack every 3–6 months and remove accumulated cruft.
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