Project Tiny Context Harness

# Project Tiny Context Harness

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Translations: [Chinese (Simplified)](README.zh-CN.md)

Project Tiny Context Harness is repo-native project memory for AI coding agents.

`project-tiny-context-harness` ships Project Tiny Context Harness through the `sdlc-harness` CLI. It installs **Minimal Context Harness**: a compact `project_context/**` fact source, a short `AGENTS.md` startup router, role Skills and a `validate-context` gate so fresh agents can recover project intent, boundaries, verification entry points and next safe actions quickly.

It is not another full SDLC ceremony. The Harness maintains context quality; project tests, reviews, CI and human acceptance still own product quality.

Think of it as durable project memory behind `AGENTS.md`, not another agent, process framework or task manager.

Best for:

- repos where coding agents keep rediscovering project intent
- teams using multiple agents or frequent fresh chats
- maintainers who want durable context without a full planning ceremony

Not for:

- replacing tests, review, CI or issue trackers
- autonomous SDLC execution
- codebase semantic indexing or external docs retrieval

Concrete shift:

```text
Before: ask a fresh agent to read the repo and tell you what matters.
After: ask it to read AGENTS.md and project_context/** first, then summarize goal, non-goals, architecture boundaries and validation paths before proposing code.
```

What gets added:

```mermaid
flowchart LR
  A["Fresh agent session"] --> B["AGENTS.md startup router"]
  B --> C["project_context/** durable facts"]
  C --> D["Goal, non-goals, architecture boundaries, validation paths"]
  D --> E["Code proposal starts with repo intent loaded"]
  F["Tests / CI / review"] --> G["Product quality evidence"]
  C -. "does not own" .-> G
```

![Project Tiny Context Harness terminal demo](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Seven128/project-tiny-context-harness/main/docs/launch/assets/demo-terminal.gif)

The demo shows the core loop: initialize `AGENTS.md` and `project_context/**`, run `validate-context`, then ask a fresh agent to recover intent before proposing code. Use the npm install path below, or inspect the no-install previews first.

Install:

```sh
npm install -D project-tiny-context-harness@latest
npx --yes --package project-tiny-context-harness@latest sdlc-harness init
```

No-install preview:

- Read the [fresh-agent recovery walkthrough](docs/examples/fresh-agent-recovery.md).
- Inspect the [Minimal Context sample guide](docs/examples/minimal-context-sample.md).
- Browse a tiny generated sample repository at [examples/minimal-context-sample/](examples/minimal-context-sample/).

Source checkout preview:

Browser preview:

```text
Open https://codespaces.new/Seven128/project-tiny-context-harness
```

When the Codespace finishes `npm ci`, run:

```sh
npm run smoke:quickstart
npm run preview:pack
```

Local preview:

```sh
git clone https://github.com/Seven128/project-tiny-context-harness.git
cd project-tiny-context-harness
npm ci
npm run smoke:quickstart
npm run preview:pack
```

That smoke packs the local workspace, installs it into a disposable repo, runs `sdlc-harness init` and validates the generated Minimal Context files. Use this path for package development, source-preview testing or private review.

```sh
npm run preview:pack
cd /path/to/your/test-repo
npm install -D /path/to/project-tiny-context-harness/tmp/sdlc/source-preview/package/project-tiny-context-harness-0.2.51.tgz
npx --no-install sdlc-harness init --adopt
make validate-context
```

If the source preview path fails, open a [Source preview report](https://github.com/Seven128/project-tiny-context-harness/issues/new?template=source_preview_report.yml) with the command, environment and shortest useful output.

Use it when coding agents repeatedly lose project intent across new chats, handoffs, RFC/debug turns or tool changes. The intended tradeoff is: keep durable intent and recovery paths; leave execution evidence to code, tests and review.

## Why It Exists

Coding agents can move quickly inside one thread and still drift when a new chat, model, tool, reviewer or debugging session loses the project-specific facts that were never encod

... (truncated)