# Unified Harness Protocol Developer Guide > Independent developer reference for Unified Harness Protocol (UHP), HarnessRouter Community Edition, harness integrations, conformance, adoption and adjacent interoperability standards. This site is not the official UHP project or affiliated with HarnessRouter. ## Start with a reader task - [Understand the execution boundary](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/what-is-uhp/): distinguish a UHP client/server contract from the harness and its tools. - [Build an integration](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/getting-started/): capabilities, version negotiation and lifecycle prerequisites. - [Compare UHP with ACP](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-acp/): choose or compose an execution gateway and an editor-to-agent connection. - [Qwen Live Harness setup](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/qwen-live/): macOS prerequisites, standalone package lineage and separate realtime/background credentials. - [NeMo Relay](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/nemo-relay/): execution instrumentation, runtime scopes, middleware and current versus historical release evidence. Pages distinguish current guidance from dated source history. Source review is not an executed integration test. This optional file helps consumers find documents; it does not assert indexing, ranking or AI citation eligibility. ## Current coordinates Verified: 4 Oct 2026 Protocol: 2026-09-28 Draft HarnessRouter stable: v0.29.1 / d257219281ef3b5a113fe8d8f2550ae0d12be320. Development main was checked at the same d257219281ef3b5a113fe8d8f2550ae0d12be320 commit; observed prerelease: v0.30.0-rc.3. Prerelease numbering does not replace the stable/Latest coordinate. Conformance: package 2026.9.28.post3; 85 executable checks (40 Core, 9 Extended, 36 Full). Released HarnessRouter backends: 20; v0.29.0 adds Kilo CLI 7.8.1, MiniMax Code 0.5.4, Grok Build 1.0.41 and Agent Zero v2.13. v0.29.1 keeps the count at 20 and fixes relay streaming/upstream liveness plus RC publication semantics. UHP 2026-09-28 adds optional Environments. Task override is metadata.environment according to PR #331, protocol changelog, schema, conformance and reference implementation; the current tasks.md table still contains one stale top-level environment row. HarnessRouter Runtime Plugins, introduced in v0.24.0, are workspace-connected runtime services and are distinct from UHP Harness Plugins / Agent Plugins packages. ## Start Here and UHP Reference - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/what-is-uhp/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/getting-started/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/architecture/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/spec/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/environments/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/api/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/lifecycle/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/security/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/conformance/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/governance/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/harness-plugins/ ## Harnesses & Platforms - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/harnessrouter/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/runtime-plugins/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/codex/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/claude-code/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/hermes/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/pi/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/deepseek-harness/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/opencode/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/qwen-code/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/qwen-live/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/cline/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/gemini-cli/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/oh-my-pi/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/goose/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/kimi/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/aider/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/openhands/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/system-one/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/cheetahclaws/ ## Research & Updates and Site & Reference - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/ecosystem/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/adoption/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/releases/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/news/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-clients/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-go/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/sources/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/glossary/ ## Engineering Guides and platform implementation research - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/harness-composition/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/instruction-state-provenance/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/routing-identity/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/durable-state-repair/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/memory-mutation-identity/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/workspace-trust/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/context-compaction/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/profile-isolation/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/containerized-subagents/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/tool-surface-coherence/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/loop-engineering/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/session-recovery/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/session-export-integrity/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/runtime-capacity-control/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/managed-runtime-attestation/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/remote-harness-execution/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/ai-sdk-harnesses/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/pydantic-ai-harness/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/trueforge/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/docker-agent/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/strands-agents/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/deep-agents/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/prime-agent/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/antigravity-cli/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/github-agentic-workflows/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/frontierharness/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/harnessrisk/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/agent-control-delivery-evidence/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/agentic-tool-binding/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/harness-of-harness/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/nemo-relay/ ## Protocols & Standards - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-mcp/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/mcp-tasks/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/mcp-filesystems/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/skills-over-mcp/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-a2a/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/a2a-cli/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/a2a-conformance/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-acp/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-aip/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-getaip/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-agntcy/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-agent-plugins/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/agentic-hypercall-protocol/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-ahp/ - https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-samp/ ## Evidence rules Normative versioned UHP source beats implementation convenience. HarnessRouter release/runtime behavior is separate from UHP protocol behavior. Backend support is not native upstream adoption. Provider/model/tool compatibility is not UHP conformance. Historical measurements remain tied to the suite/source revision actually measured. A checked report, release-candidate run and runtime support matrix are distinct evidence forms. ## Primary source roots - https://github.com/HarnessRouter/harnessrouter - https://github.com/HarnessRouter/harnessrouter/tree/main/protocol - https://github.com/HarnessRouter/harnessrouter/tree/main/protocol/conformance - https://github.com/HarnessRouter/SystemOneHarness - https://github.com/OpenHands/OpenHands - https://modelcontextprotocol.io/ - https://github.com/a2aproject/A2A - https://agentclientprotocol.com/ ## Additional protocol, engineering and site references - [About this UHP developer guide](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/about/) - [Agent Enrollment Protocol (AEP): Machine-First Agent Enrollment](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/agent-enrollment-protocol/) - [Editorial and verification policy](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/editorial-policy/) - [Know Your Agent (KYA): cross-network agent trust](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/know-your-agent/) - [UHP vs N-AALP / N-PAMP](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/native-agentic-protocol-stack/) - [Privacy policy](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/privacy/) - [UHP vs Agent Authorization Envelope (AAE)](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-aae/) - [UHP vs AC2 (Agentic Communication and Control Protocol)](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-ac2/) - [UHP vs Agent Event Protocol (AEP)](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-aep/) - [UHP vs AG-UI](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-ag-ui/) - [UHP vs Agent Infrastructure Control Protocol (AICP)](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-aicp/) - [UHP vs Agentic Resource Discovery (ARD)](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-ard/) - [UHP vs Agent Trajectory Interchange Format (ATIF)](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-atif/) - [UHP vs DNS-AID](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-dns-aid/) - [UHP vs Harness Protocol](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-harness-protocol/) - [UHP vs MCP Live (MCPL)](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-mcpl/) - [UHP vs Model Hardware Standard (MHS)](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-mhs/) - [UHP vs model APIs](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-model-api/) - [UHP vs Natural Language Interaction Protocol (NLIP)](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-nlip/) - [UHP vs Open Memory Protocol (OMP)](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-omp/) - [UHP vs OpenSharing](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-opensharing/) - [UHP vs Signed Agent Identity Protocol (SAIP)](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-saip/) - [UHP vs TRACE runtime evidence](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-trace/) - [UHP vs WebMCP](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-webmcp/)