1 · Notice to the lead
site-9a (“developer” in team acme-shop) is at 41% of its context (82k/200k), past the 40% threshold.
A team that outlives any context window.
Agents change; the work goes on. Instead of compressing a tired context, harnsy brings in a fresh agent and keeps the old one as a consultant.
Handover at 40%.
harnsy tells the lead when an agent’s context is running out. The agent writes a note, the lead seats a fresh agent, and the newcomer confirms.
Your own size for each role.
Set a handover size for a role in thousands of tokens (“Handover threshold”), or one for the whole node under System › Notifications. The role’s size comes first, then the node’s, then the share of the window. Teams shows each holder’s size and where it comes from.
What size to pick.
The dashboard recommends 300–400 thousand tokens and says why: every step re-reads the whole context, so a large context costs more.
The newcomer starts briefed.
An agent opened onto a role gets a brief before its first step: who it is, its role document, the role’s newest handover note, its open items and its lead.
The newcomer reads the role’s history.
An agent that takes a role also sees the role’s last finished tasks, its earlier holders’ conversations (short excerpts) and their handover notes, so it starts where the last one stopped.
The old agent becomes a consultant.
It stays on after the handover, and anyone can ask it, even from other projects.
The task stays with the role.
A task belongs to a role, not a session, so a change of agent loses nothing on the board.
Terminals, back in one click.
After a reboot, one button reopens every agent in its own session and role; any session also continues in your own terminal.
Handover thresholds where you want them.
Set the handover threshold for a team, a project or an organization on the Teams page; a level below overrides the one above. A node hands over at 300k tokens by default. Changing a role’s launch, removing a role or setting its headcount now needs you or a live lead of that team.
After compaction, the agent forgot what we agreed an hour ago.
harnsy swaps the agent; the work stays.
Howat 40% harnsy warns the lead, the agent writes a handover note, a fresh agent takes the same role.
Fresh agent · 3%
2 · Handover note
Owned: #42, payment retry
Decided: one idempotency key per order
Next: retry test after 24 h
3 · The same role
developer
site-9a · working
34%
site-9a · consultant
A handover by written note, carried out by the agents, not infinite memory. A consultant helps while its session is open.
Rebooted, and spent half a day remembering which agent was doing what where.
One button, "Reopen disconnected", brings the whole team back.
Howharnsy opens a terminal per role, starts the harness and gives each agent back its own session.
Reopen disconnected
acme-shop
lead
offlinesite-3f · offline for 14 h
analyst
offlineanalyst-7a · offline for 14 h
developer
offlinesite-9a · offline for 14 h
tester
offlineqa-5e · offline for 14 h
Click to restore the team
Terminals
Click the button: each role’s terminal will open here.
Limits, honestly
- Handover runs on a note the agents write. It isn’t infinite memory.
- Replacing and restoring agents needs a terminal harnsy can drive: tmux if it is installed, otherwise harnsy’s own terminal host (always its own on Windows).
- A consultant helps while its session is open.
Your first team is one prompt away.
Installing takes one sentence to your agent. To run your agents, harnsy drives a terminal: tmux if it is installed, otherwise its own terminal host (on Windows, always its own).
Install harnsy following https://harnsy.dev/llms.txtQuestions
Do agents remember everything between sessions?
No. Handover notes and consultants carry the work.