What is an agent harness?

@jakebeau_

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OpenClaw — the open-source AI assistant that runs on your machine and works from the chat apps you already use.

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Why it worked

The video uses a highly accessible 'explain like I'm 5' framework to demystify a complex technical topic, making it shareable for a broad audience while establishing the creator's authority.

Summary

The creator explains the concept of an AI agent harness using a simple analogy of a brain in a jar needing a body. He then lists several popular agent harness tools, including OpenClaw, to illustrate the current landscape of AI development.

Structure

1Define the problem: AI models are smart but lack agency.
2Introduce the analogy: The harness is the body for the brain.
3Break down the components: Tools, loops, and memory.

Original caption

Agent harness explained like I’m 5 #ai #buildabetterworld

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Product placement

OpenClaw is mentioned as one of the most popular agent harnesses and is featured in the on-screen text list.

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follow if you wanna build a better world with AI

On-screen text

AGENT HARNESS Explained Like I'm 5 What is an agent harness? LLM = Brain Opus 4.7 GPT-S.5 Llama Harness = Body 1. Tools 2. Loop 3. Memory OpenClaw + Agent SDK - OpenClaw - Hermes Agent - Claude Cowork - Manus - ZeroClaw - NanoClaw - TrustClaw - OpenAI Operator THE AI EXPONENTIAL Frontier model capability over time follow if you wanna build a better world with AI

Transcript

What is an agent harness? Explained like I'm five. Okay, imagine the AI model is like a really smart brain in a jar. It knows a lot, but it has no hands, no eyes, and no way to remember what it just did. The harness is the body that you build around that brain. A harness usually has: 1. Tools which are like hands. Search the web, running code, editing files. 2. A loop, which is a way to keep it running. So think: do something, check the result, repeat until it's done. 3. And a notepad, which is like the memory. Right now the most popular harnesses are OpenClaw, Hermes, and Obsidian plus Claude code. They're still pretty new, but I think they'll get a lot better pretty soon. As the models keep getting better, that's like the brain getting better. So I think creating one is probably worth it.