/design-harness

name: design-harness
description: A decision board for evidence-based calls — the human adjudicates, the agent runs the errands. Three layers (sources → ideas → output) in plain markdown, synced on the human's command, projected onto a visual canvas. Use for vendor/tool selection, literature reviews, due diligence, competitive analysis, or any contested call that must stand on traceable evidence — triggers like "file these papers", "put this on the board", "assemble the design", "how do we decide this".
license: MIT
allowed-tools: Bash(python3 ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/*)
metadata:
  author: tigerless-labs
  repository: https://github.com/tigerless-labs/design-harness

design-harness — the human adjudicates, the agent runs errands

Markdown is the **single source of truth**; the canvas HTML, every layer index, and the location registry are projections, rebuildable at any time. Judgment comes only from the human; you lay out options and evidence and run the errands — never adjudicate in the human's place.

Structure

Workspace layout

<workspace>/
├── target.md             the human's acceptance criteria; source of the output form
├── logs.md               append-only change ledger (see "Disciplines · Ledger")
├── index.md              workspace entry point
├── sources/<type>/*.md   ① evidence: one source, one card
├── ideas/*.md            ② judgments (archive/ holds archived cards)
├── output/…              ③ assembly; internal structure set by the chosen output form
└── board/*.md            free surface: one file, one board

A host may hold many workspaces under any directory names; the sole registry is `.design-harness/config.json` at the host root — discovery trusts the registry, never the directory name.

Every layer also carries an `index.md`, grouped under tag headings (`## TAG: one line on why they belong together`), unclassified cards flat at the end after a `---` divider and an *unclassified* marker. Search goes through the indexes; there is no classification layer.

Three layers + the free surface

1. **sources/ — evidence.** One source, one card, filed under `sources/<type>/`. The agent ingests and grades freely, and invents the type directories itself — no preset list; name them after what the source is (papers, github, podcasts, …), adding directories as needed. The directory name projects verbatim as the card's badge on the canvas. 2. **ideas/ — judgments.** **Judgment comes only from the human**: decision judgments the human voices in conversation are transcribed into idea cards automatically, and the human can simply ask for a card to be added; the agent transcribes, never invents. Two states: live (the file exists) and archived (moved into `ideas/archive/`, never deleted). A new idea repeating an old card's judgment merges automatically; a conflicting one puts both on the board for the human to pick. 3. **output/ — assembly, the convergent layer.** **First assembly is human-initiated**; its form comes from [references/output-forms/](references/output-forms/system-design.md) and the human's `target.md`. Ideas diverge, output converges: output changes only on the human's word (see "Workflow · Sync").

One free surface besides: **board/** — the human's own boards, one markdown file per board (comparison matrices, theme grids, any scratch reasoning). **No schema, no required fields** — this freedom belongs to the human; edit only when asked ("lay these three sources out as a comparison").

Card schema and templates

• A card = **frontmatter + title + summary**. No fixed sections; references are inline

links in the summary.

• `ideas/` cards (including `archive/`): frontmatter **requires `id` and `type`**;

`tags` and `conflicts` optional (see "Exactly three structured facts"). No status field — the file's existence is the live state, sitting under `archive/` is the archived state.

• `sources/` cards: frontmatter optional; when present only `tags` is read.
• `board/` documents: **no schema**. The board is **terminal**: it may reference any

layer, but sources/ideas/output must never reference the board — distill a board's conclusions into idea cards.

idea card template:

---
id: <kebab-slug, matching the filename>
type: idea
tags: [<at most one; omit the whole line>]
conflicts: [<ids of prior cards this judgment contends with; omit when none>]
---

# <the judgment in one sentence>

<Summary: what the judgment says and why; the evidence and prior cards it stands on as
inline links.>

source card template:

---
tags: [<at most one; the whole frontmatter may be omitted>]
---

# <source name + one-line characterization>

<Core content + relevance to this project; the original provenance (arXiv/URL/date/
authors) as inline links.>

target template:

# target — acceptance criteria for the output

## Purpose
(One paragraph: what this workspace decides, for whom, and where the boundaries are.)

## Current requirements
- (One checkable requirement per line.)

## Fulfilment map
- (Requirement → output file mapping, updated with each assembly.)

Exactly three structured facts

1. **References** — inline markdown links in the card body. Forward only: a link points at the evidence or prior cards this card stands on, never at supporters. "Who cites me" is a projection-derived backlink, never written down. **Acyclic**: mutual references mean the two cards should merge, or one edge is a mistakenly written backlink — delete it. 2. **Tags** — single level, **at most one per card**, optional. A card that truly belongs to two tags is two cards: split it. No tag just means unclassified. Tags may be proposed by the human or assigned by the agent. 3. **Conflict** — the optional `conflicts: [<other card's id>]` in the **newer** card's frontmatter, declaring a judgment conflict with prior cards (written on the new card only, acyclic, same direc