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Playbook

Sandbox a coding agent

Workspace, permissions, git as ledger, verifier in the loop. Do not start from a blank graph.

When: You are shipping something that edits a repo.

  1. 01

    Start from a harness

    Deep Agents, OpenHands, Cline, Codex, Goose. Replace pieces. Do not rebuild Claude Code poorly.

    What a Harness Is
  2. 02

    Edit format + repo map

    apply_patch, not whole-file dumps. A map for orientation.

    Diffs, Repo Maps, Edit Formats
  3. 03

    Verify in the loop

    AGENTS.md test command as a tool. Done is a PR plus tests plus a human gate.

    Verification as Architecture

Done when

  • Harness shape in place: workspace, plan/act, apply_patch, test command, allow/ask/deny, no host prod creds.

Refuse

  • Unsandboxed exec. E2B, a container, OpenHands isolation, or a policy sandbox. Secrets stay in the executor.
  • No verifier in the loop. Verify tool from AGENTS.md. Done = reviewable diff + tests + human gate.
  • Computer-use as the first tool. API first, workflow second, browser last, always sandboxed.