title: Solution Harness Copilot Agent Plugin description: Native Copilot agents and skills for incremental delivery and guided GitHub and Jira workflows.

Solution Harness

Solution Harness packages specialized agents and reusable skills for planning, building, evaluating, reviewing, and maintaining software with GitHub Copilot. It uses the Agent Plugins 1.0 layout: portable skills live under skills/, and Copilot-specific agents live under com.github.copilot/agents/.

What's included

Version 2.0 removes the legacy runtime, installers, and bundled hooks. Parallel, cloud, and Jira workflows are now guided, manual procedures, not automated schedulers. The operator must verify approvals, assignments, ownership, budgets, reports, and integration. There are no bundled locks, leases, command guards, automatic session-status injection, trajectory logging, or stop gates. Copilot instructions are not a security boundary; use host permissions, repository protections, required reviews, and CI for controls.

Install

VS Code

Select Copilot as the session target. Run Chat: Install Plugin From Source and provide the repository URL, or add a local checkout to settings:

{
  "chat.pluginLocations": {
    "C:/path/to/solution-harness-plugin": true
  }
}

Reload or update the plugin and start a fresh session. Verify that the expected agents and skills are enabled in the selected host; availability can vary by host and policy.

Copilot CLI

With Copilot CLI installed, either install a local checkout:

copilot plugin install 'C:\path\to\solution-harness-plugin'
copilot plugin list --json

Or install the published marketplace:

copilot plugin marketplace add NishantSrivastava81/solution-harness-plugin
copilot plugin install solution-harness@solution-harness-marketplace

The marketplace is declared at .github/plugin/marketplace.json. The published marketplace must contain this version before the remote install can pick it up. copilot and gh are separate CLIs.

GitHub Copilot cloud agent

Enable the published plugin in the application repository's .github/copilot/settings.json, preserving any existing settings:

{
  "extraKnownMarketplaces": {
    "solution-harness-marketplace": {
      "source": {
        "source": "github",
        "repo": "NishantSrivastava81/solution-harness-plugin"
      }
    }
  },
  "enabledPlugins": {
    "solution-harness@solution-harness-marketplace": true
  }
}

Commit the settings on the target repository's default branch, confirm that the marketplace is accessible, and verify component availability in the actual cloud session. Installing locally does not install the plugin in a cloud job. Configure the target project's own dependency setup and tests separately. See the cloud guide.

Workflows

Start or onboard a project

For a new project, use /init-solution with the planner and optionally use the ideator and architect first. For an existing codebase, use /onboard. Both establish project-specific plans, feature state, progress, and instructions. Use /next-feature, /design-feature, the builder, and /evaluate for incremental delivery. /frontend-design supplies UI and accessibility guidance.

SaaS-aware guidance

Existing skills consider tenant isolation, observability, usage, and B2B UX where relevant. They guide, but do not enforce, project controls.

Sequential loop

Run /loop in the orchestrator for a goal-bounded, one-feature-at-a-time workflow. Agree on scope, verification, autonomy, and budgets first. The builder and evaluator must be separate, and a passing verdict and real tests are required before completion. The default autonomy level pauses for approval.

Guided parallel and cloud work

Use /plan-execution to review dependencies and ownership, then explicitly choose /parallel-loop for local worktrees or /cloud-parallel for GitHub cloud tasks. One coordinator records assignments, checks exact candidates with an independent evaluator, and integrates accepted changes serially. See the local guide.

For GitHub cloud work, gh agent-task is currently a preview feature. After approving the repository, base, and sanitized task brief, a typical operator flow is:

gh agent-task create --repo OWNER/REPO --base main --from-file 'C:\work\approved-story.md'
gh agent-task list
gh agent-task view '<session-id>' --repo OWNER/REPO
gh pr checks 123 --repo OWNER/REPO

Replace the example values with the approved ones. Task creation sends the brief to GitHub; never include credentials or unapproved private context. Before any merge, follow /cloud-parallel for exact-head review, required checks, branch protection, and explicit approval. /cloud-loop describes a single-feature hosted task, not a multi-feature scheduler.

Jira hybrid work

Use /jira-plan to preview a selected sprint, /hybrid-loop for an explicitly approved mix of local and GitHub cloud stories, and /jira-sync only for separately approved write-back. Jira requires an independently configured, authorized Jira MCP server, client, or user-provided export; gh does not provide Jira access. See the Jira hybrid guide.

Upgrading from an earlier version

Pause active runs and reconcile outstanding worktrees, GitHub tasks, PRs, and Jira operations before updating. Preserve run evidence and back up customized project files. Review any previously installed Solution Harness hooks, instructions, and runtime commands in each application repository; disable only the obsolete entries with approval, without removing unrelated hooks or user data. Updating this plugin does not change installed copies in other repositories.

Update or reinstall the plugin through the host rather than editing its cache, then reload and start a new session. Version 2.0 does not resume a legacy coordinator automatically. Establish a new approved guided run record after reconciling the old one. The repository's CI job names and coverage have also changed; administrators should review any required status-check rules that refer to the old jobs.

Project state

/init-solution and /onboard may create AGENTS.md, .github/copilot-instructions.md, and project-specific documents such as docs/PLAN.md, docs/FEATURES.json, docs/PROGRESS.md, and docs/ARCHITECTURE.md. /loop adds its approved contract, budget, and run log. Operators explicitly maintain these files; the plugin no longer writes a trajectory log automatically.

Feature IDs use E for existing features, F for new features, R for refactoring, and B for bug fixes.

Requirements and validation

• VS Code with GitHub Copilot or a compatible Copilot CLI host.

• Git for worktree and repository operations.

• An authenticated gh CLI, eligible Copilot access, and repository permissions for cloud tasks and PR operations.

• An authorized Jira integration or export only when using Jira workflows.

• Node.js is not required to use the plugin. Contributors can run the dependency-free packaging and guidance checks with Node.js:

  node tests\plugin.test.mjs
  node tests\workflows.test.mjs
  

These checks do not prove hosted discovery, agent independence, Jira access, or repository policy. Verify those in the intended environment.

References: Agent plugin authoring, cloud plugin settings, and GitHub CLI agent tasks.