World's Fair 2026
Every Harness Will Become A Claw — Sam Bhagwat, Mastra
Overview
This talk proposes that AI harnesses are evolving beyond their initial function of managing AI agent workflows. They are increasingly integrating with collaboration tools and becoming more proactive, effectively transforming into "Claws." This evolution is driven by the capabilities of modern coding agents and the desire for AI assistants to be more present and available within team workflows.
Who should watch
- AI Engineers
- Product Managers
- Builders working with AI agents
- Those interested in the future of developer experience and AI collaboration tools
Key takeaways
- The current understanding of AI harnesses often reflects last year's context engineering approaches.
- The emergence of coding agents, exemplified by Claude Code, signifies a new era for harness development.
- A modern harness can be conceptualized as Context Engineering combined with Coding Agents.
- Harnesses offer significant developer experience benefits through features like planning mode, parallel subagents, skills, background tasks, and user communication channels.
- Harnesses are expanding to become more integrated into collaborative environments, listening to external events and maintaining a persistent presence.
- This expansion leads to harnesses becoming "Claws," more actively participating in workflows and available even when users are offline.
- Steinberger's law, a variation of Zawinski's law, suggests that every harness will eventually expand to become a Claw.
Notable quotes
*The best way to think about a harness is Context Engineering + Coding Agents = Harness.*
*Every harness will expand until it becomes a Claw.*
Unofficial community note. Prefer the recording for nuance.