open-agent

A local control plane to inspect, compare, plan, and safely manage coding-agent resources across heterogeneous harnesses.

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Overview

open-agent is a vendor-neutral local control plane for coding-agent resources.

Coding-agent harnesses such as Codex, Claude Code, and OpenCode expose similar concepts through incompatible files, databases, directory layouts, and extension systems. Every developer tool that needs to inspect or manage those resources currently rebuilds the same discovery, parsing, mapping, compatibility, and mutation logic.

open-agent aims to make that infrastructure reusable through a canonical resource model and a lifecycle built around:

Observe → Plan → Apply → Verify

Build Week scope

The OpenAI Build Week version will focus on a narrow, runnable developer-tool experience:

  • discover two contrasting coding-agent harnesses;
  • read selected local resources such as configuration, instructions, skills, and MCP integrations;
  • normalize them into a canonical model with provenance and diagnostics;
  • persist observed and desired state in a local SQLite control plane;
  • compare harness configurations and generate inspectable change plans;
  • use GPT-5.6 for semantic compatibility analysis and migration guidance;
  • apply one constrained, reversible resource change;
  • re-observe the target harness and verify the result.

Architecture

The project separates:

  • source-native harness state;
  • explicit source-to-canonical mappings;
  • observed canonical state;
  • desired canonical state;
  • durable change plans and verification results.

Deterministic code owns discovery, parsing, persistence, diffs, supported operations, application, and verification. GPT-5.6 is reserved for semantic analysis where rigid mappings are insufficient.

Why it matters

A shared interoperability layer can support agent configuration tools, migration utilities, plugin managers, security auditors, dashboards, synchronization workflows, and future cross-harness developer platforms without forcing each product to maintain its own integration stack.

Current status

The repository currently contains the project vision, scope, manifesto, and architecture documents. The runnable Build Week implementation will be developed during the submission period using Codex and GPT-5.6, with dated commits and session evidence distinguishing the new work from the pre-existing design material.

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