The Evolution of the Agent Harness: From Simple Loops to Attention Interfaces

As autonomous systems mature, the engineering focus is shifting from raw foundation models to the harnesses that wrap and guide them. Dan McAteer traces this architectural transition on Latent Space, charting how agent systems progressed from simple prompt-response loops and fragile tool chains toward sophisticated execution environments centered on context allocation and attention interfaces. The design of these surrounding scaffolds now largely dictates operational reliability.