Harness for VS Code

Monitor CI/CD pipelines, view logs, and manage approvals — all without leaving your IDE.

Bring Harness directly into VS Code. See real-time pipeline status, debug failures with syntax-highlighted logs, approve deployments, and get AI-powered insights — zero context switching required.

✨ Features

🚀 Real-time Pipeline Monitoring

Watch your pipelines run with live status updates. Automatic git context detection shows executions for your current branch and commit.

📝 Syntax-Highlighted Logs

Click any step to open its logs in a dedicated editor tab with full syntax highlighting. Failed steps are instantly highlighted for quick debugging.

✅ One-Click Approvals

Handle Harness native, Jira, and ServiceNow approval gates directly in your editor. Permission checks happen automatically.

🔍 Smart Search & Filtering

Browse all pipelines, filter by status, pin favorites, and explore execution history with pagination. Works with or without a git repository.

🤖 AI-Powered Debugging

Ask Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or Cursor AI about pipeline failures with automatic context injection. No copy-pasting needed.

🚀 Getting Started

Installation

From VS Code Marketplace:

1. Open Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X)
2. Search for "Harness"
3. Click Install

From Command Line:

code --install-extension harness.harness-vscode

Quick Setup (2 minutes)

1. Open Harness panel: Click the Harness icon in the Activity Bar (left sidebar)
2. Configure credentials: Run command "Harness: Configure API Key"
   • Enter your Harness instance URL (or keep default: https://app.harness.io)
   • Paste your Personal Access Token
   • Account ID is automatically extracted from your PAT ✨
3. Select project: Choose your organization and project from the dropdowns
4. Done! Your pipelines appear automatically

Alternative: Environment Variable Authentication

Perfect for CI/CD environments or shared setups:

export HARNESS_API_KEY="your-pat"
export HARNESS_BASE_URL="https://app.harness.io"
export HARNESS_ACCOUNT_ID="your-account-id"
code .

The extension auto-detects environment variables and skips credential prompts.

Requirements: VS Code 1.85.0+, active Harness account

📖 How to Use

Two View Modes

Switch between views using the tabs at the top of the Harness panel:

📋 Pipelines View

Browse all pipelines in your project:

• 🔍 Search by name
• 📌 Pin favorites to the top
• 🎯 Click any pipeline to see its latest execution
• ✅ Works without a git repository

📊 Executions View

Browse full execution history:

• 🔀 Filter by status (All / Failed / Passed)
• 🎯 Filter by specific pipeline
• 📄 Paginated (10-15 per page)
• 🔍 Click any execution for full details and on-demand logs

Working with Executions

View Pipeline Status The extension automatically detects your current git branch and commit, showing the matching pipeline execution. Live updates every 10 seconds during active runs.

Debug with Logs Click any step to open its logs in a new editor tab with syntax highlighting. Failed steps are highlighted in red for quick identification.

Handle Approvals When a pipeline reaches an approval step, ✓ Approve and ✕ Reject buttons appear inline. The extension automatically checks if you have permission to approve.

Supported approval types:

• Harness native approvals (user/group permissions)
• Jira approvals (with ticket link)
• ServiceNow approvals (with ticket link)

View Policy Results OPA policy evaluation results appear when configured. Warnings and errors are highlighted with detailed messages.

Multi-Project Workflows

Working on multiple Harness projects? Use "Harness: Switch Project (This Workspace)" to override org/project for specific workspace folders. Your global settings remain unchanged.

🤖 AI Integration

Ask questions about your pipelines using Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or Cursor AI with automatic context injection.

Supported AI Tools

Claude Code (CLI or Extension)

• Install from claude.ai/code
• CLI mode: Fully automated — responses appear directly in Harness sidebar
• Extension mode: Semi-automated — auto-opens Claude Code panel with prompt ready
• Uses local MCP server configuration (~/.claude.json)

GitHub Copilot

• Auto-detected in VS Code when GitHub Copilot extension is installed
• Opens Copilot Chat with auto-paste integration
• MCP configuration uses VS Code-specific paths (.vscode/mcp.json for project scope)
• Inherits environment variables from VS Code process when using env var auth

Cursor AI

• Auto-detected when running in Cursor editor
• Recommended: Install Harness Cursor Plugin — OAuth authentication, zero config
• Fallback: Local MCP configuration (harness-mcp-v2) for advanced users
• Seamless prompt delivery with auto-paste

Setup

For Claude Code:

1. Install Claude Code (CLI or VS Code Extension)
2. Click Configure MCP in the AI footer
3. Choose scope (Project or Global):
   • Project: .mcp.json in workspace root — shared with team if committed
   • Global: ~/.claude.json in home folder — personal, applies to all projects
4. Your Harness credentials are automatically configured
5. Restart Claude Code to activate the MCP server

For GitHub Copilot:

1. Install GitHub Copilot extension in VS Code
2. Click Configure MCP in the AI footer
3. Choose scope (Project or Global):
   • Project: .vscode/mcp.json in workspace root — shared with team
   • Global: Platform-specific path in home folder — personal
4. Restart VS Code to activate the MCP server

For Cursor:

1. Recommended: Install Harness Plugin in Cursor
   • OAuth authentication — no manual configuration needed
   • Plugin manages MCP connection automatically
2. Alternative: Configure local MCP manually (for advanced users)

Usage

• Type your question in the AI footer (appears at the bottom of the Harness panel)
• Select your preferred tool using the dropdown (Claude Code CLI / Extension / GitHub Copilot / Cursor)
• Tool preference persists across VS Code sessions
• Pipeline context automatically included in every query

What context gets sent:

• Pipeline name, status, execution ID
• Harness execution URL

Example questions:

• "Why did this pipeline fail?"
• "What changed between this run and the last successful one?"
• "How can I fix the failing test in the build stage?"

Authentication Methods

Personal Access Token (PAT) — Traditional method

1. Run Harness: Configure API Key
2. Enter Base URL and PAT
3. Account ID is automatically extracted from your PAT (no manual entry needed!)
4. If extraction fails, you'll be prompted to enter it manually
5. Select org/project during onboarding

Environment Variables — Passwordless, CI/CD-friendly

1. Set HARNESS_API_KEY, HARNESS_BASE_URL, HARNESS_ACCOUNT_ID before launching VS Code
2. Extension auto-detects and uses environment variables
3. MCP config uses environment variable references (for Claude Code) or inherits from process (for GitHub Copilot)
4. Select org/project during onboarding

⚙️ Configuration

Global Settings (apply everywhere)

Run Harness: Configure API Key to set:

• harness.baseUrl — Your Harness instance URL (default: https://app.harness.io)
• harness.accountIdentifier — Your account ID (auto-extracted from PAT, or set via environment variable)
• harness.orgIdentifier — Default organization
• harness.projectIdentifier — Default project

Your Personal Access Token is stored securely in VS Code's secret storage.

💡 Tip: The extension automatically extracts your account ID from your PAT during setup, so you typically only need to provide Base URL and PAT.

Optional Settings

• harness.pollingIntervalSeconds — How often to check for updates (default: 10s, min: 5s, max: 120s)
• harness.defaultView — Which view opens by default (pipelines or executions)
• harness.diffAwareSTO — Limit STO annotations to files changed in current diff (default: true)
• harness.logLevel — Console verbosity: off, error, warn, info (default), debug

Per-Workspace Override

Use Harness: Switch Project (This Workspace) to override org/project for specific workspace folders.

📋 Commands

📝 Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for release notes and version history.

🤝 Contributing

Interested in contributing? See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, build instructions, and guidelines.

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.