Open Harness Labs
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Drills after mastery — not a second install course.
Optional ops drills once Open Harness Part I is done. Mastery default is Hermes Desktop (profile + SOUL). Labs do not re-teach install, gateway setup from zero, or memory theory. Prefer finishing the mastery modules first; CLI-only learners map Desktop steps themselves.
Hermes is already installed and chatting (Open Harness Part I). Course default is Hermes Desktop from mastery 03 — profile + SOUL exist; several drills open the Desktop cockpit. Labs do not re-teach install, BotFather from zero, or vault setup. CLI-only is fine if you can map the same proofs. If anything is missing, open the mastery modules first.
Open Harness mastery →Mastery vs labs
Pedagogy lives in Open Harness. Labs only drill and produce artifacts.
Do this first
After Part I (often Part II)
Desktop cockpit checklist
Quick confirm only — install and SOUL live in mastery, not here.
Requires: Open Harness Part I (modules 03–06 proofs)
Spend drill: measure and cut
Mastery taught spend and cron. This lab only measures one job and cuts waste.
Requires: Open Harness 06 (agency/spend intro); better after 09 if you have a cron
Add Grok as a text model
Optional provider wire after Hermes works. Image/Imagine setup belongs to Open Design.
Requires: Hermes already chatting on another model (Harness 03 done)
Key rotation drill
You already know what a key is (Harness 01/03). Prove rotation and no secrets in git.
Requires: Hermes running with at least one provider key
Webhooks beyond cron
Extension of mastery automation — events, not “what is a cron.”
Requires: Open Harness 11 cron proof (runbook-style job understood)
Ship a small app on an existing VPS
Runtime choice was mastery 02. This lab deploys one artifact on a box that already runs Hermes.
Requires: Hermes already on a host (local always-on or VPS from mastery 02)
Staged wiki on an existing vault
Vault basics are mastery 08. This lab is stages + retrieval proof only.
Requires: Open Harness 08 vault proof (Obsidian path linked, retrieval worked once)
Remote shell via mesh
Gateway is chat (mastery 05). This lab is private SSH to a host that already runs Hermes.
Requires: Host already running Hermes (not a fresh install lab)
Failure studio
Break it on purpose: doctor, logs, stuck approvals, bad tool loops — then fix.
Requires: Open Harness Part I (Hermes chats; gateway optional)
Session control studio
Long threads without a new session: /context, /compress, /undo, /rollback.
Requires: Open Harness 06 (tools proof); chat works on Desktop or CLI
Prompt budget audit
Measure fixed empty-session cost; cut tools and skills; re-measure.
Requires: Open Harness 06; better after 09 skills
Kanban multi-profile
Enable the official Desktop Kanban plugin; run one card across profiles.
Requires: Open Harness Part I; two profiles with SOUL optional but recommended