harness:certify — Claude Code skill: check agent score stability
Runs the evolved agent's evaluation three times and reports mean with standard deviation. Useful when you cannot tell whether a score holds up between runs.
npx skills add raphaelchristi/harness-evolver --skill certify -a claude-codeWhat harness:certify does
The skill reads .evolver.json, picks the best experiment and dataset, and evaluates the current code three times. It works in the project root rather than a worktree, since the best code is already merged. Each run carries a certify-run-$i prefix; read_results.py then pulls the three combined_scores into a summary, and mean plus standard deviation are computed from them.
You get a report with run count, mean, standard deviation and range. The verdict follows the deviation: under 0.05 the score is reliable, 0.05 to 0.10 means moderate spread, 0.10 and above means the number is meaningless because the LLM judge reads the criteria differently each time.
Python is required. The scripts live in .evolver/tools or $HOME/.evolver/tools, and the interpreter comes from $HOME/.evolver/venv/bin/python, falling back to python3. Both paths are controlled by EVOLVER_TOOLS and EVOLVER_PY. Without that setup the scripts are not found.
On moderate spread the skill suggests adding rubrics to dataset examples; on high spread it also points to /harness:evolve in heavy mode. A stable score leads to /harness:deploy.
What it helps with
- confirm an agent's score does not drift between runs
- compute mean and standard deviation across three evaluation runs
- find out whether the LLM judge is causing score variance
- decide whether the current agent build is safe to deploy
- pull several evaluation experiments into one summary
Example prompts for the agent
- Run /harness:certify and tell me if the current agent's score is stable
- Certify the agent and report whether the verdict is STABLE or UNSTABLE
- The score keeps moving between runs, compute the deviation over three runs
How to install harness:certify
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add raphaelchristi/harness-evolver --skill certify -a claude-code2Manually: put the files in place
~/.claude/skills/certify/SKILL.mdCopy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/certify/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add raphaelchristi/harness-evolver --skill certify -a codex2Manually: put the files in place
.agents/skills/certify/SKILL.mdFor all projects use ~/.agents/skills/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add raphaelchristi/harness-evolver --skill certify -a cursor2Manually: put the files in place
.cursor/skills/certify/SKILL.mdCursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/
1GitHub CLI
gh skill install raphaelchristi/harness-evolver certify2Manually: put the files in place
.github/skills/certify/SKILL.md1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add raphaelchristi/harness-evolver --skill certify -a gemini-cli2Platform CLI
gemini skills install https://github.com/raphaelchristi/harness-evolver --path skills/certifyManually: put the files in place
.devin/skills/certify/SKILL.mdThe legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works
Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add raphaelchristi/harness-evolver --skill certify -a opencodeClaude.ai
Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to install skills in Claude Code: five ways
Questions about harness:certify
How do I install harness:certify in Claude Code?
Run npx skills add raphaelchristi/harness-evolver --skill certify -a claude-code. The skill lands at ~/.claude/skills/certify/SKILL.md.
What does harness:certify do?
It evaluates the agent on the current code three times and computes mean and standard deviation. The deviation decides whether the score can be trusted.
What does the skill need to run?
Python and the pipeline scripts run_eval.py and read_results.py, located in .evolver/tools or $HOME/.evolver/tools. The interpreter is taken from $HOME/.evolver/venv/bin/python, otherwise python3 is used.
Source text
SKILL.md · MIT
---
name: harness:certify
description: "Use when the user wants to verify that the evolved agent's score is stable and reliable. Runs evaluation multiple times and reports mean ± std."
allowed-tools: [Read, Bash, Glob]
---
# /harness:certify
Verify score stability by running evaluation multiple times and reporting statistical confidence.
## Resolve Tool Path
```bash
TOOLS="${EVOLVER_TOOLS:-$([ -d ".evolver/tools" ] && echo ".evolver/tools" || echo "$HOME/.evolver/tools")}"
EVOLVER_PY="${EVOLVER_PY:-$([ -f "$HOME/.evolver/venv/bin/python" ] && echo "$HOME/.evolver/venv/bin/python" || echo "python3")}"
```
## What To Do
Read `.evolver.json` to get the best experiment and dataset.
Run evaluation 3 times on the current code (not a worktree — the best code is already merged):
```bash
for i in 1 2 3; do
$EVOLVER_PY $TOOLS/run_eval.py \
--config .evolver.json \
--worktree-path "." \
--experiment-prefix "certify-run-$i"
done
```
After all 3 runs complete, read results and compute statistics:
```bash
$EVOLVER_PY $TOOLS/read_results.py --experiments "certify-run-1-{suffix},certify-run-2-{suffix},certify-run-3-{suffix}" --config .evolver.json --format summary
```
Calculate mean and standard deviation from the 3 combined_scores.
## Report
```
CERTIFICATION REPORT
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Runs: 3
Mean: {mean:.3f}
Std: {std:.3f}
Range: {min:.3f} — {max:.3f}
Verdict: {STABLE|UNSTABLE}
```
**STABLE** (std < 0.05): Score is reliable. The agent performs consistently.
**MARGINAL** (0.05 <= std < 0.10): Score varies moderately. Consider adding rubrics to reduce judge variance.
**UNSTABLE** (std >= 0.10): Score is unreliable. The LLM judge interprets criteria differently across runs. Add few-shot examples or tighter rubrics.
## After Certification
If STABLE: suggest `/harness:deploy` to finalize.
If UNSTABLE: suggest adding rubrics to dataset examples, or running `/harness:evolve` with `heavy` mode for more thorough evaluation.
© raphaelchristi · MIT · raphaelchristi/harness-evolver