# UHP Developer Guide

> Independent technical reference for the Unified Harness Protocol (UHP). This site is not affiliated with HarnessRouter or the official UHP project.

Important notes:
- Site data checked: 2026-08-21.
- Current UHP version reviewed: 2026-08-11.
- Latest HarnessRouter Community Edition tag observed: v0.8.0 (2026-08-20).
- Treat the official UHP specification and repository as normative; this site is explanatory.
- HarnessRouter support for Codex, Claude Code, Hermes, Pi and DeepSeek Harness does not by itself mean those upstream projects natively adopt UHP.

## Core guide
- [What is UHP?](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/what-is-uhp/): Scope, problem, lifecycle and boundaries.
- [Architecture](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/architecture/): Client, server, harness, object model, sessions and transport.
- [Specification](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/spec/): UHP version 2026-08-11 and implementation guidance.
- [Conformance](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/conformance/): Conformance classes and current published evidence.
- [Getting started](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/getting-started/): Minimum implementation path for UHP.
- [HTTP API map](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/api/): Normative UHP 2026-08-11 endpoint surface.
- [Governance and versioning](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/governance/): How UHP changes, date-based versions, conformance-class naming, and synchronized artifacts.
- [Security and trust boundaries](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/security/): Normative UHP 2026-08-11 security requirements and trust responsibilities.
- [Lifecycle](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/lifecycle/): UHP 2026-08-11 version negotiation, states, sessions, streaming, cancellation, and retries.
- [Release tracker](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/releases/): Protocol versions and HarnessRouter implementation tags.
- [UHP vs MCP](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-mcp/): Harness execution versus tool/context interoperability.
- [UHP vs A2A](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-a2a/): Harness execution versus agent-to-agent interoperability.
- [UHP vs Harness Protocol](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-harness-protocol/): Runtime execution versus portable harness configuration.
- [UHP clients](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-clients/): Independent UHP client implementations (SuperQode; mini-ork in progress) and their evidence boundaries.
- [UHP vs ACP](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-acp/): Harness execution versus editor/UI-to-agent integration; ACP v1 versus the v2 Draft.
- [UHP vs Model APIs](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/uhp-vs-model-api/): The harness execution contract versus a direct model API (OpenAI Responses-compatible surface).

## Reference implementation and harnesses
- [HarnessRouter Community Edition](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/harnessrouter/)
- [UHP and Codex](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/codex/)
- [UHP and Claude Code](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/claude-code/)
- [UHP and Hermes](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/hermes/)
- [UHP and Pi](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/pi/)
- [UHP and DeepSeek Harness](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/deepseek-harness/)

## Ecosystem
- [Ecosystem](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/ecosystem/)
- [Adoption tracker](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/adoption/)
- [News](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/news/)
- [Glossary](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/glossary/)
- [Primary sources](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/sources/)
- [RSS feed](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.dev/feed.xml)

## Official sources
- [Official UHP site](https://unifiedharnessprotocol.org/)
- [Official UHP/HarnessRouter repository](https://github.com/HarnessRouter/harnessrouter)
- [HarnessRouter tags](https://github.com/HarnessRouter/harnessrouter/tags)
- [UHP 2026-08-11 specification](https://github.com/HarnessRouter/harnessrouter/tree/main/protocol/versions/2026-08-11)
- [UHP conformance suite](https://github.com/HarnessRouter/harnessrouter/tree/main/protocol/conformance)