Six Agent Harness Capabilities for Higher Model Performance
Agent harness architecture drives double-digit benchmark swings independent of model choice
“Harness design alone can account for double-digit swings in benchmark results and significant differences in token cost”
NVIDIA's developer blog argues that the agent harness—context rendering, action execution, state management, and termination logic—matters as much as model selection for AI agent performance. The post claims harness design alone produces double-digit benchmark swings and meaningful token cost differences. This reframes the model-centric narrative and has practical implications for teams building production AI agents.