{"slug": "show-hn-cross-harness-self-hosted-registry-and-analytics-for-ai-agents", "title": "Show HN: Cross-Harness self hosted registry and analytics for AI Agents", "summary": "Observal, a self-hosted registry and analytics platform for AI agents, launched to solve discoverability and feedback problems in internal AI component usage. The open-source tool provides a centralized discovery layer, usage insights, and session replay for debugging, supporting harnesses including Claude Code, Cursor, and Copilot.", "body_md": "\n\n```\n ██████╗ ██████╗ ███████╗███████╗██████╗ ██╗   ██╗ █████╗ ██╗\n██╔═══██╗██╔══██╗██╔════╝██╔════╝██╔══██╗██║   ██║██╔══██╗██║\n██║   ██║██████╔╝███████╗█████╗  ██████╔╝██║   ██║███████║██║\n██║   ██║██╔══██╗╚════██║██╔══╝  ██╔══██╗╚██╗ ██╔╝██╔══██║██║\n╚██████╔╝██████╔╝███████║███████╗██║  ██║ ╚████╔╝ ██║  ██║███████╗\n ╚═════╝ ╚═════╝ ╚══════╝╚══════╝╚═╝  ╚═╝  ╚═══╝  ╚═╝  ╚═╝╚══════╝\n```\n\n**Observal is the control plane and system of record for internal AI components**\n\nIf you find Observal useful, please consider giving it a star. It helps others discover the project and keeps development going.\n\nObserval is the control plane and system of record for internal AI components. Every tech-forward organization today creates internal Skills, Agents, MCP servers and other AI components to boost productivity. Though the creation of these components has been prolific, the adoption and usage of such components is sparse. Developer/AI users today end up creating their own version of AI components without reusing existing packages.\n\nThe cause is largely due to two problems:\n\n-\n**Lack of a discoverability layer** Organizations store their AI components and agents in siloed github repositories with little to no documentation. Users are not able to locate similar components and this results in multiple developers creating the same/similar components again.\n\n-\n**Missing feedback loop** Any software where usage patterns are not understood and the principle of user-centric development is violated tends to fade out. Such is the problem with development of MCPs, Skills and Agents. Developers publish and maintain these components with little visibility into how they're actually used. Additionally, AI failures don't trigger static error codes: they hallucinate or provide subtly incorrect answers. This leaves users clueless about what went wrong compounding the feedback problem.\n\nObserval solves this by providing a centralized discovery layer for AI components alongside useful insights into AI usage patterns. It turns silent failures into actionable feedback, ensuring internal AI tools are continuously optimized for the people using them.\n\nObserval supports Claude Code, Cursor, Kiro, Pi, Copilot, Codex, OpenCode, and other tools.\n\n**Package components into reusable agents:** Bundle Skills, MCP servers, hooks, prompts, and sandboxes into one versioned unit.**Run a governed registry:** Review submissions, approve internal agents, inspect version diffs, and give developers one trusted place to install from.**Render across multiple Coding IDE/CLI:** Generate the correct config for each supported harness instead of maintaining separate setup instructions for every harness.**Learn what works:** Use real adoption and session data to find which agents, tools, prompts, and workflows are helping teams.**Replay sessions when needed:** Use traces as evidence for debugging, review, audits, and deeper analysis.\n\n| harness |\n|---|\n| Claude Code |\n| Kiro |\n| Cursor |\n| Pi |\n| Copilot (CLI & VS Code Extension) |\n| Codex |\n| OpenCode |\n| Antigravity CLI |\n\nOne command to install any agent into any supported harness. The config files are generated per-harness automatically.\n\nObserval has two parts: a **server** (API + web UI + databases) you self-host, and a **CLI** you install on each developer machine.\n\n**One-line install** (requires Docker Engine ≥ 24.0 with Compose v2):\n\n```\ncurl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Observal/Observal/main/install-server.sh | bash\n```\n\nThis downloads a Docker Compose package, runs guided setup (domain, secrets, ports), pulls container images from GHCR, and starts the full stack (API, web UI, PostgreSQL, ClickHouse, Redis, worker, load balancer, Prometheus, Grafana).\n\nDeployment docs are linked directly from this README:\n\n[Setup guide](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/SETUP.md): fastest path from zero to a working stack[Self-hosting overview](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/docs/self-hosting/README.md): deployment models and operator docs[Production deployment](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/docs/self-hosting/production-deploy.md): hardened production topology[Databases](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/docs/self-hosting/databases.md): Postgres, ClickHouse, migrations, retention[Upgrades](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/docs/self-hosting/upgrades.md): safe upgrade and rollback flow[Backup and restore](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/docs/self-hosting/backup-and-restore.md): backup plan before upgrades\n\n**From source** (for contributors):\n\n```\ngit clone https://github.com/Observal/Observal.git && cd Observal\ncp .env.example .env\nmake up\n```\n\n**Standalone binary** (no Python required):\n\n```\ncurl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Observal/Observal/main/install.sh | bash\n```\n\n**Python** (3.11+):\n\n```\nuv tool install observal-cli\n# or: pipx install observal-cli\nobserval auth login\nobserval doctor --patch\n```\n\nThis authenticates with your server, detects your harness, installs telemetry hooks, starts capturing sessions automatically, and prepares it for agent installs and registry commands.\n\nOnce logged in, run `/observal`\n\ninside your harness and it takes the wheel. Pull agents, submit components, browse the registry, run diagnostics:\n\n```\n/observal pull security-auditor\n/observal scan\n/observal doctor\n```\n\nOr just tell your agent what you want and it figures out the right commands.\n\nAn agent bundles 5 component types into a single installable package: **MCP servers**, **skills**, **hooks**, **prompts**, and **sandboxes**. You define the agent once, publish it to the registry, and Observal generates the right config files for whichever supported harness or harness the user runs.\n\n```\nobserval pull security-auditor --harness pi\n```\n\nBrowse published agents, see which harnesses they support, check download counts and ratings, and install with one command. Admins review submissions before they go live. Version diffs show exactly what changed between releases, so teams can safely evolve shared context.\n\nObserval turns real usage into reports about which agents, prompts, tools, and workflows are working or getting in the way. Use those insights to improve shared context instead of guessing from anecdotes.\n\nWhen you need to debug, audit, or understand a result, Observal can replay the full coding session: user prompts, thinking blocks, assistant responses, and tool calls with their inputs and outputs. The traces support registry and insight workflows rather than defining the product.\n\n**Browse, search, and install agents with harness compatibility badges:**\n\n**Build agents visually with live config preview for every harness:**\n\n**Components library: MCPs, Skills, Hooks, Prompts, Sandboxes:**\n\n**AI-powered insight reports** analyze usage patterns across all sessions, what's working, what's hindering, and quick wins. Powered by [LiteLLM](https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/providers), works with any provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, Bedrock, Gemini, Azure, Ollama).\n\nSee [Insights LLM Setup](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/docs/insights-setup.md) for configuration.\n\n**Full session overview with token counts, models, tools, and turn-by-turn timeline:**\n\n**Every turn captured: user prompt, tool calls, thinking block, assistant response:**\n\n**Drill into any span to see exact tool inputs and outputs:**\n\n**Admin review queue with full prompt inspection and approve/reject:**\n\n**Version diffs show exactly what changed between releases:**\n\n**Leaderboard tracks top agents and components by downloads:**\n\nAudit logs, SAML SSO, SCIM provisioning, and the executive dashboard are included in the Apache-2.0 distribution.\n\n**Audit log with parameterized search:**\n\nFull docs at ** docs.observal.io**.\n\nStart here for deployment and operations:\n\n| Need | Link |\n|---|---|\n| Fast local or source setup |\n|\n\n[docs/self-hosting/README.md](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/docs/self-hosting/README.md)[docs/self-hosting/production-deploy.md](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/docs/self-hosting/production-deploy.md)[docs/self-hosting/single-node-deploy.md](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/docs/self-hosting/single-node-deploy.md)[docs/self-hosting/docker-compose.md](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/docs/self-hosting/docker-compose.md)[docs/self-hosting/databases.md](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/docs/self-hosting/databases.md)[docs/self-hosting/upgrades.md](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/docs/self-hosting/upgrades.md)[docs/self-hosting/backup-and-restore.md](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/docs/self-hosting/backup-and-restore.md)| Layer | Technology |\n|---|---|\n| Frontend | Vite 6, React 19, TanStack Router, Tailwind CSS 4, shadcn/ui |\n| Backend | Python 3.11+, FastAPI, Strawberry GraphQL |\n| Databases | PostgreSQL 16 (registry), ClickHouse (telemetry) |\n| Queue | Redis + arq |\n| CLI | Python, Typer, Rich |\n| Telemetry | Session hooks, local transcript reconciliation, push-based ingest |\n| Deployment | Docker Compose (10 services), Kubernetes (Helm) |\n\nSee [CONTRIBUTING.md](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md). The short version:\n\n- Fork and clone\n`make hooks`\n\nto install pre-commit hooks- Create a feature branch\n- Run\n`make lint`\n\nand`make test`\n\n- Open a PR\n\nSee [AGENTS.md](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/AGENTS.md) for internal codebase context.\n\n[GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/Observal/Observal/discussions) for questions and ideas. [Discord](https://discord.observal.io) for chat. Open Issues for confirmed bugs.\n\n```\nobserval support bundle\n```\n\nProduces a redacted diagnostic archive. Review before sharing: `observal support inspect observal-support-*.tar.gz`\n\nFor live debugging, Observal uses loguru-based dev logging (internally called \"optic\"). Stream logs with:\n\n```\nobserval logs\n```\n\nLogs are written to `~/.observal/logs/dev.log`\n\nand include structured context for every request, background job, and telemetry event.\n\nReport vulnerabilities via [GitHub Private Vulnerability Reporting](https://github.com/Observal/Observal/security/advisories) or email [contact@observal.io](mailto:contact@observal.io). Do not open a public issue. See [SECURITY.md](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/SECURITY.md).\n\nObserval is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See [LICENSE](/Observal/Observal/blob/main/LICENSE).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-cross-harness-self-hosted-registry-and-analytics-for-ai-agents", "canonical_source": "https://github.com/Observal/Observal", "published_at": "2026-07-21 16:57:30+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-21 17:13:11.770590+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-agents", "ai-tools", "ai-infrastructure", "developer-tools"], "entities": ["Observal", "Claude Code", "Cursor", "Kiro", "Pi", "Copilot", "Codex", "OpenCode"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-cross-harness-self-hosted-registry-and-analytics-for-ai-agents", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-cross-harness-self-hosted-registry-and-analytics-for-ai-agents.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-cross-harness-self-hosted-registry-and-analytics-for-ai-agents.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-cross-harness-self-hosted-registry-and-analytics-for-ai-agents.jsonld"}}