# Skills and hooks that make Claude Code finish what it starts

> Source: <https://dev.to/nir_feinstein_9a91c1c2428/skills-and-hooks-that-make-claude-code-finish-what-it-starts-45fc>
> Published: 2026-11-03 17:39:55+00:00

The most expensive thing a coding agent does is not writing a bug. It is ending a turn that sounds finished when it is not: "Deployed!" with no URL checked, three requests with one done, or a list of "next steps for you" that the agent could have done itself.

I run many projects through Claude Code and Codex at the same time, so I built [agent-harness](https://github.com/fainir/agent-harness): a set of Agent Skills, rules and hooks that change how the agent sizes, finishes and reports work. There is no service behind it; it is files in your agent's config.

The harness reads what you asked and picks how to act:

| You type | The agent acts as | It keeps | 
|---|---|---|
| a question or a tiny edit | an engineer | nothing extra | 
| "fix the login bug" | engineer + QA | the matching row, if a ledger exists | 
| "make it production ready" | the whole product team: spec, build, UX review, QA of every flow, release gates, deploy | `READINESS.md` | 
| "get customers" | the CEO: product, growth, sales, support, money | `COMPANY.md` | 
| "finish all my projects" | a portfolio head with bounded parallel workers | `PORTFOLIO.md` | 

A fix stays a fix. A product request gets a ledger of every user flow and release gate.

Every row in a ledger is verified only with evidence: a test run, phone and desktop screenshots, or a URL check. A Stop hook (`done-check.py`) reads your last request when the agent tries to stop and sends it back when the work is not verifiably finished.

You write standing approvals once in `OWNER.md`: money caps, which accounts and channels the agent may use, which decisions it makes alone. Inside them it acts. Outside them it asks one exact thing:

``` php
NEEDS YOU (1 of 3): Stripe -> create the account -> unblocks checkout
```

Moving money, signing and creating new third-party accounts always stay yours.

`run-company/scripts/schedule.sh` installs a launchd or cron job that runs `continue` in a project every few hours, with no chat open. Every friction and every owner ask is logged, and a weekly review tests one harness change against the current version on the same task before keeping it.

```
git clone https://github.com/fainir/agent-harness ~/agent-harness && ~/agent-harness/install.sh
```

The installer is idempotent and keeps your own content; `./install.sh --uninstall` removes everything it added. It works with Claude Code and Codex, and with any agent that reads `AGENTS.md` and `~/.agents/skills`. `bash tests/test.sh` runs the offline test suite (hooks, learn scripts and a full install and uninstall cycle in a throwaway home).

Limits, honestly: the agent is only as good as the model and the accounts it can reach, and background runs spend model usage while they run. Pause one with `schedule.sh --remove <dir>`.