Ask HN: Which harness do you use with Qwen3.8 27B? And why?
I tried several but for me the biggest difference is the browser integration tool/skill. Because without that any model is quite limited to debug the code at runtime
Why?
- session management - accurate (unlike OpenCode last time I tried), tree structured (allows me to jump back and forth to manage context growth), compaction is just another message and pi manages which subtree to send to the model
- fast
- super customizable
- no hidden stuff
- sane defaults - it is a shame that this is a differentiator.
PI is best for any local model not just Qwen but you can use hermes as it offers more kind of productivity though hermes is not optimized right for local agents which will somewhat affect your work balance but with some tweaks like
1.Trim the Token Tax: Run hermes tools and turn off everthing unused
2.Enable KV Cache / Prefix Caching
Why? - session management - accurate (unlike OpenCode last time I tried), tree structured (allows me to jump back and forth to manage context growth), compaction is just another message and pi manages which subtree to send to the model - fast - super customizable - no hidden stuff - sane defaults - it is a shame that this is a differentiator.
1.Trim the Token Tax: Run hermes tools and turn off everthing unused 2.Enable KV Cache / Prefix Caching
"packages": [ "npm:context-mode", "npm:pi-subagents", "npm:pi-web-access", "npm:pi-bar", "npm:pi-opencode-bridge", "npm:@ssweens/pi-leash", "npm:pi-caveman", "npm:@ff-labs/pi-fff", "npm:pi-ui-hephaestus", "npm:@alexanderfortin/pi-zai-usage", "npm:pi-cache-optimizer", "npm:@hypabolic/pi-hypa" ]
there are MCP/skills for browser integration that work in any harness