---
title: "About HCP"
description: "What the Harness Context Protocol is, who maintains it, and how to take part."
canonical: https://harnesscontextprotocol.io/about
---

# About HCP

> What the Harness Context Protocol is, who maintains it, and how to take part.

Harness Context Protocol (HCP) is an open standard for installing capabilities into agent harnesses, developed in the open and changed only through public RFCs.

A capability ships as a Harness Pack: three files that name the commands a CLI offers, give each one a Policy row, and teach an agent how to use them. A runtime checks the pack, checks who is asking, mints credentials the pack never sees, runs the command in a sandbox and refuses a risky write until a person agrees.

## Releases

| Part | Version | State | Date |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Specification | HCP/1.1 | Draft | Open for RFCs |
| SDK and runtime | 0.3.0 | Private preview | 1 Nov 2026 |
| CLI and plugin | 0.2.0 | Private preview | 1 Nov 2026 |
| Protocol and SDK tag | v0.1.0 | Tagged | 17 Aug 2026 |

## Source

- [hcp-protocol](https://github.com/harnesscontextprotocol/hcp-protocol): the specification and the RFCs (Apache-2.0)
- [hcp](https://github.com/harnesscontextprotocol/hcp): the CLI, SDK, runtime and gold packs (MIT)
- [hcp-docs](https://github.com/harnesscontextprotocol/hcp-docs): this site and the pack catalog (Apache-2.0)

## Who runs it

The maintainers review RFCs and cut releases; governance is described at https://harnesscontextprotocol.io/docs/community/governance. Until the project has its own legal entity, the company named in the imprint (https://harnesscontextprotocol.io/legal/imprint) operates it and publishes this site.

## Sitemap

- [Documentation](https://harnesscontextprotocol.io/docs)
- [Packs](https://harnesscontextprotocol.io/packs)
- [Glossary](https://harnesscontextprotocol.io/docs/reference/glossary)
- [llms.txt](https://harnesscontextprotocol.io/llms.txt)
- [llms-full.txt](https://harnesscontextprotocol.io/llms-full.txt)
- [OpenAPI](https://harnesscontextprotocol.io/openapi.json)
- [MCP](https://harnesscontextprotocol.io/mcp)