Install ProcessOS Harness and configure a project

Install ProcessOS Harness for your AI coding agent with the Camunda 8 CLI, configure a version-controlled project, and start the governed development journey.

Before you begin

Camunda recommends completing the organizational setup and checking the system requirements before installing ProcessOS Harness.

Install ProcessOS Harness

For Camunda Enterprise customers and active partners

ProcessOS Harness is available to Camunda Enterprise customers and Camunda partners with a signed Camunda partner agreement. To download it, you need access to the Camunda Download Center (Enterprise Releases) with your Camunda Enterprise credentials. If you don't have credentials, contact your Customer Success Manager or Partner Manager.

Choose a target

ProcessOS Harness ships one bundle per AI coding agent. Every bundle carries the same skills, rules, and hooks, generated into the layout that agent expects. A <target> is the label of the bundle that matches your AI coding agent. Use it in the c8 os install command and as the name of the archive you download, because an agent only discovers skills in its own directory.

AI coding agent	Target	Skills directory
Claude Code (via CLI)	claudecode	.claude/skills/
GitHub Copilot CLI	copilotcli	.github/skills/

Only one bundle can be installed at a time. To move to a different agent, run c8 os switch <target> --zip <file.zip>, which removes the current bundle before installing the new one.

Install

1. Install or update c8ctl, the Camunda 8 CLI:

   npm install -g @camunda8/cli@latest

   This installs both c8ctl and its shorter alias c8. The commands on this page use c8. If another c8 command, such as the c8 code coverage tool, takes precedence in your PATH, use c8ctl instead.

2. Load the ProcessOS Harness plugin:

   c8 load plugin @camunda8/c8ctl-plugin-process-os

3. Create and enter a project folder:

   mkdir -p <my-project> && cd <my-project>

4. Download the ProcessOS Harness archive for your AI coding agent from the Camunda Download Center (Enterprise Releases). There is one archive per target, named after the target, for example claudecode.zip for Claude Code or copilotcli.zip for GitHub Copilot CLI, as listed in the target table.

5. Install ProcessOS Harness from the archive:

   c8 os install <target> --zip /path/to/<target>.zip

   Replace <target> with the label of your AI coding agent from the target table.

6. Initialize a version-controlled project:

   git init && git add . && git commit -m "chore(job) commit process-os-harness setup"

7. Start the journey. Launch your AI coding agent, select a smart model (e.g. Opus or similar), then run:

   /process-os-governance-start

Keep an installation up to date

To install a newer archive, download it from the Camunda Download Center (Enterprise Releases) and run c8 os switch. The c8 os install command doesn't run while a distribution is installed.

Command	What it does
c8 os switch <claudecode> --zip <file.zip>	Remove the current installation, then install the given archive.
c8 os uninstall	Remove the installation, and restore the files it replaced.

Next steps

• Learn how the governance process guides you between milestones.
• Learn how review cycles bring SMEs into each phase.
• Start the first phase, described in discover the as-is process.