Install ProcessOS Harness and configure a project

This page takes you from nothing to a configured ProcessOS project with the journey running. Camunda recommends completing the organizational setup first and checking the system requirements.

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 CLI	claudecode	.claude/skills/
GitHub Copilot CLI	copilotcli	.github/skills/

Only one bundle can be installed at a time.

Install

1. Ensure all builder client requirements are covered.

2. 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.

3. Load the ProcessOS Harness plugin:

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

   The plugin adds the c8 os commands, which install and manage the ProcessOS Harness bundle.

4. Create and enter a project folder:

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

   This folder will hold all project files.

5. Download the ProcessOS Harness bundle for your AI coding agent from the Camunda Download Center (Enterprise Releases).

6. Install ProcessOS Harness from the bundle:

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

   note

   Replace <target> with the bundle name, for example claudecode.

7. Initialize a version-controlled project:

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

8. 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 bundle, download it from the Camunda Download Center (Enterprise Releases) and run c8 os switch.

Command	What it does
c8 os switch <target> --zip <file.zip>	Remove the current bundle, then install the new one.
c8 os uninstall	Remove the bundle, 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.