Scenario 7: Preview and apply a layer to one or more target harnesses
Use this when you are ready to materialize a known-good setup into a project. The dry-run preview is itself a frequent check before a real write.
Frequency: Common · Status: Shipped
Use this when you are ready to materialize a known-good setup into a project. The dry-run preview is itself a frequent check before a real write.
Typical commands:
harnesstap layer apply my-setup --project . --harness claude-code,codex,cursor --dry-run
harnesstap layer apply my-setup --project . --harness claude-code,codex,cursor
harnesstap status .Plugin-version policy when the layer carries plugin pins:
harnesstap layer apply my-setup --strict-plugin-versions # exit 2 on pin violation
harnesstap layer apply my-setup --ignore-plugin-versions # skip validationlayer apply is the canonical write path for one or more layers. Stack multiple layers in one command (see Scenario 25).
Important distinction: applying a layer writes a known baseline onto disk. If
you later want to sync alias harness outputs from the current on-disk main
harness without re-specifying the layer, use
harnesstap mirror instead.
Scenario 6: Add plugin constraints to a layer
Use this when your environment depends on Claude plugins and you want the layer to describe not just files, but also expected plugin versions.
Scenario 8: Audit plugin resources and layer pins
Use this when you want to understand which plugin resources are in the local library, which plugin pins a layer carries, and whether installed plugin trees...