deepseek-harness vs eve-software-factory-template
Two of the top projects in Agent backends, side by side: who leads on each score part and who each one suits, then setup, license, activity and what each review found.
deepseek-harness
Plugin-based agent harness from DeepSeek with a local Web UI
eve-software-factory-template
eve pipeline that turns GitHub or Linear issues into reviewed draft PRs
Verdict
deepseek-harness ranks higher, 70 to 61. Of the 5 score parts we measure for both, deepseek-harness leads on 3, eve-software-factory-template on 1 and 1 is even.
- Adoptiondeepseek-harness leads by 61 points, 99 to 38: a wide gap.
- FreshnessEven at 100.
- Maintenancedeepseek-harness leads by 65 points, 100 to 35: a wide gap.
- Easy to runeve-software-factory-template leads by 67 points, 67 to 0: a wide gap.
- Agent-readydeepseek-harness leads by 15 points, 85 to 70: a wide gap.
Pick deepseek-harness if you are
Developers building agents through plugins, tolerant of breaking changes
- Starts with one npx command; no Docker or database mentioned
- Everything-is-a-plugin design on Cordis, with a dsh-plugin topic for discovery
Pick eve-software-factory-template if you are
Teams piloting agent-written pull requests with human merge
- Reviewer is isolated from the implementer; verdicts are made against the real diff
- Six entry points including red-CI self-repair on factory branches only
| What we compare | deepseek-harness | eve-software-factory-template |
|---|---|---|
| Score parts, out of 100 | ||
| Adoption | 99, widely used | 38, known |
| Freshness | 100, active | 100, active |
| Maintenance | 100, healthy | 35, patchy |
| Easy to run | 0, hard | 67, easy |
| Agent-ready | 85, ready | 70, partly |
| Facts from GitHub and the README | ||
| Stars | 249.7k | 1.2k |
| License | MIT (permissive) | MIT (permissive) |
| Last commit | Oct 2026 | Sep 2026 |
| Last release | None published | None published |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Docker | No | No |
| GPU | Not stated | Not needed |
| arm64 or Apple Silicon | Not stated | Not stated |
deepseek-harness
DeepSeek Harness (`dsh`) is a TypeScript agent harness built on the Cordis plugin framework, where every component is a plugin. It runs via `npx @deepseek-ai/dsh web` or from a source checkout with pnpm, and serves a Web UI at 127.0.0.1:3080 by default. It is a developer preview, and the README warns of compatibility-breaking changes.
Who it is for: Developers building agents through plugins, tolerant of breaking changes
Strengths
- Starts with one npx command; no Docker or database mentioned
- Everything-is-a-plugin design on Cordis, with a dsh-plugin topic for discovery
- MIT license, documentation site and third-party license notices
- Web UI binds to 127.0.0.1 by default; --no-open skips the browser
Weaknesses
- Developer preview; README warns of compatibility-breaking changes
- No tagged release published
- README does not list supported models, providers or system requirements
- Safety notice must be read before running; its contents are not in the README
- TypeScript
- Needs Node.js, pnpm (source build)
eve-software-factory-template
An eve pipeline named Foreman: label an issue factory, @mention it, or delegate from Linear, and four agents (classifier, analyst, implementer, reviewer) each run in their own sandbox and end with a draft pull request on FACTORY_REPO. The reviewer sees only the pushed branch, a factory brain keeps notes about your repo between runs, and it deploys to Vercel with GitHub and Linear connectors. For teams piloting agent-written PRs with human merge.
Who it is for: Teams piloting agent-written pull requests with human merge
Strengths
- Reviewer is isolated from the implementer; verdicts are made against the real diff
- Six entry points including red-CI self-repair on factory branches only
- Local dev TUI treats runs as untrusted; GitHub writes wait for approval
- Separate docs site; CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md included
Weaknesses
- Tied to eve, Vercel Connect, Vercel Sandbox and Vercel Blob
- No model provider named in the README; model access comes through the Vercel stack
- No tests listed
- First task fails if the GitHub App cannot reach FACTORY_REPO; the error surfaces late
- TypeScript, eve, ai-sdk
- Needs vercel, github-app-connector, linear-connector, vercel-blob
- GitHub template
- env example file
More in Agent backends
- deepseek-harness vs marketing-team-eve-template
- deepseek-harness vs personal-agent-template
- eve-software-factory-template vs marketing-team-eve-template
- eve-software-factory-template vs personal-agent-template
- marketing-team-eve-template vs personal-agent-template
- The full Agent backends ranking with reviews
Building with these?
We help teams pick an open-source AI stack and run it in production. Client work never changes a rank.