What Little Compute Is

Little Compute is a self-hostable control plane for repository-aware agents. It lets a Little Harness parent create durable child Tasks, attach isolated compute only for tool bursts, preserve workspace progress between attachments, and converge results with clean verification.

Operation
  -> immutable Task Scope
    -> Task
      -> Attempt + Harness Session + File Snapshot generation
        -> zero or more sequential Sandbox Leases
          -> fenced execs
  -> convergence and fresh verification

Product boundary

Little Compute owns agent Tasks, retry Attempts, fluid Sandbox Leases, admission, budgets, repository lineage, typed Publications, convergence, and provider fencing. It does not reimplement a container runtime, hypervisor, Kubernetes node scheduler, object store, workflow engine, or browser protocol.

The core optimization target is time from one user intent to one verified, reviewable result across many cooperating agents—not the largest number of empty generic containers.

Start here

Little Compute is operated, not imported: an operator runs it on their own machine or cluster, and Little Harness agents use it through optional ports. It is not publicly installable yet; the operator steps below need access to an unpublished source checkout.

Operate (source checkout only)

• Self-hosting starts with the three-command rootless-Podman install/health path, then the first durable product action.
• CLI separates the default developer surface from advanced controls.
• Use from Little Harness gives a Harness agent a Compute sandbox in one call with littleComputeSandbox().

Understand

• Concepts defines the correctness vocabulary: Operation, Task, Attempt and Sandbox Lease.
• Architecture explains the control and data planes.
• Recovery and safe time explains why authority expires late, not early, under clock or primary uncertainty.
• How they fit explains where Compute sits next to Harness, Workflow and LittleDB.

Status

• Releases records that Compute is unpublished source, with no npm package.
• Planned enforcement distinguishes the egress credential proxy and subtree-budget designs from shipped behavior.

For the published packages, start with Setup instead.