harness-evolver vs Forge Orchestrator
harness-evolver is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by raphaelchristi. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Claude Code: claude-plugins-community). Forge Orchestrator is an MCP server published by nxtg-ai. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Official MCP Registry). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-22. This pair was picked by a reader, not by our comparison rule, so search engines are asked not to index the page.
Where each is published
| Marketplace |  harness-evolver |  Forge Orchestrator |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code: claude-plugins-community | Listed Version: 6.4.2 Forks (GitHub): 5 Stars (GitHub): 56 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed Version: 1.7.1 Forks (GitHub): 20 Stars (GitHub): 162 Not marked · First seen |
Each figure is the marketplace's own and is never added up across marketplaces. A marketplace that publishes no figure shows none: no number is not zero.
The facts side by side
| Fact | harness-evolver | Forge Orchestrator |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it | 1 | 1 |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 56 (worse) | 162 (better) |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 5 (worse) | 20 (better) |
| Last release (differs) | Not published | 2026-10-15 |
| Where it runs (differs) | Installs as a plugin bundle | On your machine (https://github.com/nxtg-ai/forge-orchestrator/releases/download/v1.7.1/forge-mcp-server-linux-x86_64.tar.gz) |
| Transport (differs) | Not stated | stdio |
| Tools it declares | Not published | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for | Not published | Not published |
| Hooks it runs (differs) | 1 | Not published |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | 13 | Not a bundle |
| Licence (differs) | MIT | Not stated |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/raphaelchristi/harness-evolver | github.com/nxtg-ai/forge-orchestrator |
| Changes in the last 7 days (differs) | 0 | 3 |
| First seen | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
Lines where the two differ have a tinted background and bold values. Where the data itself says which value is better (more marketplaces, a larger figure of the same marketplace, a fresher release, a verified mark on a marketplace that lists both), the better one is also marked green with ▲ and the worse one red with ▼. Where it runs, the transport, the tools, the settings, hooks, the bundle's parts, the licence and the week's changes are marked only as different: more or fewer is not better in itself.
What each says it does
harness-evolver
Autonomous LLM agent optimization using LangSmith. Spawns 5 parallel proposers in git worktrees, evaluates candidates via LangSmith experiments, and merges winners automatically. Includes evaluator agent (LLM-as-judge via langsmith-cli), critic, architect, and testgen agents. No external API keys needed beyond LangSmith.
Forge Orchestrator
Forge orchestrator MCP server for Claude Code (alpha). Codex/Gemini runners are not in the alpha.
How to run each
harness-evolver As a Claude Code plugin
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community
/plugin install harness-evolver@claude-communityForge Orchestrator
No data for an automatic command: what its marketplaces declare does not say unambiguously how to connect it.
Commands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Tools each declares
Neither one's marketplaces publish a list of tools, so there is nothing to compare.
Settings each asks for
Neither one's marketplaces publish the settings it asks for.
What it can do: harness-evolver · What it can do: Forge Orchestrator · Compare two other plugins
Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-community/blob/HEAD/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json. Data comes from the Official MCP Registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io), CC0 1.0. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.