Developer builds AI agent harness, finds it mirrors how ADHD brains need structure

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A software developer built a structured framework around an AI coding agent to reduce token costs and improve consistency, comprising rules files, step-by-step skill routines, model-routing logic, and disk-based memory. The system works by offloading in-the-moment decision-making to pre-written rules, preventing the agent from drifting off task or repeating work. The developer, who has ADHD, later recognized that the same structural failures plaguing an unguided AI agent — forgetting, drifting, and misdirected effort — mirror their own cognitive challenges. This led to the realization that the harness was effectively functioning as external executive function, compensating for weaknesses in real-time attention and judgment. The developer concluded that rules relying on willpower alone belong in written systems, not in one's head.

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