Delegate 3.0

Learn about Delegate 3.0, a unified lightweight agent that serves all Harness products from a single installation, replacing separate per-product delegates.

Delegate 3.0 is a unified, lightweight agent that serves all Harness products from a single installation. It replaces the previous model of separate delegates per product with a single binary that runs across all supported platforms. For the latest documentation, installation guides, and release notes, see the Delegate (Closed Beta) documentation.

KEY CHANGE

In previous versions of Harness, each product (CI, CD, Feature Flags, etc.) required its own delegate installation. Delegate 3.0 consolidates all of these into a single agent, dramatically simplifying installation and maintenance.

Delegate 3.0 represents a significant architectural change from the previous delegate model. The following table summarizes the key differences.

Aspect	Before (NG Delegate)	After (Delegate 3.0)
Size	Large footprint, heavy resource consumption	Significantly smaller binary, reduced resource usage
Products	Separate delegate per product (CI, CD, FF, etc.)	One delegate for all products
Platforms	Limited platform support	Windows, macOS, Linux, and Kubernetes
Management	Multiple delegates to install, update, and monitor	Single unified delegate to manage

What's supported

Delegate 3.0 supports a broad range of operating systems and architectures. Native binaries are provided for each platform, eliminating the need for containerization on non-Kubernetes environments.

Platform	Architecture	Status
Linux	x64 (amd64)	Supported
Linux	ARM64 (aarch64)	Supported
macOS	Intel (x64)	Supported
macOS	Apple Silicon (ARM64)	Supported
Windows	Server	Supported
Windows	Desktop	Supported
Kubernetes	Any cluster	Supported

Unified Delegate experience

The previous delegate model required separate installations for each Harness product. Delegate 3.0 replaces all of these with a single agent.

Before: Harness NG

# NG Delegate Model (Before) <a href="#ng-delegate-model-before" id="ng-delegate-model-before"></a>
Harness Account
  |
  |-- CI Delegate        (Java-based, large image)
  |-- CD Delegate        (Java-based, large image)
  |-- Feature Flags Delegate
  |-- Cloud Cost Delegate
  |-- STO Delegate
  |-- Chaos Delegate
  |
  # Each requires separate:
  #   - Installation
  #   - Version management
  #   - Resource allocation
  #   - Monitoring
  #   - Upgrade scheduling

After: Harness 3.0

# Delegate 3.0 Model (After) <a href="#delegate-30-model-after" id="delegate-30-model-after"></a>
Harness Account
  |
  |-- Delegate 3.0   (single lightweight binary)
        |
        |-- Serves CI workloads
        |-- Serves CD workloads
        |-- Serves Feature Flags
        |-- Serves Cloud Cost Management
        |-- Serves Security Testing
        |-- Serves Chaos Engineering
        |-- Serves all other modules
        |
        # Single installation covers everything

Key benefits

• No delegate updates for step updates: Pipeline step logic is decoupled from the delegate. Step updates are delivered independently without requiring a delegate upgrade.

• Opt-in when ready: Teams can migrate to Delegate 3.0 on their own schedule. Existing NG delegates continue to function alongside Delegate 3.0.

• Version pinning: Pin the delegate to a specific version for stability. Upgrade when your change control process allows.

• Faster innovation: Decoupling step execution from the delegate allows the Harness team to ship new step types and capabilities without waiting for delegate release cycles.

MIGRATION STRATEGY

You do not need to remove existing NG delegates to adopt Delegate 3.0. Install Delegate 3.0 alongside your existing delegates, route new pipelines to it using delegate selectors, and decommission NG delegates as workloads are migrated.