Since its 2017 inception, Harness, a software delivery platform created by AppDynamics founder and CEO, Jyoti Bansal, has grown beyond continuous code deployment. It now encompasses continuous integration, feature flags, cloud cost management, security testing orchestration, chaos engineering, and more. Notably, while it leaned into GitOps, it lacked its own Git repositories. This changes today with the unveiling the Gitness open-source Git repository and its managed counterpart, the Harness Code Repository.
Bansal remarked that there hasn’t been a significant Git repo launch in nearly ten years, with the major players being GitHub, GitLab, and Atlassian’s Bitbucket. He believes these platforms have veered from the open-source spirit that characterized Git’s origins. Bansal posits that these services are increasingly complex and cluttered. In contrast, Gitness is lightweight and operational on minimal virtual environments or a developer’s laptop. This new platform also syncs well with Harness’ CI/CD systems and other utilities.
Interestingly, Harness has incorporated AI features into the service from the outset. This incorporation provides enhanced search capabilities, AI-driven tools for code reviews, and more platform core functions.
Bansal shared that the development of this project began years ago, and the majority of Harness’ 350 developers have transitioned to the Harness Code Repository. The tools provided make it straightforward for other companies to adopt Gitness or the Code Repository. The switch is nearly seamless for most developers, as many interact with Git via the command line. The interface of Gitness is designed to be intuitive and reminiscent of platforms like GitHub.
Bansal emphasizes that the transition from platforms like GitHub to Gitness would be smooth for users. Users will become familiar with its layout and functionalities in a brief span.
Besides the foundational features of Gitness, the Harness Code Repository incorporates enhanced governance, policy regulation, and deeper integration with the entire Harness suite. The managed version is primed to support scalability for large developer teams. Alongside Gitness, Harness is rolling out more modules for its platform, including an internal developer platform inspired by Spotify’s Backstage open-source framework and a supply chain assurance module, filling pre-existing voids in the Harness platform.
Another addition is the Harness Infrastructure as Code Management (IaCM) service. With the rising trend of companies codifying their infrastructure — and predominantly using Git for it — Harness deemed it apt to offer a specialized service. The IaCM module improves the traditional GitOps code management method by introducing features such as drift detection. This ensures the infrastructure remains consistent with its original design and maintains security and compliance benchmarks.
Bansal identified a notable market gap: the absence of an orchestration layer atop infrastructure as code, which many Harness clients had pointed out.
