> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.kanaeru.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Session plugins

> The Kanaeru harness: the skills, agents, rules, and hooks each kind of Kana session loads.

Kanaeru doesn't just start a coding agent and hope for the best. Every Kana session loads the **Kanaeru harness**: a set of plugins with the skills, specialist agents, rules, and hooks for that kind of work. That's why a task follows the same process whether Claude Code, Codex, or another [runtime](/machines/runtimes) runs it.

## Core plus one session plugin

Each session loads two plugins:

* The **core** plugin, in every session. It gives Kana her shared process: restoring context when a session resumes, keeping context in sync between tasks, keeping a work diary, guarding commits and branches, and enforcing the [sandbox](/machines/sandboxing).
* The **session plugin** for that kind of session, and no other. A planning session doesn't carry execution tools, and an execution session doesn't carry planning ones, so each agent only sees what its job needs.

```mermaid theme={null}
%%{init: {"theme":"base","themeVariables":{"fontFamily":"Inter, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, sans-serif","fontSize":"16px","primaryColor":"#FFF1E0","primaryBorderColor":"#A94604","primaryTextColor":"#3B1A02","secondaryColor":"#FFE4C2","tertiaryColor":"#FFF8F0","lineColor":"#A94604","clusterBkg":"#FFF8F0","clusterBorder":"#E8B98A","edgeLabelBackground":"#FFFFFF","git0":"#A94604","git1":"#FF9F0A","git2":"#D97706","git3":"#B45309","gitBranchLabel0":"#FFFFFF","gitBranchLabel1":"#3B1A02","gitBranchLabel2":"#FFFFFF","commitLabelColor":"#3B1A02","commitLabelBackground":"#FFF1E0"}}}%%
flowchart TD
  C[Core plugin] --> S((Kana session))
  P[Session plugin for this session type] --> S
  S --> R[Runtime: Claude Code, Codex, ...]
```

## What each session plugin adds

| Session | What it's for | What it brings |
| - | - | - |
| **Vision** | Questions and answers, shaping the roadmap | The vision session process, and setting up automations |
| **Refinement** | Reordering, merging, and clarifying roadmap items | Backlog refinement, and a single-pass mode for automated refinement |
| **Planning** | Tasks, journeys, acceptance criteria, blueprints | Requirements gathering, blueprint and pipeline planning, and agents that stress-test the plan |
| **Review** | Reviewing specs, blueprints, and project setup | Behavior-driven scenarios, security checks, skill assessment, and review agents |
| **Task planning** | Designing each task's pipeline | Pipeline planning, skill assessment, and an independent pipeline reviewer |
| **Task execution** | The implement, test, and review loop | The implementation, test, and review agents the pipeline runs, plus the task retrospective |
| **Retrospective** | Closing the outcome | Retrospective and drift mining |
| **Koa** | Running an outcome for you | Koa's operator process |

[Automations](/guides/automations) pick a **session profile** that runs one of these session plugins. The **Native Claude Code session** and **Native Codex session** profiles run with the core plugin only.

## Seeing what's installed

On the [machine page](/machines/connect-a-machine), each runtime has a **Kanaeru harness bundles** list showing how many are installed. Each bundle is tagged **core** or **session** and shows **Installed bundle** with its version, or **Needs setup** with the reason. A bundle can't run until its runtime is **Ready**.

## Updates

Session plugins ship inside the signed Agent Manager release, and their version always matches the Agent Manager's. The Agent Manager checks each bundle's signature before using it. You update them along with the machine: choose **Upgrade agent manager**, or turn on **Auto-update**. There's no separate update for each plugin.


## Related topics

- [Sessions that move](/concepts/sessions.md)
- [Connect a machine](/machines/connect-a-machine.md)
- [Use Kanaeru in Codex, Claude, and ChatGPT](/mcp/connect.md)


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