Manage delegates

Manage Delegates

Monitor delegate health and manage registration tokens via MCP.

Instructions

Step 1: List Delegates

List all delegates in the account to check health and connectivity:

Call MCP tool: harness_list
Parameters:
  resource_type: "delegate"

This returns all delegates with their status, version, connectivity, and last heartbeat. Delegates are account-scoped -- no org/project needed.

Step 2: List Delegate Tokens

Call MCP tool: harness_list
Parameters:
  resource_type: "delegate_token"
  org_id: "<organization>"
  project_id: "<project>"

Filter by name or status:

Call MCP tool: harness_list
Parameters:
  resource_type: "delegate_token"
  name: "prod-token"
  status: "ACTIVE"

Step 3: Get Token Details

Call MCP tool: harness_get
Parameters:
  resource_type: "delegate_token"
  resource_id: "<token_name>"
  org_id: "<organization>"
  project_id: "<project>"

Step 4: Create a Token

Call MCP tool: harness_create
Parameters:
  resource_type: "delegate_token"
  org_id: "<organization>"
  project_id: "<project>"
  body:
    name: "prod-delegate-token"

Step 5: Find Delegates for a Token

Call MCP tool: harness_execute
Parameters:
  resource_type: "delegate_token"
  action: "get_delegates"
  resource_id: "<token_name>"
  org_id: "<organization>"
  project_id: "<project>"

Step 6: Revoke a Token

Call MCP tool: harness_execute
Parameters:
  resource_type: "delegate_token"
  action: "revoke"
  resource_id: "<token_name>"
  org_id: "<organization>"
  project_id: "<project>"

Step 7: Delete a Token

Call MCP tool: harness_delete
Parameters:
  resource_type: "delegate_token"
  resource_id: "<token_name>"
  org_id: "<organization>"
  project_id: "<project>"

Resource Types

Resource Type	Scope	Operations	Description
delegate	Account	list	List delegates with health status
delegate_token	Project	list, get, create, delete + revoke, get_delegates actions	Manage registration tokens

Examples

• "Are all delegates healthy?" -- List delegates, check status and last heartbeat
• "Create a new delegate token for the staging project" -- Create token with project scope
• "Which delegates are using the prod-token?" -- Execute get_delegates action on the token
• "Revoke the old registration token" -- Execute revoke action
• "Show me all active delegate tokens" -- List tokens filtered by status ACTIVE

Performance Notes

• When diagnosing delegate issues, check both the delegate list (for health/heartbeat) and the token status (for auth). A delegate showing as disconnected may have a revoked token.
• Always verify delegate connectivity before troubleshooting pipeline failures -- many execution errors stem from unavailable delegates.

Troubleshooting

Delegate Shows Disconnected

1. Check the delegate's last heartbeat timestamp -- if stale, the delegate process may be down
2. Verify the delegate token is ACTIVE (not REVOKED)
3. Check network connectivity between the delegate host and Harness SaaS

Pipeline Fails with "No Delegates Available"

1. List delegates to confirm at least one is connected and healthy
2. Check if the pipeline uses a delegate selector that doesn't match any active delegate
3. Verify the delegate has the required tools installed (kubectl, helm, docker, etc.)

Token Issues

• Tokens are project-scoped -- a token created in project A cannot register delegates for project B
• Revoking a token disconnects all delegates registered with it
• Deleted tokens cannot be recovered -- create a new one and re-register delegates