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Use reload while editing a local agent:
Harnest recompiles each stable source change into a fresh artifact. It never modifies a running ADK or LangGraph graph in place.

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Reload sequence

1

Detect a stable change

Harnest fingerprints authored files and debounces consecutive writes. Generated environments, compiled output, caches, bytecode, and .env files do not trigger reloads.
2

Prepare a generation

Dependency changes synchronize a fingerprinted environment first. Harnest then validates and compiles a new immutable artifact while the current server remains available.
3

Replace the process

After compilation succeeds, Harnest asks the current process to shut down gracefully and starts the new generation. Lifecycle resources, Runtime Plugins, MCP Clients, and storage connections close and reopen through their normal hooks.
Ordinary requests drain during shutdown. A process that does not close within 10 seconds is stopped so reload cannot hang indefinitely.

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State across reloads

Reload is a local development feature. It forces a loopback host, rejects --allow-remote, and cannot be combined with --output. Production changes must compile a new artifact and use the deployment platform’s rollout strategy.
Changing graph structure may make existing framework-native checkpoints incompatible. Start a new development session after structural graph changes.