---
type: concept
title: "The AI Layer"
description: "The layer of rules, commands, skills, and context you own on top of a codebase that makes AI coding effective and portable."
tags: [ai-layer, ownership, context]
videos: [the-best-ai-coding-setup-isnt-the-most-autonomous-one-heres-why, google-just-dropped-a-masterclass-on-agentic-engineering-its-so-good, omnigent-the-new-meta-harness-for-every-coding-agent-claude-code-codex-pi-more, harness-engineering-what-separates-top-agentic-engineers-right-now, anthropic-just-dropped-a-masterclass-on-building-agent-harnesses-for-large-codebases, full-guide-to-becoming-a-principled-agentic-engineer-build-anything-with-ai, parallel-claude-code-git-worktrees-this-setup-will-change-how-you-ship, my-complete-agentic-coding-workflow-to-build-anything-no-fluff-or-overengineering, i-built-my-second-brain-with-claude-code-obsidian-skills-heres-how, are-agent-harnesses-bringing-back-vibe-coding, claude-code-web-just-dropped-but-i-already-built-something-better-with-codex, introducing-archon-the-revolutionary-operating-system-for-ai-coding, build-a-chatgpt-style-app-for-your-n8n-ai-agents-in-minutes]
created: 2026-07-21
updated: 2026-07-21
---

# The AI Layer

The AI layer is the set of context, rules, and tooling you author on top of a coding agent to make it effective on your codebase. Anthropic's framing is the crispest: "The AI layer is the set of context and tools that you give your coding agent to work on a codebase," and it is "a third component of every codebase" alongside the source and the tests, "everything like your global rules, your skills, your MCP servers and sub agents." Cole enumerates roughly six components that make it up: "Our global rules, our skills and MCP servers, all the capabilities we give, codebased searching like LSP or knowledge graphs, our hooks, and our subagents."

The reason it matters is leverage over the one variable you actually control. "What's even more important than the coding agent you pick is the AI layer. This is the ultimate wrapper around any coding agent session. And this is what you get to actually build." Because "we can't really make the LLM more powerful," the differentiation lives entirely here: "it's the layer around our LLMs, what we build on top of our agents that is making the difference," covering "the reasoning, memory systems, prompting techniques, tool optimization, everything except increasing the raw power of the LLM itself." Google's guidance treats it as capital, not scratch work: "It is an engineered resource that lives in version control just like the code itself."

The AI layer is also what makes agentic coding portable. Because it is just files, "the AI layer that you customize lives in the server and then that can apply to any of the AI coding assistants that you run" - "it's not like you have to have a specific setup for Pi and then a specific one for Claude Code." That is the tight bond with [Provider Independence](./provider-independence.md): own the layer, swap the agent underneath. And the layer is meant to compound. You don't set it once; you [evolve it](./system-evolution.md), because "this is where we evolve what I like to call the AI layer... we're evolving not just our code base over time, but also the reliability of our coding agents."

## Part of

- [AI Coding Harness](./ai-coding-harness.md) - the AI layer is the harness expressed as owned, version-controlled context.

## Builds on

- [Global Rules](./global-rules.md), [Slash Commands](./slash-commands.md), [Skills](./skills.md), [Subagents](./subagents-pattern.md), [Claude Code Hooks](./claude-code-hooks.md), [MCP](./mcp.md) - the concrete components the layer is assembled from.
- [Context Engineering](./context-engineering.md) - the discipline of curating what the layer feeds the agent.

## Related

- [System Evolution](./system-evolution.md) - the AI layer is the thing you improve every time the agent errs.
- [Provider Independence](./provider-independence.md) - a portable layer applies across every coding assistant.
- [Commandify Everything](./commandify-everything.md) - packaging procedures into the layer.
- [Agentic Coding](./agentic-coding.md) and [Agentic Experiences](./agentic-experiences.md) - what a strong AI layer enables.
- [Meta-Harness](./meta-harness.md) - A layer above individual AI coding assistants that orchestrates many of them together on larger tasks, distinct from a single-agent harness.

## Tools

- [Claude Code](../entities/tools/claude-code.md) and [Codex](../entities/tools/codex.md) - agents the layer wraps; `CLAUDE.md`/`AGENTS.md` are its rules surface.
- [Archon](../entities/tools/archon.md) - a central command center that keeps the AI layer consistent across agents and frameworks.
- [Pi Coding Agent](../entities/tools/pi-coding-agent.md) - runs the same top-level layer as any other assistant.

## Sources

- [Anthropic Just Dropped a Masterclass on Building Agent Harnesses](../sources/anthropic-just-dropped-a-masterclass-on-building-agent-harnesses-for-large-codebases.md) - "[0:03:28] The AI layer is the set of context and tools that you give your coding agent to work on a codebase."
- [Harness Engineering: What Separates Top Agentic Engineers Right Now](../sources/harness-engineering-what-separates-top-agentic-engineers-right-now.md) - "[0:02:29] What's even more important than the coding agent you pick is the AI layer. This is the ultimate wrapper around any coding agent session. And this is what you get to actually build."
- [The Best AI Coding Setup Isn't the Most Autonomous One](../sources/the-best-ai-coding-setup-isnt-the-most-autonomous-one-heres-why.md) - "[0:11:38] I want to start by talking about the AI layer because these are the different components that you build on top of your coding agent. Things like your rules and skills."
- [Google Just Dropped a Masterclass on Agentic Engineering](../sources/google-just-dropped-a-masterclass-on-agentic-engineering-its-so-good.md) - "[0:21:25] It is an engineered resource that lives in version control just like the code itself."
- [Omnigent: The New Meta-Harness for EVERY Coding Agent](../sources/omnigent-the-new-meta-harness-for-every-coding-agent-claude-code-codex-pi-more.md) - "[0:04:42] the AI layer that you customize lives in the server and then that can apply to any of the AI coding assistants that you run."
- [Are Agent Harnesses Bringing Back Vibe Coding?](../sources/are-agent-harnesses-bringing-back-vibe-coding.md) - "[0:04:56] it's the layer around our LLMs, what we build on top of our agents that is making the difference here... everything except increasing the raw power of the LLM itself."
- [FULL Guide to Becoming a Principled Agentic Engineer](../sources/full-guide-to-becoming-a-principled-agentic-engineer-build-anything-with-ai.md) - "[0:10:55] then it's time to create your AI layer... if you don't have it, I highly recommend investing a lot of time upfront building this"
- [Parallel Claude Code + Git Worktrees](../sources/parallel-claude-code-git-worktrees-this-setup-will-change-how-you-ship.md) - "[0:13:43] this is where we evolve what I like to call the AI layer. all of the context engineering for our coding agent like our global rules, our workflows, our skills"
- [My COMPLETE Agentic Coding Workflow to Build Anything](../sources/my-complete-agentic-coding-workflow-to-build-anything-no-fluff-or-overengineering.md) - "[0:02:29] your AI layer is all the assets in your codebase that you created to be context for your coding agent"
- [I Built My Second Brain with Claude Code + Obsidian + Skills](../sources/i-built-my-second-brain-with-claude-code-obsidian-skills-heres-how.md) - "[0:04:51] it needs to work with our files, search through them, run terminal commands, search the web, and then it needs access to code intelligence"
- [Claude Code Web JUST Dropped but I Already Built Something BETTER (with Codex!)](../sources/claude-code-web-just-dropped-but-i-already-built-something-better-with-codex.md) - "[0:00:33] I really don't like setting up my AI layer, things like my global rules separately from where I'm actually sending in the request to the AI coding assistant"
- [Introducing Archon - The Revolutionary Operating System for AI Coding](../sources/introducing-archon-the-revolutionary-operating-system-for-ai-coding.md) - "[0:24:39] give you visibility to all those frameworks and have a central command center where you can see what's going on."
- [Build a ChatGPT Style App for Your n8n AI Agents in MINUTES](../sources/build-a-chatgpt-style-app-for-your-n8n-ai-agents-in-minutes.md) - "[0:10:01] They're giving agents a UI layer to make it actually work for businesses."
