Harper

Harper is an open-source runtime designed to unify the development and deployment of applications, agents, and data systems. It addresses the complexity of managing multiple infrastructure components by consolidating database, cache, application logic, messaging, and streaming into a single process. This approach aims to reduce latency, operational overhead, and the need for integration code, making it suitable for developers building scalable, agentic, and data-driven applications.

The platform features built-in support for agent memory, semantic caching, real-time data access, and REST interfaces. Agents can retrieve state, perform semantic searches, and access user context within the same runtime, eliminating the need for separate vector databases, caches, or app servers. Harper also integrates streaming protocols such as MQTT, WebSocket, and SSE directly alongside its data layer, allowing applications to subscribe to record changes without additional pub/sub systems. Schema-driven APIs are provided automatically, with REST and GraphQL endpoints generated from defined tables, supporting filtering, sorting, joins, and pagination with low-latency responses.

Deployment is flexible, with the same runtime capable of running in managed cloud environments, at the edge, on traditional infrastructure, or in regulated on-premises settings. Harper Fabric enables global replication, automatic failover, and consistent API availability across regions, allowing developers to deploy once and have their backend live everywhere needed. The platform is designed to handle production workloads for agents, streaming data, e-commerce, and APIs, offering features such as geo-distributed replication, shared memory layers, and the ability to scale for peak demand and shrink when traffic normalizes.

As an open-source solution, Harper provides source code access and supports installation via npm, Docker, and Red Hat OpenShift. The platform emphasizes cost efficiency by reducing the number of services, vendor contracts, and integration points required to operate at scale. Its unified approach aims to deliver higher throughput, lower latency, and reduced infrastructure complexity for modern application development.