Chinese AI company DeepSeek's AI agent framework Harness has secured 1.54 million daily active users in less than three months since its launch. Competition is intensifying as DeepSeek moves in earnest into the AI agent market led by OpenAI and Anthropic.

The South China Morning Post reported on Nov. 9 that DeepSeek said daily active users of Harness stood at 1.54 million as of Nov. 4. Daily token throughput via the official API is about 92 trillion, or about 1.1 billion per second.

Harness is a software framework that converts large language models (LLMs) into AI agents that perform real tasks. It supports more than answering questions, including writing and running code, controlling external programs and automating complex work.

DeepSeek unveiled the first version of Harness on Aug. 13 and released a desktop app on Sept. 29. It is focusing on expanding its developer ecosystem by promoting an open structure that links various functions through plugins.

Results are also becoming visible. External plugins developed since launch total about 35,000. About 60 percent of active users are counted as having made or installed at least 1 plugin.

Using plugins, users can add functions needed for specific tasks such as paper analysis and translation, and code development. It is also possible to replace existing functions or configure an agent to fit a personal work environment.

DeepSeek plans to build an official marketplace where developers can distribute plugins and users can search for the functions they need. It is also preparing a support programme that provides developers with token-use benefits, technical exchanges and promotion.

It also carried out an organisational reshuffle. DeepSeek created a new product division last month by integrating Harness and its web, app and platform development organisations, and appointed former Jane Street engineer Cui Tianyi (추이톈이) as head.

DeepSeek aims to develop Harness beyond a simple AI development tool into an 'operating system for the agent era' that connects various services.

User and token figures are based on DeepSeek's own tally from its official API, and no independent verification results have been disclosed.