fix(skills): resolve skills-shared from the top-level root, not a profile HERMES_HOME

[Kyzcreig]

Symptom

Every skill_manage(create) from a non-default profile hard-errors:

SkillCreateError: category 'general' is not a shared group. Pick one of: (none found under skills-shared/)

Only the default profile can author to shared. Ground-truthed live on the fleet (athena/daedalus gateways, 2026-07-01).

Root cause

#122's _shared_skills_root() resolves HERMES_HOME / 'skills-shared'. A specialist gateway runs with HERMES_HOME=<root>/profiles/<name>, so it resolves profiles/<name>/skills-shared — which doesn't exist (the shared tree is top-level only). _valid_shared_groups() → [] → every group invalid → hard error.

Fix

_shared_skills_root() derives the top-level root with the same profile rule as hermes_constants.get_default_hermes_root (parent dir named profiles → grandparent), applied to the module's HERMES_HOME so the established test seam (patching the module global) keeps working. Standard (~/.hermes/profiles/<p>) + Docker (/opt/data/profiles/<p>) layouts covered; a non-profile home resolves exactly as before (vanilla upstream byte-identical). Fail-open to the old path on any resolution error.

Tests

New TestProfileHomeSharedRoot suite (9 tests): profile-home resolution, groups found, create lands in the top-level tree (and NOT under the profile dir), Docker layout, a RED-proof documenting the old expression's miss, vanilla/fleet layouts unchanged, fail-open. 35/35 module, 222/222 skill-tool blast radius.

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

This PR fixes a regression where skill_manage(create) hard-errored for every non-default profile because _shared_skills_root() resolved HERMES_HOME / "skills-shared" — a profile-relative path that doesn't exist when HERMES_HOME=<root>/profiles/<name>.

• Core fix (tools/skill_manager_tool.py): _shared_skills_root() now detects profile-mode layouts by checking home.parent.name == \"profiles\" and returns home.parent.parent / \"skills-shared\" (the top-level root), exactly mirroring the get_default_hermes_root profile rule already in hermes_constants.py. Non-profile homes behave byte-for-byte as before; a broad except Exception guard provides fail-open behavior.
• Tests (tests/tools/test_skill_manager_create_shared.py): adds a _profile_home fixture and 9 focused regression tests, including a red-proof documenting the old expression's miss, Docker layout, and fail-open behavior.

Confidence Score: 4/5

Safe to merge — the change is a small, targeted fix to a single function with no side effects on non-profile deployments.

The fix is minimal and well-contained: one function in skill_manager_tool.py gains a two-branch conditional and a fail-open guard, and all three resolution paths (profile, vanilla, error) are directly exercised by the new test suite. The logic is a faithful copy of the already-proven get_default_hermes_root profile rule, so the reasoning is easy to audit. No issues found that would block merging.

No files require special attention. Both changed files are clean.

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
tools/skill_manager_tool.py	Replaces the one-liner _shared_skills_root() with a profile-aware version that mirrors hermes_constants.get_default_hermes_root; non-profile behavior is unchanged and a fail-open guard prevents crashes on pathological paths.
tests/tools/test_skill_manager_create_shared.py	Adds _profile_home fixture and TestProfileHomeSharedRoot with 9 tests covering standard profile, Docker, fail-open, red-proof of the old bug, and invariants for non-profile homes.

Flowchart

%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
flowchart TD
    A[_shared_skills_root called] --> B{try block}
    B --> C[home = HERMES_HOME]
    C --> D{home.parent.name == 'profiles'?}
    D -- Yes: profile layout --> E[return home.parent.parent / 'skills-shared']
    D -- No: vanilla/custom root --> F[return home / 'skills-shared']
    B -- Exception --> G[return HERMES_HOME / 'skills-shared' — fail-open fallback]
    E --> H[_valid_shared_groups iterates result]
    F --> H
    G --> H

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flowchart TD
    A[_shared_skills_root called] --> B{try block}
    B --> C[home = HERMES_HOME]
    C --> D{home.parent.name == 'profiles'?}
    D -- Yes: profile layout --> E[return home.parent.parent / 'skills-shared']
    D -- No: vanilla/custom root --> F[return home / 'skills-shared']
    B -- Exception --> G[return HERMES_HOME / 'skills-shared' — fail-open fallback]
    E --> H[_valid_shared_groups iterates result]
    F --> H
    G --> H

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