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204 changes: 195 additions & 9 deletions AGENTS.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -37,12 +37,17 @@ hermes-agent/
│ ├── platforms/ # Adapter per platform (telegram, discord, slack, whatsapp,
│ │ # homeassistant, signal, matrix, mattermost, email, sms,
│ │ # dingtalk, wecom, weixin, feishu, qqbot, bluebubbles,
│ │ # webhook, api_server, ...). See ADDING_A_PLATFORM.md.
│ │ # yuanbao, webhook, api_server, ...). See ADDING_A_PLATFORM.md.
│ └── builtin_hooks/ # Extension point for always-registered gateway hooks (none shipped)
├── plugins/ # Plugin system (see "Plugins" section below)
│ ├── memory/ # Memory-provider plugins (honcho, mem0, supermemory, ...)
│ ├── context_engine/ # Context-engine plugins
│ └── <others>/ # Dashboard, image-gen, disk-cleanup, examples, ...
│ ├── kanban/ # Multi-agent board dispatcher + worker plugin
│ ├── hermes-achievements/ # Gamified achievement tracking
│ ├── observability/ # Metrics / traces / logs plugin
│ ├── image_gen/ # Image-generation providers
│ └── <others>/ # disk-cleanup, example-dashboard, google_meet, platforms,
│ # spotify, strike-freedom-cockpit, ...
├── optional-skills/ # Heavier/niche skills shipped but NOT active by default
├── skills/ # Built-in skills bundled with the repo
├── ui-tui/ # Ink (React) terminal UI — `hermes --tui`
Expand All @@ -53,7 +58,7 @@ hermes-agent/
├── environments/ # RL training environments (Atropos)
├── scripts/ # run_tests.sh, release.py, auxiliary scripts
├── website/ # Docusaurus docs site
└── tests/ # Pytest suite (~15k tests across ~700 files as of Apr 2026)
└── tests/ # Pytest suite (~17k tests across ~900 files as of May 2026)
```

**User config:** `~/.hermes/config.yaml` (settings), `~/.hermes/.env` (API keys only).
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -289,9 +294,9 @@ registry.register(
)
```

**2. Add to `toolsets.py`** — either `_HERMES_CORE_TOOLS` (all platforms) or a new toolset.
**2. Add to `toolsets.py`** — either `_HERMES_CORE_TOOLS` (all platforms) or a new toolset. **This step is required:** auto-discovery imports the tool and registers its schema, but the tool is only *exposed to an agent* if its name appears in a toolset. `_HERMES_CORE_TOOLS` is not dead code — it's the default bundle every platform's base toolset inherits from.

Auto-discovery: any `tools/*.py` file with a top-level `registry.register()` call is imported automatically — no manual import list to maintain.
Auto-discovery: any `tools/*.py` file with a top-level `registry.register()` call is imported automatically — no manual import list to maintain. Wiring into a toolset is still a deliberate, manual step.

The registry handles schema collection, dispatch, availability checking, and error wrapping. All handlers MUST return a JSON string.

Expand All @@ -313,6 +318,22 @@ The registry handles schema collection, dispatch, availability checking, and err
section is handled automatically by the deep-merge and does NOT require
a version bump.

### Top-level `config.yaml` sections (non-exhaustive):

`model`, `agent`, `terminal`, `compression`, `display`, `stt`, `tts`,
`memory`, `security`, `delegation`, `smart_model_routing`, `checkpoints`,
`auxiliary`, `curator`, `skills`, `gateway`, `logging`, `cron`, `profiles`,
`plugins`, `honcho`.

`auxiliary` holds per-task overrides for side-LLM work (curator, vision,
embedding, title generation, session_search, etc.) — each task can pin
its own provider/model/base_url/max_tokens/reasoning_effort. See
`agent/auxiliary_client.py::_resolve_auto` for resolution order.

`curator` holds the background skill-maintenance config —
`enabled`, `interval_hours`, `min_idle_hours`, `stale_after_days`,
`archive_after_days`, `backup` (nested).

### .env variables (SECRETS ONLY — API keys, tokens, passwords):
1. Add to `OPTIONAL_ENV_VARS` in `hermes_cli/config.py` with metadata:
```python
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -519,11 +540,176 @@ niche skills belong in `optional-skills/`.

### SKILL.md frontmatter

Standard fields: `name`, `description`, `version`, `platforms`
(OS-gating list: `[macos]`, `[linux, macos]`, ...),
Standard fields: `name`, `description`, `version`, `author`, `license`,
`platforms` (OS-gating list: `[macos]`, `[linux, macos]`, ...),
`metadata.hermes.tags`, `metadata.hermes.category`,
`metadata.hermes.config` (config.yaml settings the skill needs — stored
under `skills.config.<key>`, prompted during setup, injected at load time).
`metadata.hermes.related_skills`, `metadata.hermes.config` (config.yaml
settings the skill needs — stored under `skills.config.<key>`, prompted
during setup, injected at load time).

Top-level `tags:` and `category:` are also accepted and mirrored from
`metadata.hermes.*` by the loader.

---

## Toolsets

All toolsets are defined in `toolsets.py` as a single `TOOLSETS` dict.
Each platform's adapter picks a base toolset (e.g. Telegram uses
`"messaging"`); `_HERMES_CORE_TOOLS` is the default bundle most
platforms inherit from.

Current toolset keys: `browser`, `clarify`, `code_execution`, `cronjob`,
`debugging`, `delegation`, `discord`, `discord_admin`, `feishu_doc`,
`feishu_drive`, `file`, `homeassistant`, `image_gen`, `kanban`, `memory`,
`messaging`, `moa`, `rl`, `safe`, `search`, `session_search`, `skills`,
`spotify`, `terminal`, `todo`, `tts`, `video`, `vision`, `web`, `yuanbao`.

Enable/disable per platform via `hermes tools` (the curses UI) or the
`tools.<platform>.enabled` / `tools.<platform>.disabled` lists in
`config.yaml`.

---

## Delegation (`delegate_task`)

`tools/delegate_tool.py` spawns a subagent with an isolated
context + terminal session. Synchronous: the parent waits for the
child's summary before continuing its own loop — if the parent is
interrupted, the child is cancelled.

Two shapes:

- **Single:** pass `goal` (+ optional `context`, `toolsets`).
- **Batch (parallel):** pass `tasks: [...]` — each gets its own subagent
running concurrently. Concurrency is capped by
`delegation.max_concurrent_children` (default 3).

Roles:

- `role="leaf"` (default) — focused worker. Cannot call `delegate_task`,
`clarify`, `memory`, `send_message`, `execute_code`.
- `role="orchestrator"` — retains `delegate_task` so it can spawn its
own workers. Gated by `delegation.orchestrator_enabled` (default true)
and bounded by `delegation.max_spawn_depth` (default 2).

Key config knobs (under `delegation:` in `config.yaml`):
`max_concurrent_children`, `max_spawn_depth`, `child_timeout_seconds`,
`orchestrator_enabled`, `subagent_auto_approve`, `inherit_mcp_toolsets`,
`max_iterations`.

Synchronicity rule: delegate_task is **not** durable. For long-running
work that must outlive the current turn, use `cronjob` or
`terminal(background=True, notify_on_complete=True)` instead.

---

## Curator (skill lifecycle)

Background skill-maintenance system that tracks usage on agent-created
skills and auto-archives stale ones. Users never lose skills; archives
go to `~/.hermes/skills/.archive/` and are restorable.

- **Core:** `agent/curator.py` (review loop, auto-transitions, LLM review
prompt) + `agent/curator_backup.py` (pre-run tar.gz snapshots).
- **CLI:** `hermes_cli/curator.py` wires `hermes curator <verb>` where
verbs are: `status`, `run`, `pause`, `resume`, `pin`, `unpin`,
`archive`, `restore`, `prune`, `backup`, `rollback`.
- **Telemetry:** `tools/skill_usage.py` owns the sidecar
`~/.hermes/skills/.usage.json` — per-skill `use_count`, `view_count`,
`patch_count`, `last_activity_at`, `state` (active / stale /
archived), `pinned`.

Invariants:
- Curator only touches skills with `created_by: "agent"` provenance —
bundled + hub-installed skills are off-limits.
- Never deletes; max destructive action is archive.
- Pinned skills are exempt from every auto-transition and from the
LLM review pass.
- `skill_manage(action="delete")` refuses pinned skills; patch/edit/
write_file/remove_file go through so the agent can keep improving
pinned skills.

Config section (`curator:` in `config.yaml`):
`enabled`, `interval_hours`, `min_idle_hours`, `stale_after_days`,
`archive_after_days`, `backup.*`.

Full user-facing docs: `website/docs/user-guide/features/curator.md`.

---

## Cron (scheduled jobs)

`cron/jobs.py` (job store) + `cron/scheduler.py` (tick loop). Agents
schedule jobs via the `cronjob` tool; users via `hermes cron <verb>`
(`list`, `add`, `edit`, `pause`, `resume`, `run`, `remove`) or the
`/cron` slash command.

Supported schedule formats:
- Duration: `"30m"`, `"2h"`, `"1d"`
- "every" phrase: `"every 2h"`, `"every monday 9am"`
- 5-field cron expression: `"0 9 * * *"`
- ISO timestamp (one-shot): `"2026-06-01T09:00:00Z"`

Per-job fields include `skills` (load specific skills), `model` /
`provider` overrides, `script` (pre-run data-collection script whose
stdout is injected into the prompt; `no_agent=True` turns the script
into the entire job), `context_from` (chain job A's last output into
job B's prompt), `workdir` (run in a specific directory with its
`AGENTS.md`/`CLAUDE.md` loaded), and multi-platform delivery.

Hardening invariants:
- **3-minute hard interrupt** on cron sessions — runaway agent loops
cannot monopolize the scheduler.
- Catchup window: half the job's period, clamped to 120s–2h.
- Grace window: 120s for one-shot jobs whose fire time was missed.
- File lock at `~/.hermes/cron/.tick.lock` prevents duplicate ticks
across processes.
- Cron sessions pass `skip_memory=True` by default; memory providers
intentionally do not run during cron.

Cron deliveries are **not** mirrored into the target gateway session —
they land in their own cron session with a header/footer frame so the
main conversation's message-role alternation stays intact.

---

## Kanban (multi-agent work queue)

Durable SQLite-backed board that lets multiple profiles / workers
collaborate on shared tasks. Users drive it via `hermes kanban <verb>`;
workers spawned by the dispatcher drive it via a dedicated `kanban_*`
toolset so their schema footprint is zero when they're not inside a
kanban task.

- **CLI:** `hermes_cli/kanban.py` wires `hermes kanban` with verbs
`init`, `create`, `list` (alias `ls`), `show`, `assign`, `link`,
`unlink`, `comment`, `complete`, `block`, `unblock`, `archive`,
`tail`, plus less-commonly-used `watch`, `stats`, `runs`, `log`,
`assignees`, `heartbeat`, `notify-*`, `dispatch`, `daemon`, `gc`.
- **Worker toolset:** `tools/kanban_tools.py` exposes `kanban_show`,
`kanban_complete`, `kanban_block`, `kanban_heartbeat`, `kanban_comment`,
`kanban_create`, `kanban_link` — gated by `HERMES_KANBAN_TASK` so
the schema only appears for processes actually running as a worker.
- **Dispatcher:** long-lived loop that (default every 60s) reclaims
stale claims, promotes ready tasks, atomically claims, and spawns
assigned profiles. Runs **inside the gateway** by default via
`kanban.dispatch_in_gateway: true`.
- **Plugin assets:** `plugins/kanban/dashboard/` (web UI) +
`plugins/kanban/systemd/` (`hermes-kanban-dispatcher.service` for
standalone dispatcher deployment).

Isolation model:
- **Board** is the hard boundary — workers are spawned with
`HERMES_KANBAN_BOARD` pinned in their env so they can't see other
boards.
- **Tenant** is a soft namespace *within* a board — one specialist
fleet can serve multiple businesses with workspace-path + memory-key
isolation.
- After ~5 consecutive spawn failures on the same task the dispatcher
auto-blocks it to prevent spin loops.

Full user-facing docs: `website/docs/user-guide/features/kanban.md`.

---

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