fix: use docker-visible skill paths for skills

[burjorjee]

Summary

• translate bundled skill paths under $HERMES_HOME/skills to Docker-visible paths when exposing them to the agent
• keep internal host-side skill loading on real host paths while showing /root/.hermes/skills/... in model-visible payloads
• add regressions covering Docker skill directory rendering and skill_view() path behavior

Why

When Hermes runs inside Docker, model-visible skill metadata could include host-absolute skill paths. Those paths are invalid inside the container and leak host filesystem layout. This change makes model-visible skill paths match the Docker-mounted location while preserving host paths for internal operations.

How to test

1. Run Hermes with the Docker terminal backend enabled.
2. Load a bundled skill and confirm model-visible skill directory references use /root/.hermes/skills/... rather than host $HERMES_HOME paths.
3. Confirm internal skill loading still works normally from the host checkout.
4. Run the targeted regression suite below.

Validation

• scripts/run_tests.sh tests/agent/test_skill_commands.py tests/tools/test_skills_tool.py -q

Platforms tested

• macOS (with Docker-path translation logic validated by tests)

[MKI13]

Autofix follow-up for the blocked CI:

• I cannot push directly to burjorjee/hermes-agent:fix/docker-visible-skill-paths-pr from MKI13; GitHub returns 403 Permission denied.
• I created a contributor-fork PR with the fix here: fix: merge main to clear PR 28569 CI burjorjee/hermes-agent#2
• That PR merges current NousResearch/hermes-agent:main into the branch to clear the stale BASE..HEAD Supply Chain Audit finding and also updates the web provider registry test for the new bundled xai provider.

Local verification:

• supply scan for install-hook / .pth hits against merge-base: no findings
• python -m pytest tests/plugins/web/test_web_search_provider_plugins.py tests/hermes_cli/test_update_hangup_protection.py::TestInstallHangupProtection::test_wraps_stdout_and_stderr_with_mirror -q -o 'addopts=' → 49 passed

[MKI13]

Autofix follow-up for the latest failures on 1fe686a9ba2ff3d94114761ab06a6ec7661bb529:

• Supply Chain Audit root cause is still the stale-branch BASE..HEAD supply scan: compared against current NousResearch/hermes-agent:main, the PR diff includes hermes_cli/setup.py, so the install-hook rule fails.
• The Tests workflow also fails on stale test expectations: the web provider registry test expects seven providers while xai is registered, and the update hangup protection test needs the current main behavior.
• I cannot push directly to burjorjee/hermes-agent:fix/docker-visible-skill-paths-pr; GitHub returns 403 Permission to burjorjee/hermes-agent.git denied to MKI13.
• I updated the contributor-fork fix PR with the latest PR head and current main: fix: merge main to clear PR 28569 CI burjorjee/hermes-agent#2
• Updated fix branch head: 3bb9521dc0f33f903c0dfd7ecb66e66e72b6a72a (MKI13/hermes-agent:autofix/pr-28569-merge-main).

Local verification:

• Reproduced Supply Chain Audit scanner against origin/main..3bb9521d: no .pth, install-hook, base64+exec/eval, or obfuscated subprocess findings.
• PYTHONPATH=$PWD python -m pytest tests/agent/test_skill_commands.py tests/plugins/web/test_web_search_provider_plugins.py tests/tools/test_skills_tool.py -q -o 'addopts=' → 178 passed.
• PYTHONPATH=$PWD python -m pytest tests/plugins/web/test_web_search_provider_plugins.py::TestBundledPluginsRegister::test_all_eight_plugins_present_in_registry tests/hermes_cli/test_update_hangup_protection.py::TestInstallHangupProtection::test_wraps_stdout_and_stderr_with_mirror -q -o 'addopts=' → 2 passed.
• python -m ruff check agent/skill_commands.py agent/skill_preprocessing.py tests/agent/test_skill_commands.py tests/plugins/web/test_web_search_provider_plugins.py tests/tools/test_skills_tool.py tools/credential_files.py tools/skills_tool.py → All checks passed.

[teknium1]

Thanks for tackling this. The premise still holds on current main: skill prompts and skill_view() can expose host skill paths, while Docker mounts local skills at /root/.hermes/skills.

Problems

• tools/credential_files.py:275 in this PR builds the returned Docker path with pathlib.Path. On native Windows hosts that can render backslashes, but the returned string is meant for a Linux container. Current main's cache-path translator uses posixpath.join and rel.as_posix() for the same reason at tools/credential_files.py:379-400.

Suggested changes

• Build the translated skill path with a POSIX-only join, such as posixpath.join(container_base.rstrip('/'), 'skills', rel.as_posix()).
• Preserve the internal agent_visible_paths=False path in agent/skill_commands.py so slash/bundle loaders keep host paths for supporting-file discovery.

Automated hermes-sweeper review.

[teknium1]

This should use a POSIX-only join. pathlib.Path renders with host-platform separators, so native Windows can return \root\.hermes\skills\... here even though the string is for a Linux Docker container. posixpath.join(container_base.rstrip('/'), 'skills', rel.as_posix()) matches the existing cache-path mapper pattern.

[teknium1]

Thanks for addressing the canonical Docker skill path and for preserving host paths for internal slash-loader operations. The current main defect is real: agent/skill_commands.py:235-246 expands and emits host skill paths, while Docker mounts local skills under /root/.hermes/skills (tools/credential_files.py:203-230).

Problems

• Configured external skills remain unaddressed. skill_view() searches get_external_skills_dirs() alongside the local root (tools/skills_tool.py:1082-1088) and returns their host skill_dir (tools/skills_tool.py:1554-1573). Docker mounts those roots at /root/.hermes/external_skills/<index> (tools/credential_files.py:232-241), but this PR intentionally leaves them untranslated.

Suggested changes

• Map paths under each configured external root to its corresponding mounted external_skills/<index> destination, using POSIX paths.
• Cover both skill_view() and slash-command rendering for an external Docker skill.

Automated hermes-sweeper review.

[burjorjee]

Follow-up pushed in cc5fb01b3 to address the external-skills Docker path gap flagged by the sweeper.

What changed:

• Extended to_agent_visible_skill_path() so Docker mode now maps both:
  • local skills under $HERMES_HOME/skills/... → /root/.hermes/skills/...
  • configured external skill dirs under skills.external_dirs → /root/.hermes/external_skills/<index>/...
• Kept the joins POSIX-only via posixpath.join(..., rel.as_posix()), so container-visible paths do not pick up host-native separators on Windows.
• Preserved internal host-path behavior: agent_visible_paths=False still returns host paths for internal skill loading/support-file discovery.

Tests added:

• direct external skill path mapping in tests/tools/test_credential_files.py
• skill_view() rendering for an external Docker skill in tests/tools/test_skills_tool.py
• slash-command rendering/supporting-file hints for an external Docker skill in tests/agent/test_skill_commands.py

Validation:

• Local targeted suite: scripts/run_tests.sh tests/tools/test_credential_files.py tests/agent/test_skill_commands.py tests/tools/test_skills_tool.py -- -q → 170 passed
• Ruff on touched files → All checks passed
• GitHub CI → All required checks pass