feat(cli): add hermes vertical-agent scaffolding kit - #86210
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Implements the mechanism side of NousResearch#7179 / companion to NousResearch#85853. Adds a new CLI command, hermes vertical-agent, that scaffolds constrained vertical agents from bundled blueprints. The kit turns the four-layer pattern from the 'Building Constrained Vertical Agents' guide into generated files: - hermes vertical-agent init interactive wizard - hermes vertical-agent list bundled blueprints - hermes vertical-agent verify validate scaffold shape - hermes vertical-agent smoke best-effort runnability check Bundled blueprints (support, research) live as package data under hermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/ and generate SOUL.md, USER.template.md, OPERATIONS.md, config.patch.yaml, and skill manifests. Also adds website/docs/guides/vertical-agent-kit.md and registers it next to the existing vertical-agents guide in sidebars.ts. Closes NousResearch#7179 mechanism gap. Co-authored-by: @DavidMetcalfe (whose guide in NousResearch#85853 this implements)
alt-glitch
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This was generated by AI during triage. Summary:
Problems: Solution: Evidenceno deterministic fact backs this claim — model belief, not executed or read evidence Checked against |
…, not error The triage bot correctly pointed out that smoke_scaffold returned exit 1 whenever ┌─ Hermes Agent v0.20.0 (2026.8.3) · upstream c896c09 · local f51aa6a (+1 c─┐ │ Available Tools │ │ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣀⡀⠀⣀⣀⠀⢀⣀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ bfl: bfl_flux3_get_result, ... │ │ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣠⣴⣾⣿⣿⣇⠸⣿⣿⠇⣸⣿⣿⣷⣦⣄⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ browser: browser_back, │ │ ⠀⢀⣠⣴⣶⠿⠋⣩⡿⣿⡿⠻⣿⡇⢠⡄⢸⣿⠟⢿⣿⢿⣍⠙⠿⣶⣦⣄⡀⠀ browser_click, ... │ │ ⠀⠀⠉⠉⠁⠶⠟⠋⠀⠉⠀⢀⣈⣁⡈⢁⣈⣁⡀⠀⠉⠀⠙⠻⠶⠈⠉⠉⠀⠀ browser-use: browser_exec │ │ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣴⣿⡿⠛⢁⡈⠛⢿⣿⣦⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ clarify: clarify │ │ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠿⣿⣦⣤⣈⠁⢠⣴⣿⠿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ code_execution: execute_code │ │ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠻⢿⣿⣦⡉⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ computer_use: computer_use │ │ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠘⢷⣦⣈⠛⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ cronjob: cronjob │ │ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⣴⠦⠈⠙⠿⣦⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ delegation: delegate_task │ │ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠸⣿⣤⡈⠁⢤⣿⠇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ (and 11 more toolsets...) │ │ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠛⠷⠄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ │ │ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣀⠑⢶⣄⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ MCP Servers │ │ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿⠁⢰⡆⠈⡿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ meta_ads (http) — failed │ │ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠳⠈⣡⠞⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ │ │ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Available Skills │ │ autonomous-ai-agents: claude-code, │ │ GLM-5.2-NVFP4 · Nous Research +7 more │ │ ⚠ YOLO mode — all approval prompts creative: architecture-diagram, +15 │ │ bypassed more │ │ C:\Users\gabog\orca\workspaces\Her… devops: hetzner-cloud, +2 more │ │ Session: 20260814_165242_25d1a7 email: email-inbox-triage, himalaya │ │ general: orca-cli │ │ github: codebase-inspection, +7 more │ │ media: gif-search, songsee, +1 more │ │ mlops: huggingface-hub, +2 more │ │ note-taking: obsidian, +2 more │ │ productivity: airtable, +14 more │ │ research: arxiv, blogwatcher, +3 │ │ more │ │ smart-home: openhue │ │ software-development: │ │ android-app-development, +10 more │ │ │ │ 18 tools · 79 skills · /help for │ │ commands │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Welcome to Hermes Agent! Type your message or /help for commands. ✦ Tip: The auxiliary client treats 'main' as a provider alias — resolves to your actual primary provider + model. was not on PATH, contradicting the documented graceful file-only fallback. Now smoke_scaffold returns (errors, warnings), the missing-CLI state prints a warning but returns success, and the test no longer needs to tolerate a fake error. Refs NousResearch#86210 feedback.
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Good catch — that was a real inconsistency. I just pushed a fix:
All 8 tests still pass. Let me know if you would prefer the warning silenced entirely or if this separation is enough. |
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📝 WalkthroughWalkthroughAdds the ChangesVertical Agent Kit
Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~25 minutes Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to This change adds a new CLI scaffolding workflow and bundled documentation/templates without any supplied actionable merge-blocking risk; it is ready for merge after normal checks and review. 🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1❌ Failed checks (1 warning)
✅ Passed checks (4 passed)
✨ Finishing Touches🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)
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Inline comments:
In `@hermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/support/config.patch.yaml`:
- Around line 10-16: Update the platform_toolset configuration key to
platform_toolsets, remove the unsupported generic_tools.execute_code
disabled_by_default entry, and configure the generated profile through the
supported code_execution settings so execute_code is excluded.
In `@hermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/operations/scope-guard.md`:
- Around line 9-15: Update the refusal condition in the scope-guard checklist so
it stops when the domain or approved-helper checks fail, or when the authority
check confirms the agent lacks required authority; preserve the existing
boundary-aware refusal or escalation response.
In `@hermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit.py`:
- Around line 206-212: Update _find_scaffold_files to validate each required
scaffold file only at the root directory by checking path / name for SOUL.md,
USER.template.md, and OPERATIONS.md; remove recursive descendant searching while
preserving the existing Optional[Path] results.
- Around line 120-124: Validate PROFILE_NAME before constructing dest in the
destination setup flow: require a non-empty single directory name, resolve the
resulting dest and output_dir, and reject dest unless it is strictly contained
within output_dir. Perform this validation before the existing overwrite check
or shutil.rmtree call, preserving normal creation and overwrite behavior for
valid names.
In `@tests/hermes_cli/test_vertical_agent_kit.py`:
- Around line 119-140: Update test_smoke_scaffold_passes_for_rendered to mock
the Hermes CLI command lookup as unavailable, then assert errors == [] and
verify warnings include the expected “Hermes CLI not found on PATH” fallback
message, without relying on the runner’s PATH.
In `@website/docs/guides/vertical-agent-kit.md`:
- Line 9: Update the Vertical Agent Kit scaffold description to name the
generated context file as USER.template.md instead of USER.md, keeping the other
listed scaffold artifacts unchanged.
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📒 Files selected for processing (45)
hermes_cli/main.pyhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit.pyhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/research/OPERATIONS.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/research/README.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/research/SOUL.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/research/USER.template.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/research/config.patch.yamlhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/research/required-skills.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/research/skills.manifest.yamlhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/support/OPERATIONS.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/support/README.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/support/SOUL.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/support/USER.template.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/support/config.patch.yamlhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/support/required-skills.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/support/skills.manifest.yamlhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/configs/display-clean.yamlhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/configs/platform-toolsets-minimal.yamlhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/configs/profile-config.template.yamlhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/molding/README.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/molding/business-administration/executive-reporting-assistant.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/molding/business-administration/operations-coordinator.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/molding/business-administration/sop-process-documentation-assistant.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/molding/cybersecurity/access-review-helper.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/molding/cybersecurity/security-alert-triager.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/molding/cybersecurity/vulnerability-review-assistant.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/molding/development/codebase-onboarding-assistant.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/molding/development/engineering-support-triager.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/molding/development/qa-release-checklist-operator.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/molding/marketing/cro-revenue-funnel-reviewer.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/molding/marketing/lifecycle-email-ops-assistant.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/molding/marketing/paid-media-analyst.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/operations/base-operations.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/operations/evidence-first.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/operations/scope-guard.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/skills/SKILL.template.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/soul/concise-operator.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/soul/strict-boundary.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/soul/warm-specialist.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/user/USER.template.mdhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/user/onboarding-questions.mdpyproject.tomltests/hermes_cli/test_vertical_agent_kit.pywebsite/docs/guides/vertical-agent-kit.mdwebsite/sidebars.ts
- Fix platform_toolset -> platform_toolsets in blueprints; use real disabled_toolsets and code_execution config keys. - Clarify scope-guard refusal condition. - Make _find_scaffold_files non-recursive (root-level only). - Add PROFILE_NAME validation and path-traversal guard in render_blueprint. - Smoke test now uses shutil.which monkeypatch and asserts errors == []. - Fix docs to reference USER.template.md consistently. - Add docstring and KeyboardInterrupt/EOFError handling. Relates to NousResearch#86210 review.
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@coderabbitai thanks for the review. I pushed a commit that addresses the actionable items:
Tests: |
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feat(cli): add hermes vertical-agent scaffolding kit
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alt-glitch
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the
sweeper:risk-compatibility
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@Enough1122 — checked all four findings against the current head ( 1. Hardcoded 2. 3. Probe failure should surface captured stderr — valid substance, but the suggested snippet would crash. except subprocess.CalledProcessError as exc:
err = (exc.stderr or "").strip()[:200]
errors.append(f"Hermes --version probe failed: {err or exc}")4. Dead Note on Net: finding 2 is the one to fix before merge; 1 and 3 are cheap corrects; 4 is optional. |
- Only allow --force overwrite when the target looks like a previously generated scaffold. Prevents accidental deletion of arbitrary dirs. - Use display_hermes_home() / get_hermes_home() instead of hardcoded ~/.hermes in the USER.md hint. - Surface CalledProcessError stderr and TimeoutExpired in the Hermes --version smoke probe. - Re-raise EOFError from _input_default so Ctrl+D aborts the wizard. - Add test covering --force refusal for non-scaffold directories.
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@DavidMetcalfe — thanks for the detailed verification. I pushed fixes for the four findings:
Tests: . Let me know if anything else is needed. |
6 participants
Summary
This PR proposes the mechanism side of #7179: a built-in scaffolding kit for constrained vertical agents, complementing the pattern guide introduced in #85853.
Where #85853 documents where each concern belongs (SOUL.md, USER.md, skills, tool constraints), this PR gives users a concrete CLI path to generate those files from bundled blueprints.
What it adds
hermes vertical-agentinit— interactive wizard that asks role, objective, users, tone, scope, refusal edges, evidence sources, systems, and decision stylelist— show bundled blueprintsverify PATH— validate the generated scaffold shapesmoke PATH— best-effort runnability checkhermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/:support— support ticket triage/responseresearch— bounded evidence gathering and synthesisEach blueprint generates
SOUL.md,USER.template.md,OPERATIONS.md,config.patch.yaml,skills.manifest.yaml, andrequired-skills.md.hermes_cli/vertical_agent_kit_data/templates/for SOUL voice cards, operations docs, molding cards, and skill authoring.website/docs/guides/vertical-agent-kit.md, registered inwebsite/sidebars.tsright after the existingvertical-agentsguide.pyproject.tomlso the bundled files ship with the wheel/venv.tests/hermes_cli/test_vertical_agent_kit.py(8 passing).Design choices
platform_toolsets) and leaves activation to the user.{{VARIABLE}}placeholders rendered by the wizard, so users can add custom blueprints by dropping a directory intovertical_agent_kit_data/blueprints/.OPERATIONS.md.How to test
The command requires no extra dependencies (stdlib + existing Hermes imports).
Relationship to #85853
cc @DavidMetcalfe — your guide in #85853 defined the four-layer model beautifully; this is the concrete mechanism that lets users produce that shape without writing all the files from scratch. Happy to align naming, examples, or cross-links with whatever lands from #85853.
Related issues
Closes #7179 (mechanism)
Relates to #85853 (docs companion)
Type of change
Summary by CodeRabbit
vertical-agentCLI with shortcuts for initializing, listing, verifying, and smoke-testing agent scaffolds.