**Status:** Not started (currently Browserbase cloud only)
**Priority:** Medium
Support local Chrome/Chromium via Chrome DevTools Protocol alongside existing Browserbase cloud backend.
**What other agents do:**
- **OpenClaw**: Full CDP-based Chrome control with snapshots, actions, uploads, profiles, file chooser, PDF save, console messages, tab management. Uses local Chrome for persistent login sessions.
- **Cline**: Headless browser with Computer Use (click, type, scroll, screenshot, console logs)
**Our approach:**
- Add a `local` backend option to `browser_tool.py` using Playwright or raw CDP
- Config toggle: `browser.backend: local | browserbase | auto`
-`auto` mode: try local first, fall back to Browserbase
- Local advantages: free, persistent login sessions, no API key needed
- Local disadvantages: no CAPTCHA solving, no stealth mode, requires Chrome installed
- Reuse the same 10-tool interface -- just swap the backend
- Later: Chrome profile management for persistent sessions across restarts
**Status:** Partially implemented (event hooks exist in `gateway/hooks.py`)
**Priority:** Medium
Full Python plugin interface that goes beyond the current hook system.
**What other agents do:**
- **OpenClaw**: Plugin SDK with tool-send capabilities, lifecycle phase hooks (before-agent-start, after-tool-call, model-override), plugin registry with install/uninstall.
- **Pi**: Extensions are TypeScript modules that can register tools, commands, keyboard shortcuts, custom UI widgets, overlays, status lines, dialogs, compaction hooks, raw terminal input listeners. Extremely comprehensive.
- **OpenCode**: MCP client support (stdio, SSE, StreamableHTTP), OAuth auth for MCP servers. Also has Copilot/Codex plugins.
- **Codex**: Full MCP integration with skill dependencies.
- **Cline**: MCP integration + lifecycle hooks with cancellation support.
**Our approach (phased):**
### Phase 1: Enhanced hooks
- Expand the existing `gateway/hooks.py` to support more events: `before-tool-call`, `after-tool-call`, `before-response`, `context-compress`, `session-end`
Native MCP client support with stdio and HTTP/StreamableHTTP transports, auto-discovery, reconnection with exponential backoff, env var filtering, and credential stripping. See `docs/mcp.md` for full documentation.
- After each tool call (or batch of tool calls in a single turn) that modifies files, create a lightweight checkpoint of the affected files
- Git-based when the project is a repo: auto-commit to a detached/temporary branch (`hermes/checkpoints/<session>`) after each agent turn, squash or discard on session end
- Non-git fallback: tar snapshots of changed files in `~/.hermes/checkpoints/<session_id>/`
-`hermes rollback` CLI command to restore to a previous checkpoint
- Agent-accessible via a `checkpoint` tool: `list` (show available restore points), `restore` (roll back to a named point), `diff` (show what changed since a checkpoint)
- Configurable: off by default (opt-in via `config.yaml`), since auto-committing can be surprising