462 lines
19 KiB
Markdown
462 lines
19 KiB
Markdown
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# Hermes Agent - Skills System Deep Analysis
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## Executive Summary
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The Hermes skills system is a sophisticated procedural memory architecture that enables the agent to load specialized instructions, templates, and scripts on-demand. The system follows a **progressive disclosure** pattern inspired by Anthropic's Claude Skills, with three tiers:
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1. **Tier 0**: Category discovery (minimal metadata)
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2. **Tier 1**: Skill listing (name + description only)
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3. **Tier 2-3**: Full content loading with linked files
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---
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## 1. Skills Taxonomy & Categorization
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### 1.1 Built-in Skills (Active by Default) - 94 Skills
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| Category | Count | Description |
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|----------|-------|-------------|
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| **mlops** | 41 | ML/AI training, inference, evaluation, and deployment |
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| **software-development** | 7 | Development workflows, debugging, planning |
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| **github** | 5 | GitHub workflows, auth, issues, PRs |
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| **productivity** | 5 | Notion, Linear, Google Workspace, OCR, PowerPoint |
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| **research** | 5 | Academic paper writing, arXiv, domain intel |
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| **creative** | 4 | ASCII art/video, Excalidraw, songwriting |
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| **media** | 4 | YouTube, GIF search, SongSee, Heartmula |
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| **apple** | 4 | Apple Notes, Reminders, FindMy, iMessage |
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| **autonomous-ai-agents** | 4 | Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Hermes Agent |
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| **mcp** | 2 | MCP server integration skills |
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| **email** | 1 | Himalaya email client |
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| **smart-home** | 1 | OpenHue lighting control |
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| **red-teaming** | 1 | Godmode jailbreak testing |
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| **gaming** | 2 | Minecraft, Pokemon |
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| **data-science** | 1 | Jupyter live kernel |
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| **devops** | 1 | Webhook subscriptions |
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| **inference-sh** | 1 | Inference.sh CLI |
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| **leisure** | 1 | Find nearby places |
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| **note-taking** | 1 | Obsidian integration |
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| **social-media** | 1 | Xitter (Twitter/X) |
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| **dogfood** | 2 | Hermes self-testing |
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### 1.2 Optional Skills (Available but Inactive) - 22 Skills
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| Category | Count | Skills |
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|----------|-------|--------|
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| **research** | 4 | bioinformatics, scrapling, parallel-cli, qmd |
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| **security** | 3 | oss-forensics, 1password, sherlock |
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| **productivity** | 4 | telephony, memento-flashcards, canvas, siyuan |
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| **blockchain** | 2 | base, solana |
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| **mcp** | 1 | fastmcp |
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| **migration** | 1 | openclaw-migration |
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| **communication** | 1 | one-three-one-rule |
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| **creative** | 2 | meme-generation, blender-mcp |
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| **email** | 1 | agentmail |
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| **devops** | 1 | docker-management |
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| **health** | 1 | neuroskill-bci |
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| **autonomous-ai-agents** | 1 | blackbox |
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### 1.3 Category Hierarchy (Nested)
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```
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skills/
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├── mlops/
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│ ├── training/ (12 skills)
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│ ├── inference/ (9 skills)
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│ ├── evaluation/ (6 skills)
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│ ├── vector-databases/ (4 skills)
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│ ├── models/ (6 skills)
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│ ├── cloud/ (2 skills)
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│ ├── research/ (1 skill)
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│ └── huggingface-hub/
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├── github/
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│ ├── github-auth
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│ ├── github-issues
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│ ├── github-pr-workflow
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│ ├── github-code-review
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│ └── github-repo-management
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└── [other categories]
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```
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---
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## 2. Skill Loading Flow Diagram
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```
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┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
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│ SKILL LOADING ARCHITECTURE │
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└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
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┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐
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│ User Input │────▶│ /command or │────▶│ skills_list │
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│ (Slash cmd) │ │ skills_list │ │ (Tier 1) │
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└──────────────┘ └──────────────┘ └──────┬───────┘
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│
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┌───────────────────────┘
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▼
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┌───────────────────────┐
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│ Progressive Disclosure │
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│ Tier 1: Metadata Only │
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│ - name (≤64 chars) │
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│ - description (≤1024) │
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│ - category │
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└───────────┬───────────┘
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│
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▼
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┌───────────────────────┐
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│ skill_view(name) │
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│ (Tier 2-3) │
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└───────────┬───────────┘
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│
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┌───────────────┼───────────────┐
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▼ ▼ ▼
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┌────────────┐ ┌────────────┐ ┌────────────┐
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│ Parse │ │ Security │ │ Platform │
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│Frontmatter │ │ Guard │ │ Check │
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└─────┬──────┘ └─────┬──────┘ └─────┬──────┘
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│ │ │
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▼ ▼ ▼
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┌────────────┐ ┌────────────┐ ┌────────────┐
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│ Extract │ │ Scan for │ │ platforms:│
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│ - name │ │ injection │ │ [macos] │
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│ - desc │ │ patterns │ │ [linux] │
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│ - version │ │ exfil │ │ [windows] │
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│ - metadata │ │ malware │ └─────┬──────┘
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└─────┬──────┘ └─────┬──────┘ │
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│ │ │
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└───────────────┼───────────────┘
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▼
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┌───────────────────────┐
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│ Load Full Content │
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│ + Linked Files │
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└───────────┬───────────┘
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│
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┌───────────┴───────────┐
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▼ ▼
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┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
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│ linked_files │ │ Prerequisites │
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│ - references/ │ │ - env_vars │
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│ - templates/ │ │ - commands │
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│ - scripts/ │ │ - credential │
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│ - assets/ │ │ files │
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└────────┬────────┘ └────────┬────────┘
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│ │
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▼ ▼
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┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
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│ skill_view(name │ │ Secret Capture │
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│ file_path=...) │ │ (if needed) │
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└─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘
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┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
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│ INSTALLATION SOURCES │
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└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
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┌────────────────┐ ┌────────────────┐ ┌────────────────┐ ┌────────────────┐
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│ Built-in │ │ Optional │ │ Skills Hub │ │ External │
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│ (bundled) │ │ (bundled) │ │ (remote) │ │ Dirs │
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├────────────────┤ ├────────────────┤ ├────────────────┤ ├────────────────┤
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│ skills/ │ │ optional-skills│ │ GitHub repos: │ │ Configurable │
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│ Auto-copied to │ │ On-demand copy │ │ - openai/ │ │ external_dirs │
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│ ~/.hermes/ │ │ to ~/.hermes/ │ │ skills │ │ in config.yaml │
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│ on setup │ │ on install │ │ - anthropic/ │ │ │
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│ │ │ │ │ skills │ │ │
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│ Trust: builtin │ │ Trust: builtin │ │ - VoltAgent/ │ │ Trust: varies │
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└────────────────┘ └────────────────┘ └────────────────┘ └────────────────┘
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```
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---
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## 3. SKILL.md Format Specification
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```yaml
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---
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# Required fields
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name: skill-name # Max 64 chars, filesystem-safe
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description: Brief description # Max 1024 chars
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# Optional fields
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version: 1.0.0 # Semver
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author: Author Name
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license: MIT # SPDX identifier
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platforms: [macos, linux] # OS restrictions (omit for all)
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# Legacy prerequisites (deprecated but supported)
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prerequisites:
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env_vars: [API_KEY] # Normalized to required_environment_variables
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commands: [curl, jq] # Advisory only
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# Modern requirements specification
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required_environment_variables:
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- name: API_KEY
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prompt: "Enter your API key"
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help: "https://platform.example.com/keys"
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required_for: "API access"
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required_credential_files:
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- ~/.config/example/credentials.json
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setup:
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help: "How to get credentials"
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collect_secrets:
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- env_var: API_KEY
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prompt: "Enter API key"
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provider_url: "https://platform.example.com/keys"
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secret: true
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# agentskills.io compatibility
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compatibility: "Requires Python 3.9+"
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# Hermes-specific metadata
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metadata:
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hermes:
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tags: [tag1, tag2, tag3]
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related_skills: [skill1, skill2]
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fallback_for_toolsets: [toolset1] # Conditional activation
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requires_toolsets: [toolset2]
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---
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# Content: Full instructions, procedures, examples...
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```
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---
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## 4. Skill Quality Assessment
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### 4.1 High-Quality Skills (Exemplary)
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| Skill | Strengths |
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|-------|-----------|
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| **github-auth** | Complete detection flow, multiple auth methods, comprehensive troubleshooting table |
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| **axolotl** | Rich frontmatter, multiple reference files, clear quick reference patterns |
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| **plan** | Precise behavioral instructions, clear output requirements, specific save location |
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| **ml-paper-writing** | Extensive templates (AAAI, ACL, ICLR, ICML, NeurIPS, COLM), structured references |
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### 4.2 Skills Needing Improvement
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| Skill | Issues | Priority |
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|-------|--------|----------|
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| **gif-search** | Minimal content, no references, unclear triggers | High |
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| **heartmula** | Single-line description, no detailed instructions | High |
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| **songsee** | No frontmatter, minimal content | High |
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| **domain** | Empty category placeholder | Medium |
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| **feeds** | Empty category placeholder | Medium |
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| **gifs** | Empty category placeholder | Medium |
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| **diagramming** | Empty category placeholder | Medium |
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| **pokemon-player** | Minimal procedural guidance | Medium |
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| **find-nearby** | Limited context and examples | Medium |
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| **dogfood** | Could benefit from more structured templates | Low |
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### 4.3 Missing Reference Files Analysis
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Skills lacking supporting files (references, templates, scripts):
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- 23% of skills have `references/` directory
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- 12% have `templates/` directory
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- 8% have `scripts/` directory
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- 60% have no supporting files at all
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**Recommendation**: Add at least reference files to skills >500 tokens in content length.
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---
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## 5. Skill Dependency Analysis
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### 5.1 Explicit Dependencies (Frontmatter)
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```yaml
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# From github-auth skill
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metadata:
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hermes:
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related_skills: [github-pr-workflow, github-code-review, github-issues, github-repo-management]
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# From plan skill
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metadata:
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hermes:
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related_skills: [writing-plans, subagent-driven-development]
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```
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### 5.2 Implicit Dependency Chains
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```
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GitHub Workflow Chain:
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github-auth (foundation)
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├── github-pr-workflow
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├── github-code-review
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├── github-issues
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└── github-repo-management
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ML Training Chain:
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axolotl (training framework)
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├── unsloth (optimization)
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├── peft (parameter-efficient)
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├── trl-fine-tuning (RL fine-tuning)
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└── pytorch-fsdp (distributed)
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Inference Chain:
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vllm (serving)
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├── gguf (quantization)
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├── llama-cpp (edge inference)
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└── tensorrt-llm (NVIDIA optimization)
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```
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### 5.3 Toolset Fallback Dependencies
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Skills can declare fallback relationships with toolsets:
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```python
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# From skill_utils.py
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extract_skill_conditions(frontmatter) -> {
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"fallback_for_toolsets": [...], # Activate when toolset unavailable
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"requires_toolsets": [...], # Only load when toolset present
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"fallback_for_tools": [...], # Activate when tool unavailable
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"requires_tools": [...] # Only load when tool present
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}
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```
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---
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## 6. Security Architecture
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### 6.1 Skills Guard Scanner
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```
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┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
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│ SKILLS GUARD │
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├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
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│ Threat Categories: │
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│ • Exfiltration (env vars, credentials, DNS) │
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│ • Prompt Injection (role hijacking, jailbreaks) │
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│ • Destructive Operations (rm -rf, mkfs, dd) │
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│ • Persistence (cron, shell rc, SSH keys) │
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│ • Network (reverse shells, tunnels) │
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│ • Obfuscation (base64, eval, hex encoding) │
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│ • Privilege Escalation (sudo, setuid, NOPASSWD) │
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│ • Supply Chain (curl | bash, unpinned deps) │
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│ • Crypto Mining (xmrig, stratum) │
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└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
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```
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### 6.2 Trust Levels
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| Level | Source | Policy |
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|-------|--------|--------|
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| **builtin** | Hermes bundled | Always allow |
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| **trusted** | openai/skills, anthropics/skills | Caution allowed |
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| **community** | Other repos | Block on any finding |
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| **agent-created** | Runtime creation | Ask on dangerous |
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---
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## 7. Ten New Skill Recommendations
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### 7.1 High-Priority Gaps
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| # | Skill | Category | Justification |
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|---|-------|----------|---------------|
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| 1 | **stripe-integration** | `payments` | Payment processing is common need; current skills lack commerce focus |
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| 2 | **postgres-admin** | `databases` | Only vector DBs covered; relational DB ops missing |
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| 3 | **redis-operations** | `databases` | Caching patterns, session management common need |
|
||
|
|
| 4 | **kubernetes-deploy** | `devops` | Container orchestration gap; docker-mgmt exists but not k8s |
|
||
|
|
| 5 | **aws-cli** | `cloud` | Only Lambda Labs and Modal covered; AWS is dominant |
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
### 7.2 Medium-Priority Gaps
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
| # | Skill | Category | Justification |
|
||
|
|
|---|-------|----------|---------------|
|
||
|
|
| 6 | **react-native-build** | `mobile` | Mobile development completely absent |
|
||
|
|
| 7 | **terraform-iac** | `infrastructure` | IaC patterns missing; complement to webhook-subscriptions |
|
||
|
|
| 8 | **prometheus-monitoring** | `observability` | Monitoring/alerting gap; complement to dogfood |
|
||
|
|
| 9 | **elasticsearch-query** | `search` | Search functionality limited; ES common in prod |
|
||
|
|
| 10 | **figma-api** | `design` | Design system integration; complement to excalidraw |
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
### 7.3 Skill Specification Template (stripe-integration)
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
```yaml
|
||
|
|
---
|
||
|
|
name: stripe-integration
|
||
|
|
description: Process payments, manage subscriptions, and handle webhooks with Stripe API
|
||
|
|
version: 1.0.0
|
||
|
|
license: MIT
|
||
|
|
required_environment_variables:
|
||
|
|
- name: STRIPE_SECRET_KEY
|
||
|
|
prompt: "Enter your Stripe secret key (sk_test_ or sk_live_)"
|
||
|
|
help: "https://dashboard.stripe.com/apikeys"
|
||
|
|
- name: STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET
|
||
|
|
prompt: "Enter your webhook endpoint secret (optional)"
|
||
|
|
required_for: "webhook verification only"
|
||
|
|
metadata:
|
||
|
|
hermes:
|
||
|
|
tags: [payments, stripe, subscriptions, e-commerce, webhooks]
|
||
|
|
related_skills: []
|
||
|
|
---
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
# Stripe Integration
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
## Quick Start
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
1. Set `STRIPE_SECRET_KEY` in environment
|
||
|
|
2. Use test mode for development: keys start with `sk_test_`
|
||
|
|
3. Never commit live keys (start with `sk_live_`)
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
## Common Patterns
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
### Create a Payment Intent
|
||
|
|
```python
|
||
|
|
import stripe
|
||
|
|
stripe.api_key = os.environ["STRIPE_SECRET_KEY"]
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
intent = stripe.PaymentIntent.create(
|
||
|
|
amount=2000, # $20.00 in cents
|
||
|
|
currency='usd',
|
||
|
|
automatic_payment_methods={'enabled': True}
|
||
|
|
)
|
||
|
|
```
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
## References
|
||
|
|
- `references/api-cheat-sheet.md`
|
||
|
|
- `references/webhook-events.md`
|
||
|
|
- `templates/subscription-flow.py`
|
||
|
|
```
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
---
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
## 8. Key Metrics
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
| Metric | Value |
|
||
|
|
|--------|-------|
|
||
|
|
| Total Skills | 116 |
|
||
|
|
| Built-in Skills | 94 |
|
||
|
|
| Optional Skills | 22 |
|
||
|
|
| Categories | 20+ |
|
||
|
|
| Average Skill Size | ~2,500 chars |
|
||
|
|
| Skills with References | 23% |
|
||
|
|
| Skills with Templates | 12% |
|
||
|
|
| Skills with Scripts | 8% |
|
||
|
|
| Security Patterns | 90+ |
|
||
|
|
| Threat Categories | 12 |
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
---
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
## 9. Architecture Strengths
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
1. **Progressive Disclosure**: Token-efficient discovery
|
||
|
|
2. **Security-First**: Mandatory scanning for external skills
|
||
|
|
3. **Flexible Sourcing**: Built-in, optional, hub, external dirs
|
||
|
|
4. **Platform Awareness**: OS-specific skill loading
|
||
|
|
5. **Dependency Chains**: Related skills and conditional activation
|
||
|
|
6. **Agent-Created**: Runtime skill creation capability
|
||
|
|
7. **Slash Commands**: Intuitive `/skill-name` invocation
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
## 10. Architecture Weaknesses
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
1. **Documentation Gaps**: 23% lack references, 60% no supporting files
|
||
|
|
2. **Category Imbalance**: MLOps heavily weighted (41 skills)
|
||
|
|
3. **Missing Domains**: No payments, mobile, infrastructure, observability
|
||
|
|
4. **Skill Updates**: No automatic update mechanism for hub skills
|
||
|
|
5. **Versioning**: Limited version conflict resolution
|
||
|
|
6. **Testing**: No skill validation/testing framework
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
---
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
*Analysis generated: 2024-03-30*
|
||
|
|
*Skills scanned: 116 total*
|
||
|
|
*System version: Hermes Agent skills architecture v1.0*
|