Skills with scripts/, templates/, and references/ subdirectories need
those files available inside sandboxed execution environments. Previously
the skills directory was missing entirely from remote backends.
Live sync — files stay current as credentials refresh and skills update:
- Docker/Singularity: bind mounts are inherently live (host changes
visible immediately)
- Modal: _sync_files() runs before each command with mtime+size caching,
pushing only changed credential and skill files (~13μs no-op overhead)
- SSH: rsync --safe-links before each command (naturally incremental)
- Daytona: _upload_if_changed() with mtime+size caching before each command
Security — symlink filtering:
- Docker/Singularity: sanitized temp copy when symlinks detected
- Modal/Daytona: iter_skills_files() skips symlinks
- SSH: rsync --safe-links skips symlinks pointing outside source tree
- Temp dir cleanup via atexit + reuse across calls
Non-root user support:
- SSH: detects remote home via echo $HOME, syncs to $HOME/.hermes/
- Daytona: detects sandbox home before sync, uploads to $HOME/.hermes/
- Docker/Modal/Singularity: run as root, /root/.hermes/ is correct
Also:
- credential_files.py: fix name/path key fallback in required_credential_files
- Singularity, SSH, Daytona: gained credential file support
- 14 tests covering symlink filtering, name/path fallback, iter_skills_files
Two related fixes for remote terminal backends (Modal/Docker):
1. NEW: Credential file mounting system
Skills declare required_credential_files in frontmatter. Files are
mounted into Docker (read-only bind mounts) and Modal (mounts at
creation + sync via exec on each command for mid-session changes).
Google Workspace skill updated with the new field.
2. FIX: Docker backend now includes env_passthrough vars
Skills that declare required_environment_variables (e.g. Notion with
NOTION_API_KEY) register vars in the env_passthrough system. The
local backend checked this, but Docker's forward_env was a separate
disconnected list. Now Docker exec merges both sources, so
skill-declared env vars are forwarded into containers automatically.
This fixes the reported issue where NOTION_API_KEY in ~/.hermes/.env
wasn't reaching the Docker container despite being registered via
the Notion skill's prerequisites.
Closes#3665
Drop the swe-rex dependency for Modal terminal backend and use the
Modal SDK directly (Sandbox.create + Sandbox.exec). This fixes:
- AsyncUsageWarning from synchronous App.lookup() in async context
- DeprecationError from unencrypted_ports / .url on unencrypted tunnels
(deprecated 2026-03-05)
The new implementation:
- Uses modal.App.lookup.aio() for async-safe app creation
- Uses Sandbox.create.aio() with 'sleep infinity' entrypoint
- Uses Sandbox.exec.aio() for direct command execution (no HTTP server
or tunnel needed)
- Keeps all existing features: persistent filesystem snapshots,
configurable resources (CPU/memory/disk), sudo support, interrupt
handling, _AsyncWorker for event loop safety
Consistent with the Docker backend precedent (PR #2804) where we
removed mini-swe-agent in favor of direct docker run.
Files changed:
- tools/environments/modal.py - core rewrite
- tools/terminal_tool.py - health check: modal instead of swerex
- hermes_cli/setup.py - install modal instead of swe-rex[modal]
- pyproject.toml - modal extra: modal>=1.0.0 instead of swe-rex[modal]
- scripts/kill_modal.sh - grep for hermes-agent instead of swe-rex
- tests/ - updated for new implementation
- environments/README.md - updated patches section
- website/docs - updated install command
Drop the mini-swe-agent git submodule. All terminal backends now use
hermes-agent's own environment implementations directly.
Docker backend:
- Inline the `docker run -d` container startup (was 15 lines in
minisweagent's DockerEnvironment). Our wrapper already handled
execute(), cleanup(), security hardening, volumes, and resource limits.
Modal backend:
- Import swe-rex's ModalDeployment directly instead of going through
minisweagent's 90-line passthrough wrapper.
- Bake the _AsyncWorker pattern (from environments/patches.py) directly
into ModalEnvironment for Atropos compatibility without monkey-patching.
Cleanup:
- Remove minisweagent_path.py (submodule path resolution helper)
- Remove submodule init/install from install.sh and setup-hermes.sh
- Remove mini-swe-agent from .gitmodules
- environments/patches.py is now a no-op (kept for backward compat)
- terminal_tool.py no longer does sys.path hacking for minisweagent
- mini_swe_runner.py guards imports (optional, for RL training only)
- Update all affected tests to mock the new direct subprocess calls
- Update README.md, CONTRIBUTING.md
No functionality change — all Docker, Modal, local, SSH, Singularity,
and Daytona backends behave identically. 6093 tests pass.
Fixes discovered while running TBLite baseline evaluation:
1. ephemeral_disk param not supported in modal 1.3.5 - check before passing
2. Modal legacy image builder requires working pip - add ensurepip fix via
setup_dockerfile_commands to handle task images with broken pip
3. Host cwd leaked into Modal sandbox - add /home/ to host prefix check
4. Tilde ~ not expanded by subprocess.run(cwd=) in sandboxes - use /root
5. install_pipx must stay True for swerex-remote to be available
Dependencies also needed (not in this commit):
- git submodule update --init mini-swe-agent
- uv pip install swe-rex boto3
- Add max_concurrent_tasks config (default 8) with semaphore in TB2 eval
- Pass cwd: /app via register_task_env_overrides for TB2 tasks
- Add /home/ to host path prefixes as safety net for container backends
When all 86 TerminalBench2 tasks fire simultaneously, each creates a Modal sandbox
via asyncio.run() inside a thread pool worker. Modal's blocking calls deadlock
when too many are created at once. The semaphore ensures max 8 concurrent creations.
Co-Authored-By: hermes-agent[bot] <hermes-agent[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
- Added a new section in the README for Inference Providers, detailing setup instructions for Nous Portal, OpenRouter, and Custom Endpoints, improving user guidance for LLM connections.
- Updated messaging platform setup instructions to include Slack and WhatsApp, providing clearer steps for configuration.
- Introduced a new environment variable, TERMINAL_SANDBOX_DIR, to allow users to customize the sandbox storage location for Docker and Singularity environments.
- Refactored the Docker and Singularity environment classes to utilize the new sandbox directory for persistent workspaces, enhancing organization and usability.
- Improved handling of working directories across various environments, ensuring compatibility and clarity in execution paths.
- Introduced a shared interrupt signaling mechanism to allow tools to check for user interrupts during long-running operations.
- Updated the AIAgent to handle interrupts more effectively, ensuring in-progress tool calls are canceled and multiple interrupt messages are combined into one prompt.
- Enhanced the CLI configuration to include container resource limits (CPU, memory, disk) and persistence options for Docker, Singularity, and Modal environments.
- Improved documentation to clarify interrupt behaviors and container resource settings, providing users with better guidance on configuration and usage.
