- Implemented functionality to load ephemeral prefill messages from a JSON file, enhancing few-shot priming capabilities for the agent.
- Introduced a mechanism to load an ephemeral system prompt from environment variables or configuration files, ensuring dynamic prompt adjustments at API-call time.
- Updated the CLI and agent initialization to utilize the new prefill messages and system prompt, improving the overall interaction experience.
- Enhanced configuration options with new environment variables for prefill messages and system prompts, allowing for greater customization without persistence.
- Introduced a new mapping for toolset environment variable requirements, enhancing the configuration process by prompting users for missing API keys.
- Implemented a function to check and prompt users for necessary API keys when enabling toolsets, improving user experience and ensuring proper setup.
- Updated the tools command to integrate the new API key checks, streamlining the configuration workflow for users.
- Updated messaging in the checklist prompts to simplify instructions for item selection, changing "Press SPACE to select items, then ENTER on Continue" to "SPACE to toggle, ENTER to confirm."
- Removed the "Continue →" entry from the menu items to streamline the selection process.
- Enhanced user experience by clarifying input prompts and removing unnecessary options, ensuring a more intuitive interaction.
- Updated the display format of tool descriptions in the configuration prompts to enhance readability.
- Simplified the messaging for enabled tool counts, removing unnecessary color formatting for a cleaner output.
- Streamlined the exit message for the configuration process, improving user experience during tool setup.
- Introduced a new `tools` command in the CLI for configuring enabled tools per platform.
- Implemented an interactive checklist for users to enable or disable toolsets for various platforms, enhancing customization options.
- Created a new `tools_config.py` file to handle the logic for toolset management and user prompts, improving code organization and user experience.
- Introduced a new helper function to handle API key prompts, improving code organization and readability.
- Enhanced user experience by providing a formatted display for API key input, including tool descriptions and URLs.
- Simplified the setup wizard by replacing inline API key handling with the new helper function, ensuring consistent messaging and feedback during configuration.
- Modified the prompt in the setup wizard to clarify the selection process, instructing users to press SPACE to select items and ENTER to continue, enhancing user experience during configuration.
- Updated the setup wizard to present messaging platforms as a checklist, allowing users to select which platforms to configure.
- Preserved the order of platforms while grouping them for improved clarity.
- Enhanced user prompts for setting up each selected messaging platform, streamlining the configuration process.
- Changed default value for HERMES_TOOL_PROGRESS from "false" to "true" to enable tool progress notifications by default.
- Updated default value for HERMES_TOOL_PROGRESS_MODE from "new" to "all" to provide more comprehensive progress updates.
- Enhanced the setup wizard prompts for enabling tool progress messages and context compression, improving user guidance and experience.
- Updated the OPTIONAL_ENV_VARS dictionary to include a new "category" field for better organization of environment variables.
- Improved the setup wizard to categorize missing optional environment variables into tools and messaging platforms, enhancing user experience during configuration.
- Streamlined the prompts for configuring tools and messaging platforms, allowing for a more intuitive setup process.
- Updated the environment variable name from HERMES_OPENAI_API_KEY to VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY across multiple files to avoid interference with OpenRouter.
- Adjusted related error messages and configuration prompts to reflect the new variable name, ensuring consistency throughout the codebase.
- Eliminated the multi_select_cursor_brackets_style parameter from the prompt_checklist function, simplifying the code and improving clarity in the multi-select user interface.
- Cleared the REQUIRED_ENV_VARS dictionary as no single environment variable is universally required.
- Enhanced the OPTIONAL_ENV_VARS with improved descriptions and added advanced options for better user guidance.
- Introduced a new prompt_checklist function to allow users to select tools during setup, improving the configuration experience.
- Updated the setup wizard to handle missing optional environment variables using the new checklist, streamlining the tool configuration process.
- Introduced a new channel directory to cache reachable channels/contacts for messaging platforms, enhancing the send_message tool's ability to resolve human-friendly names to numeric IDs.
- Added functionality to mirror sent messages into the target's session transcript, providing context for cross-platform message delivery.
- Updated the send_message tool to support listing available targets and improved error handling for channel resolution.
- Enhanced the gateway to build and refresh the channel directory during startup and at regular intervals, ensuring up-to-date channel information.
- Extracted agent internals into a dedicated `agent/` directory, including model metadata, context compression, and prompt handling.
- Enhanced CLI structure by separating banner, commands, and callbacks into distinct modules within `hermes_cli/`.
- Updated README to reflect the new directory organization and clarify the purpose of each component.
- Improved tool registration and terminal execution backends for better maintainability and usability.
- Removed legacy cron daemon functionality, integrating cron job execution directly into the gateway process for improved efficiency.
- Updated CLI commands to reflect changes, replacing `hermes cron daemon` with `hermes cron status` and enhancing documentation for cron job management.
- Clarified messaging in the README and other documentation regarding the gateway's role in managing cron jobs.
- Removed obsolete terminal_hecate tool and related configurations to simplify the codebase.
- Updated various modules including cli.py, run_agent.py, gateway, and tools to replace silent exception handling with structured logging.
- Improved error messages to provide more context, aiding in debugging and monitoring.
- Ensured consistent logging practices throughout the codebase, enhancing traceability and maintainability.
- Updated the README to include a new banner image and changed the title emoji from 🦋 to ⚕.
- Modified various CLI outputs and scripts to reflect the new branding, ensuring consistency in the use of the ⚕ emoji.
- Added a new banner image asset for enhanced visual appeal during installation and setup processes.
- Added a new function to deactivate the active provider without deleting credentials, facilitating smoother transitions between different provider types.
- Updated the model flow logic to ensure the active provider is correctly set in the configuration, including handling custom endpoints and OAuth providers.
- Improved error handling in the CLI to consistently format authentication error messages.
- Enhanced the model selection process to reflect the effective provider based on configuration and environment variables.
- Added a comprehensive "Getting Started" section in the README to guide users through selecting inference providers.
- Implemented an interactive model selection feature in the CLI, allowing users to choose from available models or enter a custom model name.
- Improved user experience by displaying the current model and active provider during selection, with clear instructions for each provider type.
- Updated the model selection process to prioritize the currently active model, enhancing usability and clarity.
- Implemented a new interactive model selection feature after user login, allowing users to choose from available models or enter a custom model name.
- Added functionality to save the selected model to the configuration file and environment variables, ensuring persistence across sessions.
- Enhanced user experience by providing both menu-based and fallback number-based selection methods for model choice.
- Implemented a multi-provider authentication system for the Hermes Agent, supporting OAuth for Nous Portal and traditional API key methods for OpenRouter and custom endpoints.
- Enhanced CLI with commands for logging in and out of providers, allowing users to authenticate and manage their credentials easily.
- Updated configuration options to select inference providers, with detailed documentation on usage and setup.
- Improved status reporting to include authentication status and provider details, enhancing user awareness of their current configuration.
- Added new files for authentication handling and updated existing components to integrate the new provider system.
- Added a new `skill_manager_tool` to enable agents to create, update, and delete their own skills, enhancing procedural memory capabilities.
- Updated the skills directory structure to support user-created skills in `~/.hermes/skills/`, allowing for better organization and management.
- Enhanced the CLI and documentation to reflect the new skill management functionalities, including detailed instructions on creating and modifying skills.
- Implemented a manifest-based syncing mechanism for bundled skills to ensure user modifications are preserved during updates.
- Implemented prompts for configuring Slack bot and WhatsApp bridge during the setup process.
- Added instructions for creating a Slack app and saving necessary tokens, enhancing user guidance.
- Included security recommendations for restricting bot access and a reminder to start the messaging gateway after setup.
Two-part implementation:
Part A - Curated Bounded Memory:
- New memory tool (tools/memory_tool.py) with MEMORY.md + USER.md stores
- Character-limited (2200/1375 chars), § delimited entries
- Frozen snapshot injected into system prompt at session start
- Model manages pruning via replace/remove with substring matching
- Usage indicator shown in system prompt header
Part B - SQLite Session Store:
- New hermes_state.py with SessionDB class, FTS5 full-text search
- Gateway session.py rewritten to dual-write SQLite + legacy JSONL
- Compression-triggered session splitting with parent_session_id chains
- New session_search tool with Gemini Flash summarization of matched sessions
- CLI session lifecycle (create on launch, close on exit)
Also:
- System prompt now cached per session, only rebuilt on compression
(fixes prefix cache invalidation from date/time changes every turn)
- Config version bumped to 3, hermes doctor checks for new artifacts
- Disabled in batch_runner and RL environments
- Introduced a new function `_resolve_short_name` to convert short skill names to full identifiers, improving user experience during skill installation.
- Updated the `do_install` function to utilize the new resolution method for identifiers without slashes, ensuring accurate skill fetching.
- Enhanced the install confirmation process to include a disclaimer about third-party skills, emphasizing user responsibility and security awareness.
- Introduced a new `todo_tool.py` for planning and tracking multi-step tasks, enhancing the agent's capabilities.
- Updated CLI to include a floating autocomplete dropdown for commands and improved user instructions for better navigation.
- Revised toolsets to incorporate the new `todo` tool and updated documentation to reflect changes in available tools and commands.
- Enhanced user experience with new keybindings and clearer command descriptions in the CLI.
Two config systems used different key names for the terminal backend:
- hermes_cli/config.py, README, and all docs use "terminal.backend"
- cli.py's env var mapping only recognized "terminal.env_type"
Users following the docs who set `backend: modal` in ~/.hermes/config.yaml
had it silently ignored -- TERMINAL_ENV always defaulted to "local".
Additionally, when no config file existed, cli.py's hardcoded defaults
overwrote any TERMINAL_ENV=modal set in .env, despite the comment saying
"env vars take precedence."
Fixes:
- cli.py now normalizes "backend" -> "env_type" (backend takes precedence)
- Defaults no longer overwrite .env when no config file terminal section exists
- hermes status reads from config as fallback when env var isn't set
Also fixes four related bugs found in the Modal/sandbox lifecycle:
- file_tools cache not cleared on sandbox cleanup (stale ops on dead sandbox)
- Global lock held during slow Modal teardown (blocked all tool calls 10-15s)
- Race condition in file_tools between existence check and access (KeyError)
- Per-task creation locks never cleaned up (memory leak)
- Removed the check for the browserbase SDK from the optional packages list.
- Added validation for Node.js installation and the presence of the agent-browser package, providing feedback on their status for browser automation tools.
- Updated the doctor script to load environment variables from user-specific and project-specific `.env` files, improving configuration management.
- Added checks for the existence of the `SOUL.md` persona file, providing feedback on its status and creating it with a template if missing.
- Enhanced install scripts to create the `SOUL.md` file if it doesn't exist, ensuring users can easily customize the agent's personality.
- Implemented deep copy of DEFAULT_CONFIG to prevent mutations during config loading.
- Enhanced user config merging process to clarify the deep merge of user values over defaults.
- Added newline handling when appending environment variables to ensure proper formatting.
- Updated the set_config_value function to write only user-specific configurations back to the file, avoiding overwriting default values.
- Updated prompts for the OPENAI_BASE_URL to clarify its use for custom endpoints.
- Enhanced the migration function to skip "advanced" environment variables during interactive configuration, streamlining the setup for standard users.
- Improved messaging for missing optional API keys, ensuring clearer guidance for users during configuration.
- Revised descriptions and prompts for the OPENAI_BASE_URL and OPENAI_API_KEY environment variables to enhance user understanding.
- Added a URL reference for the OPENAI_API_KEY to guide users in obtaining their API key.
- Specified the use of the API key for voice transcription and custom endpoints, improving the overall configuration documentation.
- Updated the start_gateway function to return a boolean indicating success or failure, allowing for better control over exit codes.
- Modified the main function to handle gateway startup failures, ensuring systemd can automatically restart on transient errors.
- Enhanced error handling in the hermes_cli gateway to exit with code 1 if the gateway fails to connect to any platform.
- Changed the default LLM model in the setup wizard and example environment file to 'anthropic/claude-opus-4.6'.
- Updated terminal working directory settings in CLI and related files to use the current directory ('.') instead of '/tmp'.
- Enhanced documentation comments for clarity on terminal configuration and working directory behavior.
- Added `max_tokens`, `reasoning_config`, and `prefill_messages` parameters to `BatchRunner` and `AIAgent` for improved model response control.
- Updated CLI to support new options for reasoning effort and prefill messages from a JSON file.
- Modified example configuration files to reflect changes in default model and summary model.
- Improved error handling for loading prefill messages and reasoning configurations in the CLI.
- Updated documentation to include new parameters and usage examples.
- Integrated `uv` as a fast Python package manager for automatic Python provisioning and dependency management.
- Updated installation scripts (`setup-hermes.sh`, `install.sh`, `install.ps1`) to utilize `uv` for installing Python and packages, streamlining the setup process.
- Revised `README.md` to reflect changes in installation steps, including symlinking `hermes` for global access and clarifying Python version requirements.
- Adjusted commands in `doctor.py` and other scripts to recommend `uv` for package installations, ensuring consistency across the project.
- Added `prompt_toolkit` as a direct dependency for interactive CLI support.
- Updated `modal` optional dependency to require `swe-rex[modal]>=1.4.0` for improved cloud execution capabilities.
- Enhanced `messaging` optional dependencies to include `aiohttp>=3.9.0` for WhatsApp bridge communication.
- Refined installation scripts to check for Python version requirements, emphasizing the need for Python 3.11+ for RL training tools.
- Improved setup scripts to ensure proper installation of submodules and dependencies, enhancing user experience during setup.
- Introduced file manipulation capabilities in `model_tools.py`, including functions for reading, writing, patching, and searching files.
- Added a new `file` toolset in `toolsets.py` and updated distributions to include file tools.
- Enhanced `setup-hermes.sh` and `install.sh` scripts to check for and optionally install `ripgrep` for faster file searching.
- Implemented a new `file_operations.py` module to encapsulate file operations using shell commands.
- Updated `doctor.py` and `install.ps1` to check for `ripgrep` and provide installation guidance if not found.
- Added fuzzy matching and patch parsing capabilities to improve file manipulation accuracy and flexibility.
- Updated `.env.example` to include Tinker and WandB API keys for reinforcement learning training.
- Enhanced `model_tools.py` to clarify configuration options and streamline the RL training process.
- Expanded `README.md` with detailed instructions for setting up RL training using Tinker and WandB.
- Modified `hermes_cli` files to integrate RL training tools and ensure proper configuration checks.
- Improved `rl_training_tool.py` to reflect changes in training parameters and configuration management.
- Introduced a new callback mechanism in the AIAgent class to send tool progress messages during execution, enhancing user feedback in messaging platforms.
- Updated the GatewayRunner to support tool progress notifications, allowing users to enable or disable this feature via environment variables.
- Enhanced the CLI setup wizard to prompt users for enabling tool progress messages and selecting the notification mode (all or new), improving configuration options.
- Updated relevant documentation to reflect the new features and configuration settings for tool progress notifications.
- Increased the default maximum tool-calling iterations from 20 to 60 in the CLI configuration and related files, allowing for more complex tasks.
- Updated documentation and comments to reflect the new recommended range for iterations, enhancing user guidance.
- Implemented backward compatibility for loading max iterations from the root-level configuration, ensuring a smooth transition for existing users.
- Adjusted the setup wizard to prompt for the maximum iterations setting, improving user experience during configuration.
- Added new environment variables for Telegram and Discord bot configurations, including `TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS` and `DISCORD_ALLOWED_USERS`, to restrict bot access to specific users.
- Updated documentation in AGENTS.md and README.md to include detailed setup instructions for the messaging gateway, emphasizing the importance of user allowlists for security.
- Improved the CLI setup wizard to prompt for allowed user IDs during configuration, enhancing user guidance and security awareness.
- Refined the gateway run script to support user authorization checks, ensuring only allowed users can interact with the bot.
