Add skills.external_dirs config option — a list of additional directories
to scan for skills alongside ~/.hermes/skills/. External dirs are read-only:
skill creation/editing always writes to the local dir. Local skills take
precedence when names collide.
This lets users share skills across tools/agents without copying them into
Hermes's own directory (e.g. ~/.agents/skills, /shared/team-skills).
Changes:
- agent/skill_utils.py: add get_external_skills_dirs() and get_all_skills_dirs()
- agent/prompt_builder.py: scan external dirs in build_skills_system_prompt()
- tools/skills_tool.py: _find_all_skills() and skill_view() search external dirs;
security check recognizes configured external dirs as trusted
- agent/skill_commands.py: /skill slash commands discover external skills
- hermes_cli/config.py: add skills.external_dirs to DEFAULT_CONFIG
- cli-config.yaml.example: document the option
- tests/agent/test_external_skills.py: 11 tests covering discovery, precedence,
deduplication, and skill_view for external skills
Requested by community member primco.
* feat: env var passthrough for skills and user config
Skills that declare required_environment_variables now have those vars
passed through to sandboxed execution environments (execute_code and
terminal). Previously, execute_code stripped all vars containing KEY,
TOKEN, SECRET, etc. and the terminal blocklist removed Hermes
infrastructure vars — both blocked skill-declared env vars.
Two passthrough sources:
1. Skill-scoped (automatic): when a skill is loaded via skill_view and
declares required_environment_variables, vars that are present in
the environment are registered in a session-scoped passthrough set.
2. Config-based (manual): terminal.env_passthrough in config.yaml lets
users explicitly allowlist vars for non-skill use cases.
Changes:
- New module: tools/env_passthrough.py — shared passthrough registry
- hermes_cli/config.py: add terminal.env_passthrough to DEFAULT_CONFIG
- tools/skills_tool.py: register available skill env vars on load
- tools/code_execution_tool.py: check passthrough before filtering
- tools/environments/local.py: check passthrough in _sanitize_subprocess_env
and _make_run_env
- 19 new tests covering all layers
* docs: add environment variable passthrough documentation
Document the env var passthrough feature across four docs pages:
- security.md: new 'Environment Variable Passthrough' section with
full explanation, comparison table, and security considerations
- code-execution.md: update security section, add passthrough subsection,
fix comparison table
- creating-skills.md: add tip about automatic sandbox passthrough
- skills.md: add note about passthrough after secure setup docs
Live-tested: launched interactive CLI, loaded a skill with
required_environment_variables, verified TEST_SKILL_SECRET_KEY was
accessible inside execute_code sandbox (value: passthrough-test-value-42).
Document the expanded skills hub functionality, including:
- skills.sh source usage
- well-known endpoint discovery
- check/update commands
- real install/inspect examples
- accurate --force semantics and trust policy behavior
Also verified the docs site with a successful Docusaurus production build.
- add code-derived reference pages for slash commands, tools, toolsets,
bundled skills, and official optional skills
- document the skin system and link visual theming separately from
conversational personality
- refresh quickstart, configuration, environment variable, and messaging
docs to match current provider, gateway, and browser behavior
- fix stale command, session, and Home Assistant configuration guidance
When a skill declares required_environment_variables in its YAML
frontmatter, missing env vars trigger a secure TUI prompt (identical
to the sudo password widget) when the skill is loaded. Secrets flow
directly to ~/.hermes/.env, never entering LLM context.
Key changes:
- New required_environment_variables frontmatter field for skills
- Secure TUI widget (masked input, 120s timeout)
- Gateway safety: messaging platforms show local setup guidance
- Legacy prerequisites.env_vars normalized into new format
- Remote backend handling: conservative setup_needed=True
- Env var name validation, file permissions hardened to 0o600
- Redact patterns extended for secret-related JSON fields
- 12 existing skills updated with prerequisites declarations
- ~48 new tests covering skip, timeout, gateway, remote backends
- Dynamic panel widget sizing (fixes hardcoded width from original PR)
Cherry-picked from PR #723 by kshitijk4poor, rebased onto current main
with conflict resolution.
Fixes#688
Co-authored-by: kshitijk4poor <kshitijk4poor@users.noreply.github.com>
- Tag duckduckgo-search skill with fallback_for_toolsets: [web] so it
auto-hides when Firecrawl is available and auto-shows when it isn't
- Add 'Conditional Activation' section to CONTRIBUTING.md with full
spec, semantics, and examples for all 4 frontmatter fields
- Add 'Conditional Activation (Fallback Skills)' section to the user-
facing skills docs with field reference table and practical example
- Update SKILL.md format examples in both docs to show the new fields
Follow-up to PR #785 (conditional skill activation feature).
Add a 'platforms' field to SKILL.md frontmatter that restricts skills
to specific operating systems. Skills with platforms: [macos] only
appear in the system prompt, skills_list(), and slash commands on macOS.
Skills without the field load everywhere (backward compatible).
Implementation:
- skill_matches_platform() in tools/skills_tool.py — core filter
- Wired into all 3 discovery paths: prompt_builder.py, skills_tool.py,
skill_commands.py
- 28 new tests across 3 test files
New bundled Apple/macOS skills (all platforms: [macos]):
- imessage — Send/receive iMessages via imsg CLI
- apple-reminders — Manage Reminders via remindctl CLI
- apple-notes — Manage Notes via memo CLI
- findmy — Track devices/AirTags via AppleScript + screen capture
Docs updated: CONTRIBUTING.md, AGENTS.md, creating-skills.md,
skills.md (user guide)
- 25 documentation pages covering Getting Started, User Guide, Developer Guide, and Reference
- Docusaurus with custom amber/gold theme matching the landing page branding
- GitHub Actions workflow to deploy landing page + docs to GitHub Pages
- Landing page at root, docs at /docs/ on hermes-agent.nousresearch.com
- Content extracted and restructured from existing repo docs (README, AGENTS.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, docs/)
- Auto-deploy on push to main when website/ or landingpage/ changes
