- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Enhanced warning in `_deliver_result` to provide clearer instructions for setting the home channel.
- Updated error message in `send_message_tool` to specify how to set a home channel when no chat ID is provided, improving user guidance.
- Updated the authorization logic to include a per-platform allow-all flag for improved flexibility.
- Revised the order of checks to prioritize platform-specific allow-all settings, followed by environment variable allowlists and DM pairing approvals.
- Added global allow-all configuration for broader access control.
- Improved handling of allowlists by stripping whitespace and ensuring valid entries are processed.
- Introduced a new `_format_timestamp` function to convert Unix timestamps and ISO strings into a human-readable date format.
- Updated the session metadata handling to use the new formatting function for improved clarity in session start dates.
- Adjusted the output structure to reflect the change from "Session started" to "Session date" for better user understanding.
- Introduced MEMORY_GUIDANCE and SESSION_SEARCH_GUIDANCE to improve agent's contextual awareness and proactive assistance.
- Updated AIAgent to conditionally include tool-aware guidance in prompts based on available tools.
- Enhanced descriptions in memory and session search schemas for clearer user instructions on when to utilize these features.
- 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 the environment creation condition to specifically check for "singularity" instead of allowing "local", ensuring more precise handling of environment types during task execution.
- Added functionality to suppress logging noise from specific modules when in quiet mode, improving user experience in CLI.
- Updated terminal_tool.py to change the log level for fallback directory usage from warning to debug, providing clearer context without cluttering logs.
- Added methods for handling sudo password and dangerous command approval prompts using a callback mechanism in cli.py.
- Integrated these prompts with the prompt_toolkit UI for improved user experience.
- Updated terminal_tool.py to support callback registration for interactive prompts, enhancing the CLI's interactivity.
- Introduced a background thread for API calls in run_agent.py to allow for interrupt handling during long-running operations.
- Enhanced error handling for interrupted API calls, ensuring graceful degradation of user experience.
- Introduced a new DebugSession class in tools/debug_helpers.py to centralize debug logging functionality, replacing duplicated code across various tool modules.
- Updated image_generation_tool.py, mixture_of_agents_tool.py, vision_tools.py, web_tools.py, and others to utilize the new DebugSession for logging tool calls and saving debug logs.
- Enhanced maintainability and consistency in debug logging practices across 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.
- Introduced logging functionality in cli.py, run_agent.py, scheduler.py, and various tool modules to replace print statements with structured logging.
- Enhanced error handling and informational messages to improve debugging and monitoring capabilities.
- Ensured consistent logging practices across the codebase, facilitating better traceability and maintenance.
- Revised descriptions for various tools in model_tools.py, browser_tool.py, code_execution_tool.py, delegate_tool.py, and terminal_tool.py to enhance clarity and reduce verbosity.
- Improved consistency in terminology and formatting across tool descriptions, ensuring users have a clearer understanding of tool functionalities and usage.
- Clarified the usage of the --cdp flag when connecting to an existing Browserbase session.
- Emphasized the importance of not using --session with --cdp to avoid creating a local browser instance in agent-browser >=0.13.
- Updated comments to reflect changes in per-task isolation management with AGENT_BROWSER_SOCKET_DIR.
- Increased the default session inactivity timeout from 2 to 5 minutes to accommodate LLM reasoning during multi-step tasks.
- Enhanced thread safety by implementing locks around session activity tracking and cleanup processes, allowing concurrent access by multiple subagents.
- Removed the stale daemon cleanup function, as it is no longer necessary with the updated session management approach.
- Updated logging and session cleanup logic to ensure proper handling of active sessions and associated resources.
- Updated the stale daemon cleanup function to support multiple patterns for identifying orphaned agent-browser processes, improving reliability across different versions.
- Added logging for stderr output during browser command execution to aid in diagnostics, particularly for capturing warnings from the agent-browser.
- Implemented a warning for empty snapshots returned from the agent-browser, indicating potential issues with stale daemons or CDP connections.
- Upgraded the agent-browser dependency from version 0.7.6 to 0.13.0 in package.json.
- Added functionality to kill stale agent-browser daemon processes in browser_tool.py to prevent orphaned instances from previous runs.
- Replaced getpass with direct reading from /dev/tty to enhance password input handling without echoing.
- Updated threading logic for password input to ensure proper cleanup and error handling.
- Improved visual feedback during password prompt, including clearer separation and timeout messaging.
- Enhanced user experience by providing immediate feedback on password input status.
- Added a spinner to visually indicate task delegation progress in quiet mode, improving user experience during batch processing.
- Implemented a method to update spinner text dynamically based on remaining tasks, providing real-time feedback.
- Enhanced the `delegate_task` function to include per-task completion messages, ensuring clarity on task status during execution.
- Updated the KawaiiSpinner class to allow message updates while running, facilitating better interaction during long-running tasks.
- Introduced the `delegate_task` tool, allowing the main agent to spawn child AIAgent instances with isolated context for complex tasks.
- Supported both single-task and batch processing (up to 3 concurrent tasks) to enhance task management capabilities.
- Updated configuration options for delegation, including maximum iterations and default toolsets for subagents.
- Enhanced documentation to provide clear guidance on using the delegation feature and its configuration.
- Added comprehensive tests to ensure the functionality and reliability of the delegation logic.
- Changed the target parameter from "content" and "files" to "grep" and "find" to better represent their functionality.
- Revised descriptions in the tool definitions and execution code schema to enhance understanding of search modes and output formats.
- Ensured consistency in the handling of search operations across the codebase.
- Updated the tool name from "search" to "search_files" across multiple files to better reflect its functionality.
- Adjusted related documentation and descriptions to ensure clarity in usage and expected behavior.
- Enhanced the toolset definitions and mappings to incorporate the new naming convention, improving overall consistency in the codebase.
- Replaced file locking with atomic file operations using temporary files to prevent race conditions during read/write.
- Added deduplication of memory and user entries to avoid exact duplicates in the memory store.
- Enhanced error handling for duplicate entries and improved logic for managing multiple matches in memory operations.
- Updated docstrings to clarify the behavior of file reading and writing methods, ensuring better understanding of the implementation.
- Updated the default timeout for sandbox script execution from 120 seconds to 300 seconds (5 minutes) to allow longer-running scripts.
- Enhanced comments in the code execution tool to clarify the timeout duration.
- Suppressed stdout and stderr output from internal tool handlers during execution to prevent clutter in the CLI interface.
- Revised docstrings for `web_search` and `web_extract` functions to clarify return types and structure.
- Updated the execution code schema documentation to reflect changes in the output format for both tools, ensuring consistency and improved understanding for users.
- Introduced a new `execute_code` tool that allows the agent to run Python scripts that call Hermes tools via RPC, reducing the number of round trips required for tool interactions.
- Added configuration options for timeout and maximum tool calls in the sandbox environment.
- Updated the toolset definitions to include the new code execution capabilities, ensuring integration across platforms.
- Implemented comprehensive tests for the code execution sandbox, covering various scenarios including tool call limits and error handling.
- Enhanced the CLI and documentation to reflect the new functionality, providing users with clear guidance on using the code execution tool.
- Added a new `clarify_tool` to enable the agent to ask structured multiple-choice or open-ended questions to users.
- Implemented callback functionality for user interaction, allowing the platform to handle UI presentation.
- Updated the CLI and agent to support clarify questions, including timeout handling and response management.
- Enhanced toolset definitions and requirements to include the clarify tool, ensuring availability across platforms.
- 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.
- Updated the file glob and include filters in the ShellFileOperations class to escape shell arguments, preventing unintended shell expansion.
- Added comments to clarify the necessity of quoting for file glob patterns.
- Updated the `_search_with_rg` and `_search_with_grep` methods to include filename in the output and improve result handling.
- Adjusted result fetching to account for context lines, ensuring accurate total counts and pagination.
- Enhanced parsing logic for matches and context lines, improving the accuracy of search results.
- Refactored result slicing to maintain consistency across output modes, ensuring users receive the correct number of results.
- Modified the `_exec` method in `ShellFileOperations` to accept `stdin_data`, allowing large content to be piped directly to commands, bypassing ARG_MAX limitations.
- Updated the `execute` method in various environment classes (`_LocalEnvironment`, `_SingularityEnvironment`, `_SSHEnvironment`, `_DockerEnvironment`) to support `stdin_data`, improving command execution flexibility.
- Removed the unique marker generation for heredoc in favor of direct stdin piping, simplifying file writing operations and enhancing performance for large files.
- Eliminated the 'read' action from the memory tool and related logging in the agent, streamlining the available actions to 'add', 'replace', and 'remove'.
- Updated error messages and documentation to reflect the removal of the 'read' action, ensuring clarity in the API's usage.
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
Single `todo` tool that reads (no params) or writes (provide todos array
with merge flag). In-memory TodoStore on AIAgent, no system prompt
mutation, behavioral guidance in tool description only. State re-injected
after context compression events. Gateway sessions hydrate from
conversation history. Added to all platform toolsets.
Also wired into RL agent_loop.py with per-run TodoStore and fixed
browser_snapshot user_task passthrough from first user message.
New process registry and tool for managing long-running background processes
across all terminal backends (local, Docker, Singularity, Modal, SSH).
Process Registry (tools/process_registry.py):
- ProcessSession tracking with rolling 200KB output buffer
- spawn_local() with optional PTY via ptyprocess for interactive CLIs
- spawn_via_env() for non-local backends (runs inside sandbox, never on host)
- Background reader threads per process (Popen stdout or PTY)
- wait() with timeout clamping, interrupt support, and transparent limit reporting
- JSON checkpoint to ~/.hermes/processes.json for gateway crash recovery
- Module-level singleton shared across agent loop, gateway, and RL
Process Tool (model_tools.py):
- 7 actions: list, poll, log, wait, kill, write, submit
- Paired with terminal in all toolsets (CLI, messaging, RL)
- Timeout clamping with transparent notes in response
Terminal Tool Updates (tools/terminal_tool.py):
- Replaced nohup background mode with registry spawn (returns session_id)
- Added workdir parameter for per-command working directory
- Added check_interval parameter for gateway auto-check watchers
- Added pty parameter for interactive CLI tools (Codex, Claude Code)
- Updated TERMINAL_TOOL_DESCRIPTION with full background workflow docs
- Cleanup thread now respects active background processes (won't reap sandbox)
Gateway Integration (gateway/run.py, session.py, config.py):
- Session reset protection: sessions with active processes exempt from reset
- Default idle timeout increased from 2 hours to 24 hours
- from_dict fallback aligned to match (was 120, now 1440)
- session_key env var propagated to process registry for session mapping
- Crash recovery on gateway startup via checkpoint probe
- check_interval watcher: asyncio task polls process, delivers updates to platform
RL Safety (environments/):
- tool_context.py cleanup() kills background processes on episode end
- hermes_base_env.py warns when enabled_toolsets is None (loads all tools)
- Process tool safe in RL via wait() blocking the agent loop
Also:
- Added ptyprocess as optional dependency (in pyproject.toml [pty] extra + [all])
- Fixed pre-existing bug: rl_test_inference missing from TOOL_TO_TOOLSET_MAP
- Updated AGENTS.md with process management docs and project structure
- Updated README.md terminal section with process management overview
When using Modal, Docker, SSH, or Singularity as the terminal backend
from the CLI, the agent resolved cwd: "." to the host machine's local
path (e.g. /Users/rewbs/code/hermes-agent) and passed it to the remote
sandbox, where it doesn't exist. All commands failed with "No such file
or directory".
Root cause: cli.py unconditionally resolved "." to os.getcwd() and wrote
it to TERMINAL_CWD regardless of backend type. Every tool then used that
host-local path as the working directory inside the remote environment.
Fixes:
- cli.py: only resolve "." to os.getcwd() for the local backend. For all
remote backends (ssh, docker, modal, singularity), leave TERMINAL_CWD
unset so the tool layer uses per-backend defaults (/root, /, ~, etc.)
- terminal_tool.py: added sanity check -- if TERMINAL_CWD contains a
host-local prefix (/Users/, /home/, C:\) for a non-local backend, log
a warning and fall back to the backend's default
- terminal_tool.py: SSH default CWD is now ~ instead of os.getcwd()
- file_operations.py: last-resort CWD fallback changed from os.getcwd()
to "/" so host paths never leak into remote file operations
- Improved the caching mechanism for ShellFileOperations to ensure stale entries are invalidated when environments are cleaned up.
- Enhanced thread safety by refining the use of locks during environment creation and cleanup processes.
- Streamlined the cleanup of inactive environments to prevent blocking other tool calls, ensuring efficient resource management.
- Added error handling and messaging improvements for better user feedback during environment cleanup.
- Introduced a new cleanup function that ensures terminal and browser sessions are cleaned up only once during application exit.
- Updated atexit registration to use the new cleanup function, enhancing resource management and preventing potential issues from multiple cleanup calls.
- Modified terminal cleanup messaging to only display when environments are cleaned, improving user feedback.
