Voice Mode → #314
Dogfood Skill → #315
The VISION.md doc is removed in favor of detailed, trackable GitHub
issues. Issues are assignable, discussable, and linkable to PRs.
On Windows systems where git can't write files (antivirus, NTFS filter
drivers), 'hermes update' now falls back to downloading a ZIP archive
from GitHub and extracting it over the existing installation.
The fallback triggers in two cases:
1. No .git directory (ZIP-installed via install.ps1 fallback)
2. Git pull fails with CalledProcessError on Windows
The ZIP update preserves venv/, node_modules/, .git/, and .env,
reinstalls Python deps via uv, and syncs bundled skills.
Also adds -c windows.appendAtomically=false to all git commands in
the update path for systems where git works but atomic writes fail.
Git for Windows can completely fail to write files during clone due to
antivirus software, Windows Defender Controlled Folder Access, or NTFS
filter drivers. Even with windows.appendAtomically=false, the checkout
phase fails with 'unable to create file: Invalid argument'.
New install strategy (3 attempts):
1. git clone with -c windows.appendAtomically=false (SSH then HTTPS)
2. If clone fails: download GitHub ZIP archive, extract with
Expand-Archive (Windows native, no git file I/O), then git init
the result for future updates
3. All git commands now use -c flag to inject the atomic write fix
Also passes -c flag on update path (fetch/checkout/pull) and makes
submodule init failure non-fatal with a warning.
Move Windows install location from ~\.hermes (user profile root) to
%LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes (C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\hermes).
The user profile directory is prone to issues from OneDrive sync,
Windows Defender Controlled Folder Access, and NTFS filter drivers
that break git's atomic file operations. %LOCALAPPDATA% is the
standard Windows location for per-user app data (used by VS Code,
Discord, etc.) and avoids these issues.
Changes:
- Default HermesHome to $env:LOCALAPPDATA\hermes
- Set HERMES_HOME user env var so Python code finds the new location
- Auto-migrate existing ~\.hermes installations on first run
- Update completion message to show actual paths
The previous fix set git config --global before clone, but on systems
where atomic writes are broken (OneDrive, antivirus, NTFS filter
drivers), even writing ~/.gitconfig fails with 'Invalid argument'.
Fix: inject the config via GIT_CONFIG_COUNT/KEY/VALUE environment
variables, which git reads before performing any file I/O. This
bypasses the chicken-and-egg problem where git can't write the config
file that would fix its file-writing issue.
Git for Windows can fail during clone when copying hook template files
from the system templates directory. The error:
fatal: cannot copy '.../templates/hooks/fsmonitor-watchman.sample'
to '.git/hooks/...': Invalid argument
The script already set windows.appendAtomically=false but only AFTER
clone, which is too late since clone itself triggers the error.
Fix:
- Set git config --global windows.appendAtomically false BEFORE clone
- Add a third fallback: clone with --template='' to skip hook template
copying entirely (they're optional .sample files)
When running via 'irm ... | iex', the script executes in the caller's
session scope. The 'exit 1' calls (lines 424, 460, 849-851) would kill
the entire PowerShell window instead of just stopping the script.
Fix:
- Replace all 'exit 1' with 'throw' for proper error propagation
- Wrap Main() call in try/catch so errors are caught and displayed
with a helpful message instead of silently closing the terminal
- Show fallback instructions to download and run as a .ps1 file
if the piped install keeps failing
- Set 'git config windows.appendAtomically false' in hermes update
command (win32 only) and in install.ps1 after cloning. Fixes the
'fatal: unable to write loose object file: Invalid argument' error
on Windows filesystems.
- Fix venv pip fallback path: Scripts/pip on Windows vs bin/pip on Unix
- Gate .env encoding fix behind _IS_WINDOWS (no change to Linux/macOS)
On Windows, open() without explicit encoding uses the system locale
(cp1252/etc.), which can cause OSError errno 22 'Invalid argument'
when reading/writing the UTF-8 .env file.
Fix: gate encoding kwargs behind _IS_WINDOWS check so Linux/macOS
code paths are completely unchanged. Only Windows gets explicit
encoding='utf-8' on load_env() and save_env_value().
The is_existing check included 'get_config_path().exists()' which is
always True after installation (the installer copies config.yaml from
the template). This caused the wizard to enter quick mode, which
skips provider selection entirely — leaving hermes non-functional.
Fix: only consider it an existing installation when an actual
inference provider is configured (OPENROUTER_API_KEY, OPENAI_BASE_URL,
or an active OAuth provider). Fresh installs now correctly show the
full setup flow with provider selection.
Root cause: PowerShell with $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' only
creates NativeCommandError from stderr when you CAPTURE it via 2>&1.
Without the redirect, stderr flows directly to the console and
PowerShell never intercepts it.
This is how OpenClaw's install.ps1 handles it — bare git commands
with no stderr redirection. Wrap SSH clone attempt in try/catch
since it's expected to fail (falls back to HTTPS).
PowerShell with $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' treats ANY stderr
output from native commands as a terminating NativeCommandError —
even successful git operations that write progress to stderr
(e.g. 'Cloning into ...').
Fix: temporarily set $ErrorActionPreference = 'Continue' around all
git commands (clone, fetch, checkout, pull, submodule update). This
lets git run normally while preserving strict error handling for
the rest of the installer.
The Windows installer was swallowing uv python install errors with
| Out-Null, making failures impossible to diagnose. Now:
- Shows the actual uv error output when installation fails
- Falls back to finding any existing Python 3.10-3.13 on the system
- Falls back to system python if available
- Shows helpful manual install instructions (python.org URL + winget)
Add an interactive OS selector widget to the hero section and install
steps, inspired by OpenClaw's install UI:
- macOS-style window chrome with red/yellow/green dots
- Three clickable tabs: Linux/macOS, PowerShell, CMD
- Command text, shell prompt, and note update on tab click
- Auto-detects visitor's OS and selects the right tab on page load
- Install steps section also gets synced platform tabs
- Simplified Windows note section (tabs above now cover all platforms)
- Fully responsive — icons hidden on mobile, tabs wrap properly
The ImportError fallback set ContextTypes = Any, but then
ContextTypes.DEFAULT_TYPE was used as a type annotation at class
definition time — Any doesn't have .DEFAULT_TYPE, causing AttributeError.
Fix: create a _MockContextTypes class with DEFAULT_TYPE = Any.
Also stub CommandHandler, TelegramMessageHandler, filters, ParseMode,
and ChatType to prevent potential NameErrors.
Fixes#304.
- Add scripts/install.cmd batch wrapper for CMD users (delegates to install.ps1)
- Add _find_shell() in local.py: detects Git Bash on Windows via
HERMES_GIT_BASH_PATH env var, shutil.which, or common install paths
(same pattern as Claude Code's CLAUDE_CODE_GIT_BASH_PATH)
- Use _find_shell() in process_registry.py for background processes
- Fix hermes_cli/gateway.py: use wmic instead of ps aux on Windows,
skip SIGKILL (doesn't exist on Windows), fix venv path
(Scripts/python.exe vs bin/python)
- Update README with three install commands (Linux/macOS, PowerShell, CMD)
and Windows native documentation
Requires Git for Windows, which bundles bash.exe. The terminal tool
transparently uses Git Bash for shell commands regardless of whether
the user launched hermes from PowerShell or CMD.
After /reload-mcp updates self.agent.tools, immediately call
_persist_session() so the session JSON file at ~/.hermes/sessions/
reflects the new tools list. Without this, the tools field in the
session log would only update on the next conversation turn — if
the user quit after reloading, the log would have stale tools.
- CLI: After reload, refreshes self.agent.tools and valid_tool_names
so the model sees updated tools on its next API call
- Both CLI and Gateway: Appends a [SYSTEM: ...] message at the END
of conversation history explaining what changed (added/removed/
reconnected servers, tool count). This preserves prompt-cache for
the system prompt and earlier messages — only the tail changes.
- Gateway already creates a new AIAgent per message so tools refresh
naturally; the injected message provides context for the model
Banner integration:
- MCP Servers section in CLI startup banner between Tools and Skills
- Shows each server with transport type, tool count, connection status
- Failed servers shown in red; section hidden when no MCP configured
- Summary line includes MCP server count
- Removed raw print() calls from discovery (banner handles display)
/reload-mcp command:
- New slash command in both CLI and gateway
- Disconnects all MCP servers, re-reads config.yaml, reconnects
- Reports what changed (added/removed/reconnected servers)
- Allows adding/removing MCP servers without restarting
Resources & Prompts support:
- 4 utility tools registered per server: list_resources, read_resource,
list_prompts, get_prompt
- Exposes MCP Resources (data sources) and Prompts (templates) as tools
- Proper parameter schemas (uri for read_resource, name for get_prompt)
- Handles text and binary resource content
- 23 new tests covering schemas, handlers, and registration
Test coverage: 74 MCP tests total, 1186 tests pass overall.
- Discovery is now parallel (asyncio.gather) instead of sequential,
fixing the 60s shared timeout issue with multiple servers
- Startup messages use print() so users see connection status even
with default log levels (the 'tools' logger is set to ERROR)
- Summary line shows total tools and failed servers count
- Validate conflicting config: warn if both 'url' and 'command' are
present (HTTP takes precedence)
- Update TODO.md: mark MCP as implemented, list remaining work
- Add test for conflicting config detection (51 tests total)
All 1163 tests pass.
Updated the README and messaging documentation to clarify the two modes for WhatsApp integration: 'bot' mode (recommended) and 'self-chat' mode. Improved setup instructions to guide users through the configuration process, including allowlist management and dependency installation. Adjusted CLI commands to reflect these changes and ensure a smoother user experience. Additionally, modified the WhatsApp bridge to support the new mode functionality.
When both OPENROUTER_API_KEY and OPENAI_API_KEY are set (e.g. OPENAI_API_KEY
in .bashrc), the wrong key was sent to OpenRouter causing auth failures.
Fixed key resolution order in cli.py and runtime_provider.py.
Fixes#289
- Add threading.Lock protecting all shared state (_servers, _mcp_loop, _mcp_thread)
- Fix deadlock in shutdown_mcp_servers: _stop_mcp_loop was called inside
a _lock block but also acquires _lock (non-reentrant)
- Fix race condition in _ensure_mcp_loop with concurrent callers
- Change idempotency to per-server (retry failed servers, skip connected)
- Dynamic toolset injection via startswith("hermes-") instead of hardcoded list
- Parallel shutdown via asyncio.gather instead of sequential loop
- Add tests for partial failure retry, parallel shutdown, dynamic injection
Patch _servers to empty dict in tests that call discover_mcp_tools()
with mocked config, preventing interference from real MCP connections
that may exist when running within the full test suite.
When discover_mcp_tools() is called multiple times (e.g. direct call
then model_tools import), return existing tool names instead of opening
new connections that would orphan the previous ones.
Refactor MCP connections from AsyncExitStack to task-per-server
architecture. Each server now runs as a long-lived asyncio Task
with `async with stdio_client(...)`, ensuring anyio cancel-scope
cleanup happens in the same Task that opened the connection.
Connect to external MCP servers via stdio transport, discover their tools
at startup, and register them into the hermes-agent tool registry.
- New tools/mcp_tool.py: config loading, server connection via background
event loop, tool handler factories, discovery, and graceful shutdown
- model_tools.py: trigger MCP discovery after built-in tool imports
- cli.py: call shutdown_mcp_servers in _run_cleanup
- pyproject.toml: add mcp>=1.2.0 as optional dependency
- 27 unit tests covering config, schema conversion, handlers, registration,
SDK interaction, toolset injection, graceful fallback, and shutdown
Config format (in ~/.hermes/config.yaml):
mcp_servers:
filesystem:
command: "npx"
args: ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/tmp"]
Issue #263: Telegram/Discord/WhatsApp/Slack now show tool call details
based on display.tool_progress in config.yaml.
Changes:
- gateway/run.py: 'verbose' mode shows full args (keys + JSON, 200 char
max). 'all' mode preview increased from 40 to 80 chars. Added missing
tool emojis (execute_code, delegate_task, clarify, skill_manage,
search_files).
- agent/display.py: Added execute_code, delegate_task, clarify,
skill_manage to primary_args. Added 'code' and 'goal' to fallback keys.
- run_agent.py: Pass function_args dict to tool_progress_callback so
gateway can format based on its own verbosity config.
Config usage:
display:
tool_progress: verbose # off | new | all | verbose
Added a fixture to redirect HERMES_HOME to a temporary directory during tests, preventing writes to the user's home directory. Updated the test for DebugSession to create a dedicated log directory for saving logs, ensuring test isolation and accuracy in assertions.
The TestFlushSentinelNotLeaked test from PR #227 had two issues:
1. flush_memories() uses get_text_auxiliary_client() which could bypass
agent.client entirely — mock it to return (None, None)
2. No assertion that the API was actually called — added guard assert
Without these fixes the test passed vacuously (API never called).
