Previously, all project context files (AGENTS.md, .cursorrules, .hermes.md)
were loaded and concatenated into the system prompt. This bloated the prompt
with potentially redundant or conflicting instructions.
Now only ONE project context type is loaded, using priority order:
1. .hermes.md / HERMES.md (walk to git root)
2. AGENTS.md / agents.md (recursive directory walk)
3. CLAUDE.md / claude.md (cwd only, NEW)
4. .cursorrules / .cursor/rules/*.mdc (cwd only)
SOUL.md from HERMES_HOME remains independent and always loads.
Also adds CLAUDE.md as a recognized context file format, matching the
convention popularized by Claude Code.
Refactored the monolithic function into four focused helpers:
_load_hermes_md, _load_agents_md, _load_claude_md, _load_cursorrules.
Tests: replaced 1 coexistence test with 10 new tests covering priority
ordering, CLAUDE.md loading, case sensitivity, injection blocking.
Cron jobs run unattended with no user present. Previously the agent had
send_message and clarify tools available, which makes no sense — the
final response is auto-delivered, and there's nobody to ask questions to.
Changes:
- Disable messaging and clarify toolsets for cron agent sessions
- Update cron platform hint to emphasize autonomous execution: no user
present, cannot ask questions, must execute fully and make decisions
- Update cronjob tool schema description to match (remove stale
send_message guidance)
SOUL.md now loads in slot #1 of the system prompt, replacing the
hardcoded DEFAULT_AGENT_IDENTITY. This lets users fully customize
the agent's identity and personality by editing ~/.hermes/SOUL.md
without it conflicting with the built-in identity text.
When SOUL.md is loaded as identity, it's excluded from the context
files section to avoid appearing twice. When SOUL.md is missing,
empty, unreadable, or skip_context_files is set, the hardcoded
DEFAULT_AGENT_IDENTITY is used as a fallback.
The default SOUL.md (seeded on first run) already contains the full
Hermes personality, so existing installs are unaffected.
Co-authored-by: Test <test@test.com>
* fix: banner skill count now respects disabled skills and platform filtering
The banner's get_available_skills() was doing a raw rglob scan of
~/.hermes/skills/ without checking:
- Whether skills are disabled (skills.disabled config)
- Whether skills match the current platform (platforms: frontmatter)
This caused the banner to show inflated skill counts (e.g. '100 skills'
when many are disabled) and list macOS-only skills on Linux.
Fix: delegate to _find_all_skills() from tools/skills_tool which already
handles both platform gating and disabled-skill filtering.
* fix: system prompt and slash commands now respect disabled skills
Two more places where disabled skills were still surfaced:
1. build_skills_system_prompt() in prompt_builder.py — disabled skills
appeared in the <available_skills> system prompt section, causing
the agent to suggest/load them despite being disabled.
2. scan_skill_commands() in skill_commands.py — disabled skills still
registered as /skill-name slash commands in CLI help and could be
invoked.
Both now load _get_disabled_skill_names() and filter accordingly.
* fix: skill_view blocks disabled skills
skill_view() checked platform compatibility but not disabled state,
so the agent could still load and read disabled skills directly.
Now returns a clear error when a disabled skill is requested, telling
the user to enable it via hermes skills or inspect the files manually.
---------
Co-authored-by: Test <test@test.com>
Adds .hermes.md / HERMES.md discovery for per-project agent configuration.
When the agent starts, it walks from cwd to the git root looking for
.hermes.md (preferred) or HERMES.md, strips any YAML frontmatter, and
injects the markdown body into the system prompt as project context.
- Nearest-first discovery (subdirectory configs shadow parent)
- Stops at git root boundary (no leaking into parent repos)
- YAML frontmatter stripped (structured config deferred to Phase 2)
- Same injection scanning and 20K truncation as other context files
- 22 comprehensive tests
Original implementation by ch3ronsa. Cherry-picked and adapted for current main.
Closes#681 (Phase 1)
* feat: improve memory prioritization — user preferences over procedural knowledge
Inspired by OpenAI Codex's memory prompt improvements (openai/codex#14493)
which focus memory writes on user preferences and recurring patterns
rather than procedural task details.
Key insight: 'Optimize for reducing future user steering — the most
valuable memory prevents the user from having to repeat themselves.'
Changes:
- MEMORY_GUIDANCE (prompt_builder.py): added prioritization hierarchy
and the core principle about reducing user steering
- MEMORY_SCHEMA (memory_tool.py): reordered WHEN TO SAVE list to put
corrections first, added explicit PRIORITY guidance
- Memory nudge (run_agent.py): now asks specifically about preferences,
corrections, and workflow patterns instead of generic 'anything'
- Memory flush (run_agent.py): now instructs to prioritize user
preferences and corrections over task-specific details
* feat: more aggressive skill creation and update prompting
Press harder on skill updates — the agent should proactively patch
skills when it encounters issues during use, not wait to be asked.
Changes:
- SKILLS_GUIDANCE: 'consider saving' → 'save'; added explicit instruction
to patch skills immediately when found outdated/wrong
- Skills header: added instruction to update loaded skills before finishing
if they had missing steps or wrong commands
- Skill nudge: more assertive ('save the approach' not 'consider saving'),
now also prompts for updating existing skills used in the task
- Skill nudge interval: lowered default from 15 to 10 iterations
- skill_manage schema: added 'patch it immediately' to update triggers
Allow cron runs to keep using send_message for additional destinations, but
skip same-target sends when the scheduler will already auto-deliver the final
response there. Add prompt/tool guidance, docs, and regression coverage for
origin/home-channel resolution and thread-aware comparisons.
Remove diary-style memory framing from the system prompt and memory tool
schema, explicitly steer task/session logs to session_search, and clarify
that session_search is for cross-session recall after checking the current
conversation first. Add regression tests for the updated guidance text.
Seed ~/.hermes/SOUL.md when missing, load SOUL only from HERMES_HOME, and inject raw SOUL content without wrapper text. If the file exists but is empty, nothing is added to the system prompt.
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>
Allow users to interact with Hermes by sending and receiving emails.
Uses IMAP polling for incoming messages and SMTP for replies with
proper threading (In-Reply-To, References headers).
Integrates with all 14 gateway extension points: config, adapter
factory, authorization, send_message tool, cron delivery, toolsets,
prompt hints, channel directory, setup wizard, status display, and
env example.
65 tests covering config, parsing, dispatch, threading, IMAP fetch,
SMTP send, attachments, and all integration points.
Skills can now declare fallback_for_toolsets, fallback_for_tools,
requires_toolsets, and requires_tools in their SKILL.md frontmatter.
The system prompt builder filters skills automatically based on which
tools are available in the current session.
- Add _read_skill_conditions() to parse conditional frontmatter fields
- Add _skill_should_show() to evaluate conditions against available tools
- Update build_skills_system_prompt() to accept and apply tool availability
- Pass valid_tool_names and available toolsets from run_agent.py
- Backward compatible: skills without conditions always show; calling
build_skills_system_prompt() with no args preserves existing behavior
Closes#539
Skills can now declare runtime prerequisites (env vars, CLI binaries) via
YAML frontmatter. Skills with unmet prerequisites are excluded from the
system prompt so the agent never claims capabilities it can't deliver, and
skill_view() warns the agent about what's missing.
Three layers of defense:
- build_skills_system_prompt() filters out unavailable skills
- _find_all_skills() flags unmet prerequisites in metadata
- skill_view() returns prerequisites_warning with actionable details
Tagged 12 bundled skills that have hard runtime dependencies:
gif-search (TENOR_API_KEY), notion (NOTION_API_KEY), himalaya, imessage,
apple-notes, apple-reminders, openhue, duckduckgo-search, codebase-inspection,
blogwatcher, songsee, mcporter.
Closes#658Fixes#630
browser_vision now saves screenshots persistently to ~/.hermes/browser_screenshots/
and returns the screenshot_path in its JSON response. The model can include
MEDIA:<path> in its response to share screenshots as native photos.
Changes:
- browser_tool.py: Save screenshots persistently, return screenshot_path,
auto-cleanup files older than 24 hours, mkdir moved inside try/except
- telegram.py: Add send_image_file() — sends local images via bot.send_photo()
- discord.py: Add send_image_file() — sends local images via discord.File
- slack.py: Add send_image_file() — sends local images via files_upload_v2()
(WhatsApp already had send_image_file — no changes needed)
- prompt_builder.py: Updated Telegram hint to list image extensions,
added Discord and Slack MEDIA: platform hints
- browser.md: Document screenshot sharing and 24h cleanup
- send_file_integration_map.md: Updated to reflect send_image_file is now
implemented on Telegram/Discord/Slack
- test_send_image_file.py: 19 tests covering MEDIA: .png extraction,
send_image_file on all platforms, and screenshot cleanup
Partially addresses #466 (Phase 0: platform adapter gaps for send_image_file).
Reduces token usage and latency for most tasks by defaulting to
medium reasoning effort instead of xhigh. Users can still override
via config or CLI flag. Updates code, tests, example config, and docs.
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)
Authored by satelerd. Adds native WhatsApp media sending for images, videos,
and documents via MEDIA: tags. Also includes conflict resolution with edit_message
feature, Telegram hint fix (only advertise supported media types), and import cleanup.
Add a /send-media endpoint to the WhatsApp bridge and corresponding
adapter methods so the agent can send files as native WhatsApp
attachments instead of plain-text URLs/paths.
- bridge.js: new POST /send-media endpoint using Baileys' native
image/video/document/audio message types with MIME detection
- base.py: add send_video(), send_document(), send_image_file()
with text fallbacks; route MEDIA: tags by file extension instead
of always treating them as voice messages
- whatsapp.py: implement all media methods via a shared
_send_media_to_bridge() helper; override send_image() to download
URLs to local cache and send as native photos
- prompt_builder.py: update WhatsApp and Telegram platform hints so
the agent knows it can use MEDIA:/path tags to send native media
The security scanner (skills_guard.py) was only wired into the hub install path.
All other write paths to persistent state — skills created by the agent, memory
entries, cron prompts, and context files — bypassed it entirely. This closes
those gaps:
- file_operations: deny-list blocks writes to ~/.ssh, ~/.aws, ~/.hermes/.env, etc.
- code_execution_tool: filter secret env vars from sandbox child process
- skill_manager_tool: wire scan_skill() into create/edit/patch/write_file with rollback
- skills_guard: add "agent-created" trust level (same policy as community)
- memory_tool: scan content for injection/exfil before system prompt injection
- prompt_builder: scan AGENTS.md, .cursorrules, SOUL.md for prompt injection
- cronjob_tools: scan cron prompts for critical threats before scheduling
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Added skills configuration options in cli-config.yaml.example, including a nudge interval for skill creation reminders.
- Implemented skills guidance in AIAgent to prompt users to save reusable workflows after complex tasks.
- Enhanced skills indexing in the prompt builder to include descriptions from SKILL.md files for better context.
- Updated the agent's behavior to periodically remind users about potential skills during tool-calling iterations.
- Updated the MEMORY_GUIDANCE text to improve clarity by rephrasing the usage instructions for the memory tool, emphasizing its diary-like functionality.
- 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.
