Files
hermes-agent/agent/subdirectory_hints.py
Teknium 12724e6295 feat: progressive subdirectory hint discovery (#5291)
As the agent navigates into subdirectories via tool calls (read_file,
terminal, search_files, etc.), automatically discover and load project
context files (AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules) from those directories.

Previously, context files were only loaded from the CWD at session start.
If the agent moved into backend/, frontend/, or any subdirectory with its
own AGENTS.md, those instructions were never seen.

Now, SubdirectoryHintTracker watches tool call arguments for file paths
and shell commands, resolves directories, and loads hint files on first
access. Discovered hints are appended to the tool result so the model
gets relevant context at the moment it starts working in a new area —
without modifying the system prompt (preserving prompt caching).

Features:
- Extracts paths from tool args (path, workdir) and shell commands
- Loads AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules (first match per directory)
- Deduplicates — each directory loaded at most once per session
- Ignores paths outside the working directory
- Truncates large hint files at 8K chars
- Works on both sequential and concurrent tool execution paths

Inspired by Block/goose SubdirectoryHintTracker.
2026-04-05 12:33:47 -07:00

220 lines
7.8 KiB
Python

"""Progressive subdirectory hint discovery.
As the agent navigates into subdirectories via tool calls (read_file, terminal,
search_files, etc.), this module discovers and loads project context files
(AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules) from those directories. Discovered hints
are appended to the tool result so the model gets relevant context at the moment
it starts working in a new area of the codebase.
This complements the startup context loading in ``prompt_builder.py`` which only
loads from the CWD. Subdirectory hints are discovered lazily and injected into
the conversation without modifying the system prompt (preserving prompt caching).
Inspired by Block/goose's SubdirectoryHintTracker.
"""
import logging
import os
import re
import shlex
from pathlib import Path
from typing import Dict, Any, Optional, Set
from agent.prompt_builder import _scan_context_content
logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
# Context files to look for in subdirectories, in priority order.
# Same filenames as prompt_builder.py but we load ALL found (not first-wins)
# since different subdirectories may use different conventions.
_HINT_FILENAMES = [
"AGENTS.md", "agents.md",
"CLAUDE.md", "claude.md",
".cursorrules",
]
# Maximum chars per hint file to prevent context bloat
_MAX_HINT_CHARS = 8_000
# Tool argument keys that typically contain file paths
_PATH_ARG_KEYS = {"path", "file_path", "workdir"}
# Tools that take shell commands where we should extract paths
_COMMAND_TOOLS = {"terminal"}
# How many parent directories to walk up when looking for hints.
# Prevents scanning all the way to / for deeply nested paths.
_MAX_ANCESTOR_WALK = 5
class SubdirectoryHintTracker:
"""Track which directories the agent visits and load hints on first access.
Usage::
tracker = SubdirectoryHintTracker(working_dir="/path/to/project")
# After each tool call:
hints = tracker.check_tool_call("read_file", {"path": "backend/src/main.py"})
if hints:
tool_result += hints # append to the tool result string
"""
def __init__(self, working_dir: Optional[str] = None):
self.working_dir = Path(working_dir or os.getcwd()).resolve()
self._loaded_dirs: Set[Path] = set()
# Pre-mark the working dir as loaded (startup context handles it)
self._loaded_dirs.add(self.working_dir)
def check_tool_call(
self,
tool_name: str,
tool_args: Dict[str, Any],
) -> Optional[str]:
"""Check tool call arguments for new directories and load any hint files.
Returns formatted hint text to append to the tool result, or None.
"""
dirs = self._extract_directories(tool_name, tool_args)
if not dirs:
return None
all_hints = []
for d in dirs:
hints = self._load_hints_for_directory(d)
if hints:
all_hints.append(hints)
if not all_hints:
return None
return "\n\n" + "\n\n".join(all_hints)
def _extract_directories(
self, tool_name: str, args: Dict[str, Any]
) -> list:
"""Extract directory paths from tool call arguments."""
candidates: Set[Path] = set()
# Direct path arguments
for key in _PATH_ARG_KEYS:
val = args.get(key)
if isinstance(val, str) and val.strip():
self._add_path_candidate(val, candidates)
# Shell commands — extract path-like tokens
if tool_name in _COMMAND_TOOLS:
cmd = args.get("command", "")
if isinstance(cmd, str):
self._extract_paths_from_command(cmd, candidates)
return list(candidates)
def _add_path_candidate(self, raw_path: str, candidates: Set[Path]):
"""Resolve a raw path and add its directory + ancestors to candidates.
Walks up from the resolved directory toward the filesystem root,
stopping at the first directory already in ``_loaded_dirs`` (or after
``_MAX_ANCESTOR_WALK`` levels). This ensures that reading
``project/src/main.py`` discovers ``project/AGENTS.md`` even when
``project/src/`` has no hint files of its own.
"""
try:
p = Path(raw_path).expanduser()
if not p.is_absolute():
p = self.working_dir / p
p = p.resolve()
# Use parent if it's a file path (has extension or doesn't exist as dir)
if p.suffix or (p.exists() and p.is_file()):
p = p.parent
# Walk up ancestors — stop at already-loaded or root
for _ in range(_MAX_ANCESTOR_WALK):
if p in self._loaded_dirs:
break
if self._is_valid_subdir(p):
candidates.add(p)
parent = p.parent
if parent == p:
break # filesystem root
p = parent
except (OSError, ValueError):
pass
def _extract_paths_from_command(self, cmd: str, candidates: Set[Path]):
"""Extract path-like tokens from a shell command string."""
try:
tokens = shlex.split(cmd)
except ValueError:
tokens = cmd.split()
for token in tokens:
# Skip flags
if token.startswith("-"):
continue
# Must look like a path (contains / or .)
if "/" not in token and "." not in token:
continue
# Skip URLs
if token.startswith(("http://", "https://", "git@")):
continue
self._add_path_candidate(token, candidates)
def _is_valid_subdir(self, path: Path) -> bool:
"""Check if path is a valid directory to scan for hints."""
if not path.is_dir():
return False
if path in self._loaded_dirs:
return False
return True
def _load_hints_for_directory(self, directory: Path) -> Optional[str]:
"""Load hint files from a directory. Returns formatted text or None."""
self._loaded_dirs.add(directory)
found_hints = []
for filename in _HINT_FILENAMES:
hint_path = directory / filename
if not hint_path.is_file():
continue
try:
content = hint_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8").strip()
if not content:
continue
# Same security scan as startup context loading
content = _scan_context_content(content, filename)
if len(content) > _MAX_HINT_CHARS:
content = (
content[:_MAX_HINT_CHARS]
+ f"\n\n[...truncated {filename}: {len(content):,} chars total]"
)
# Best-effort relative path for display
rel_path = str(hint_path)
try:
rel_path = str(hint_path.relative_to(self.working_dir))
except ValueError:
try:
rel_path = str(hint_path.relative_to(Path.home()))
rel_path = "~/" + rel_path
except ValueError:
pass # keep absolute
found_hints.append((rel_path, content))
# First match wins per directory (like startup loading)
break
except Exception as exc:
logger.debug("Could not read %s: %s", hint_path, exc)
if not found_hints:
return None
sections = []
for rel_path, content in found_hints:
sections.append(
f"[Subdirectory context discovered: {rel_path}]\n{content}"
)
logger.debug(
"Loaded subdirectory hints from %s: %s",
directory,
[h[0] for h in found_hints],
)
return "\n\n".join(sections)