hermes-agent/website/docs/user-guide/features/hooks.md

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6	Event Hooks	Run custom code at key lifecycle points — log activity, send alerts, post to webhooks

Event Hooks

The hooks system lets you run custom code at key points in the agent lifecycle — session creation, slash commands, each tool-calling step, and more. Hooks fire automatically during gateway operation without blocking the main agent pipeline.

Creating a Hook

Each hook is a directory under ~/.hermes/hooks/ containing two files:

~/.hermes/hooks/
└── my-hook/
    ├── HOOK.yaml      # Declares which events to listen for
    └── handler.py     # Python handler function

HOOK.yaml

name: my-hook
description: Log all agent activity to a file
events:
  - agent:start
  - agent:end
  - agent:step

The events list determines which events trigger your handler. You can subscribe to any combination of events, including wildcards like command:*.

handler.py

import json
from datetime import datetime
from pathlib import Path

LOG_FILE = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "hooks" / "my-hook" / "activity.log"

async def handle(event_type: str, context: dict):
    """Called for each subscribed event. Must be named 'handle'."""
    entry = {
        "timestamp": datetime.now().isoformat(),
        "event": event_type,
        **context,
    }
    with open(LOG_FILE, "a") as f:
        f.write(json.dumps(entry) + "\n")

Handler rules:

• Must be named handle
• Receives event_type (string) and context (dict)
• Can be async def or regular def — both work
• Errors are caught and logged, never crashing the agent

Available Events

Event	When it fires	Context keys
gateway:startup	Gateway process starts	platforms (list of active platform names)
session:start	New messaging session created	platform, user_id, session_id, session_key
session:reset	User ran /new or /reset	platform, user_id, session_key
agent:start	Agent begins processing a message	platform, user_id, session_id, message
agent:step	Each iteration of the tool-calling loop	platform, user_id, session_id, iteration, tool_names
agent:end	Agent finishes processing	platform, user_id, session_id, message, response
command:*	Any slash command executed	platform, user_id, command, args

Wildcard Matching

Handlers registered for command:* fire for any command: event (command:model, command:reset, etc.). Monitor all slash commands with a single subscription.

Examples

Telegram Alert on Long Tasks

Send yourself a message when the agent takes more than 10 steps:

# ~/.hermes/hooks/long-task-alert/HOOK.yaml
name: long-task-alert
description: Alert when agent is taking many steps
events:
  - agent:step

# ~/.hermes/hooks/long-task-alert/handler.py
import os
import httpx

THRESHOLD = 10
BOT_TOKEN = os.getenv("TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN")
CHAT_ID = os.getenv("TELEGRAM_HOME_CHANNEL")

async def handle(event_type: str, context: dict):
    iteration = context.get("iteration", 0)
    if iteration == THRESHOLD and BOT_TOKEN and CHAT_ID:
        tools = ", ".join(context.get("tool_names", []))
        text = f"⚠️ Agent has been running for {iteration} steps. Last tools: {tools}"
        async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
            await client.post(
                f"https://api.telegram.org/bot{BOT_TOKEN}/sendMessage",
                json={"chat_id": CHAT_ID, "text": text},
            )

Command Usage Logger

Track which slash commands are used:

# ~/.hermes/hooks/command-logger/HOOK.yaml
name: command-logger
description: Log slash command usage
events:
  - command:*

# ~/.hermes/hooks/command-logger/handler.py
import json
from datetime import datetime
from pathlib import Path

LOG = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "logs" / "command_usage.jsonl"

def handle(event_type: str, context: dict):
    LOG.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
    entry = {
        "ts": datetime.now().isoformat(),
        "command": context.get("command"),
        "args": context.get("args"),
        "platform": context.get("platform"),
        "user": context.get("user_id"),
    }
    with open(LOG, "a") as f:
        f.write(json.dumps(entry) + "\n")

Session Start Webhook

POST to an external service on new sessions:

# ~/.hermes/hooks/session-webhook/HOOK.yaml
name: session-webhook
description: Notify external service on new sessions
events:
  - session:start
  - session:reset

# ~/.hermes/hooks/session-webhook/handler.py
import httpx

WEBHOOK_URL = "https://your-service.example.com/hermes-events"

async def handle(event_type: str, context: dict):
    async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
        await client.post(WEBHOOK_URL, json={
            "event": event_type,
            **context,
        }, timeout=5)

How It Works

1. On gateway startup, HookRegistry.discover_and_load() scans ~/.hermes/hooks/
2. Each subdirectory with HOOK.yaml + handler.py is loaded dynamically
3. Handlers are registered for their declared events
4. At each lifecycle point, hooks.emit() fires all matching handlers
5. Errors in any handler are caught and logged — a broken hook never crashes the agent

:::info Hooks only fire in the gateway (Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp). The CLI does not currently load hooks. :::