feat(cron): add no_agent mode for script-only cron jobs (watchdog pattern) (#19709)

* feat(cron): add no_agent mode for script-only cron jobs (watchdog pattern)

Adds a no_agent=True option to the cronjob system. When enabled, the
scheduler runs the attached script on schedule and delivers its stdout
directly to the job's target — no LLM, no agent loop, no token spend.
This is the classic bash-watchdog pattern (memory alert every 5 min,
disk alert every 15 min, CI ping) reimplemented as a first-class Hermes
primitive instead of a systemd timer + curl + bot token triplet living
outside the system.

## What

  hermes cron create "every 5m" \
    --no-agent \
    --script memory-watchdog.sh \
    --deliver telegram \
    --name memory-watchdog

Agent tool:

  cronjob(action='create',
          schedule='every 5m',
          script='memory-watchdog.sh',
          no_agent=True,
          deliver='telegram')

Semantics:
- Script stdout (trimmed) → delivered verbatim as the message
- Empty stdout          → silent tick (no delivery; watchdog pattern)
- wakeAgent=false gate  → silent tick (same gate LLM jobs use)
- Non-zero exit/timeout → delivered as an error alert
                          (broken watchdogs shouldn't fail silently)
- No LLM ever invoked; no tokens spent; no provider fallback applied

## Implementation

cron/jobs.py
  * create_job gains no_agent: bool = False
  * prompt becomes Optional (no_agent jobs don't need one)
  * Validation: no_agent=True requires a script at create time
  * Field roundtrips via load_jobs / save_jobs / update_job

cron/scheduler.py
  * run_job: new short-circuit branch at the top that runs the script,
    wraps its output into the (success, doc, final_response, error)
    tuple downstream delivery already expects, and returns before any
    AIAgent import or construction
  * _run_job_script: picks interpreter by extension — .sh/.bash run
    under /bin/bash, anything else under sys.executable (Python).
    Shell support unlocks the bash-watchdog pattern without wrapping
    scripts in Python. Extension is explicit; we deliberately do NOT
    trust the file's own shebang. Path-containment guard (scripts dir)
    unchanged.

tools/cronjob_tools.py
  * Schema: new no_agent boolean property with clear trigger guidance
  * cronjob() accepts no_agent and validates mode-specific shape:
    - no_agent=True requires script; prompt/skills optional
    - no_agent=False keeps the existing 'prompt or skill required' rule
  * update path rejects flipping no_agent=True on a job without a script
  * _format_job surfaces no_agent in list output
  * Handler lambda forwards no_agent from tool args

hermes_cli/main.py, hermes_cli/cron.py
  * 'hermes cron create --no-agent' and edit's --no-agent / --agent
    pair for toggling at CLI parity with the agent tool
  * Existing --script help text updated to describe both modes
  * List / create / edit output now shows 'Mode: no-agent (...)' when set

## Tests

tests/cron/test_cron_no_agent.py — 18 tests covering:
  * create_job: no_agent shape, validation, field persistence
  * update_job: flag roundtrip across reload
  * cronjob tool: schema validation, update toggling, mode-specific
    requirements, prompt-relaxation rule
  * run_job short-circuit:
    - success path delivers stdout verbatim
    - empty stdout → SILENT_MARKER (no delivery downstream)
    - wakeAgent=false gate → silent
    - script failure → error alert
    - run_job does NOT import AIAgent (verified via mock)
  * _run_job_script:
    - .sh executes via bash (no shebang required)
    - .bash executes via bash
    - .py still runs via sys.executable (regression)
    - path-traversal still blocked (security regression)

All 18 new tests pass. 341/342 pre-existing cron tests still pass; the
one failure (test_script_empty_output_noted) was already broken on main
and is unrelated to this change.

## Docs

website/docs/guides/cron-script-only.md — new dedicated guide covering
the watchdog pattern, interpreter rules, delivery mapping, worked
examples (memory / disk alerts), and the comparison table vs hermes send,
regular LLM cron jobs, and OS-level cron.

website/docs/user-guide/features/cron.md — new 'No-agent mode' section
in the cron feature reference, cross-linked to the guide.

website/docs/guides/automate-with-cron.md — new tip box pointing users
to no-agent mode when they don't need LLM reasoning.

## Compatibility

- Existing jobs: unchanged. no_agent defaults to False, existing code
  paths untouched until the flag is set.
- Schema additive only; older jobs.json without the field load fine
  via .get() with False default.
- New CLI flags are opt-in and don't alter existing flag behavior.

* fix(cron): lazy-import AIAgent + SessionDB so no_agent ticks pay zero

The unconditional `from run_agent import AIAgent` + SessionDB() init at
the top of run_job() meant every no_agent tick still paid the full agent
module load cost (~300ms + transitive imports + DB open) even though it
never touched any of that machinery.

Move both to live under the default (LLM) path, after the no_agent
short-circuit has returned. Now a no_agent tick's sys.modules stays
clean — verified end-to-end:

    assert 'run_agent' not in sys.modules  # before
    run_job(no_agent_job)
    assert 'run_agent' not in sys.modules  # after

The existing mock-based unit test (test_run_job_no_agent_never_invokes_aiagent)
kept passing because patch() replaces the class AFTER import; the leak
was only visible via real subprocess-style verification. End-to-end
demo confirmed: agent calls cronjob(no_agent=True) → script runs →
stdout delivered → no LLM machinery loaded.

* docs(cron): tighten no_agent tool schema — defaults, silent semantics, pick rule

Previous description buried the important bits in one long sentence.
Agents could plausibly miss three things an LLM-facing schema should
make unmissable:

1. What the default is — now first sentence + JSON Schema `default: false`
2. What 'silent run' actually means for the user — now spelled out:
   'nothing is sent to the user and they won't see anything happened'
3. When to pick True vs False — now a concrete decision rule with
   examples on both sides (watchdogs/metrics/pollers → True;
   summarize/draft/pick/rephrase → False)

Also adds explicit 'prompt and skills are ignored when True' since the
agent could otherwise still pass them out of habit.

No behavior change — schema text only.
This commit is contained in:
Teknium 2026-05-04 12:31:01 -07:00 committed by GitHub
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9 changed files with 823 additions and 17 deletions

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@ -576,8 +576,18 @@ def _run_job_script(script_path: str) -> tuple[bool, str]:
prevent arbitrary script execution via path traversal or absolute
path injection.
Supported interpreters (chosen by file extension):
* ``.sh`` / ``.bash`` run with ``/bin/bash``
* anything else run with the current Python interpreter
(``sys.executable``), preserving the original behaviour for
Python-based pre-check and data-collection scripts.
Shell support lets ``no_agent=True`` jobs ship classic bash watchdogs
(the `memory-watchdog.sh` pattern) without wrapping them in Python.
Args:
script_path: Path to a Python script. Relative paths are resolved
script_path: Path to the script. Relative paths are resolved
against HERMES_HOME/scripts/. Absolute and ~-prefixed paths
are also validated to ensure they stay within the scripts dir.
@ -614,9 +624,19 @@ def _run_job_script(script_path: str) -> tuple[bool, str]:
script_timeout = _get_script_timeout()
# Pick an interpreter by extension. Bash for .sh/.bash, Python for
# everything else. We deliberately do NOT honour the file's own
# shebang: the scripts dir is trusted, but keeping the interpreter
# choice explicit here keeps the allowed surface small and auditable.
suffix = path.suffix.lower()
if suffix in (".sh", ".bash"):
argv = ["/bin/bash", str(path)]
else:
argv = [sys.executable, str(path)]
try:
result = subprocess.run(
[sys.executable, str(path)],
argv,
capture_output=True,
text=True,
timeout=script_timeout,
@ -830,8 +850,120 @@ def run_job(job: dict) -> tuple[bool, str, str, Optional[str]]:
Returns:
Tuple of (success, full_output_doc, final_response, error_message)
"""
job_id = job["id"]
job_name = job["name"]
# ---------------------------------------------------------------
# no_agent short-circuit — the script IS the job, no LLM involvement.
# ---------------------------------------------------------------
# This mirrors the classic "run a bash script on a timer, send its
# stdout to telegram" watchdog pattern. The agent path is skipped
# entirely: no AIAgent, no prompt, no tool loop, no token spend.
#
# We check this BEFORE importing run_agent / constructing SessionDB so
# a pure-script tick never pays for the agent machinery it isn't going
# to use. Keep this block self-contained.
#
# Semantics:
# - script stdout (trimmed) → delivered verbatim as the final message
# - empty stdout → silent run (no delivery, success=True)
# - non-zero exit / timeout → delivered as an error alert, success=False
# - wakeAgent=false gate → treated like empty stdout (silent), since
# the whole point of no_agent is that there
# is no agent to wake
if job.get("no_agent"):
script_path = job.get("script")
if not script_path:
err = "no_agent=True but no script is set for this job"
logger.error("Job '%s': %s", job_id, err)
return False, "", "", err
# Apply workdir if configured — lets scripts use predictable relative
# paths. For no_agent jobs this is just the subprocess cwd (not an
# agent TERMINAL_CWD bridge).
_job_workdir = (job.get("workdir") or "").strip() or None
_prior_cwd = None
if _job_workdir and Path(_job_workdir).is_dir():
_prior_cwd = os.getcwd()
try:
os.chdir(_job_workdir)
except OSError:
_prior_cwd = None
try:
ok, output = _run_job_script(script_path)
finally:
if _prior_cwd is not None:
try:
os.chdir(_prior_cwd)
except OSError:
pass
now_iso = _hermes_now().strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
if not ok:
# Script crashed / timed out / exited non-zero. Deliver the
# error so the user knows the watchdog itself broke — silent
# failure for an alerting job is the worst-case outcome.
alert = (
f"⚠ Cron watchdog '{job_name}' script failed\n\n"
f"{output}\n\n"
f"Time: {now_iso}"
)
doc = (
f"# Cron Job: {job_name}\n\n"
f"**Job ID:** {job_id}\n"
f"**Run Time:** {now_iso}\n"
f"**Mode:** no_agent (script)\n"
f"**Status:** script failed\n\n"
f"{output}\n"
)
return False, doc, alert, output
# Honour the wakeAgent gate as a silent signal — `wakeAgent: false`
# means "nothing to report this tick", same as empty stdout.
if not _parse_wake_gate(output):
logger.info(
"Job '%s' (no_agent): wakeAgent=false gate — silent run", job_id
)
silent_doc = (
f"# Cron Job: {job_name}\n\n"
f"**Job ID:** {job_id}\n"
f"**Run Time:** {now_iso}\n"
f"**Mode:** no_agent (script)\n"
f"**Status:** silent (wakeAgent=false)\n"
)
return True, silent_doc, SILENT_MARKER, None
if not output.strip():
logger.info("Job '%s' (no_agent): empty stdout — silent run", job_id)
silent_doc = (
f"# Cron Job: {job_name}\n\n"
f"**Job ID:** {job_id}\n"
f"**Run Time:** {now_iso}\n"
f"**Mode:** no_agent (script)\n"
f"**Status:** silent (empty output)\n"
)
return True, silent_doc, SILENT_MARKER, None
doc = (
f"# Cron Job: {job_name}\n\n"
f"**Job ID:** {job_id}\n"
f"**Run Time:** {now_iso}\n"
f"**Mode:** no_agent (script)\n\n"
f"---\n\n"
f"{output}\n"
)
return True, doc, output, None
# ---------------------------------------------------------------
# Default (LLM) path — import and construct the agent machinery now
# that we know we actually need it. Doing these imports here instead of
# at module top keeps no_agent ticks from paying for AIAgent / SessionDB
# construction costs.
# ---------------------------------------------------------------
from run_agent import AIAgent
# Initialize SQLite session store so cron job messages are persisted
# and discoverable via session_search (same pattern as gateway/run.py).
_session_db = None
@ -840,9 +972,6 @@ def run_job(job: dict) -> tuple[bool, str, str, Optional[str]]:
_session_db = SessionDB()
except Exception as e:
logger.debug("Job '%s': SQLite session store not available: %s", job.get("id", "?"), e)
job_id = job["id"]
job_name = job["name"]
# Wake-gate: if this job has a pre-check script, run it BEFORE building
# the prompt so a ``{"wakeAgent": false}`` response can short-circuit