From 4b3839a8ee34b221c05f0d3f131465780b8b529d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: emozilla <emozilla@nousresearch.com>
Date: Mon, 11 May 2026 15:53:50 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] fix(cli): seed bundled skills on dashboard + gateway
 entrypoints
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`sync_skills(quiet=True)` was only being called from inside `cmd_chat`,
which meant `hermes dashboard` (the desktop GUI's backend) and `hermes
gateway` (Telegram/Discord/Slack/etc daemons) never seeded the bundled
skill library into ~/.hermes/skills/.

This surfaced as "No skills found" in the desktop GUI's skills panel on
fresh installs, despite the agent having access to the full bundled
library when invoked via `hermes chat`. scripts/install.ps1 worked
around it by running skills_sync.py as part of Copy-ConfigTemplates,
but that's not part of the desktop installer's bootstrap chain.

Fix
- Extract the skills-sync block from cmd_chat into a module-level
  `_sync_bundled_skills_quietly()` helper.
- Call the helper from cmd_chat (preserving existing behavior),
  cmd_dashboard (after the --status/--stop early-return paths and
  fastapi import check, so we don't run skills_sync on management
  commands or when deps aren't installed), and cmd_gateway.

Why these three entrypoints
- cmd_chat: the user's primary CLI entrypoint
- cmd_dashboard: the desktop GUI's backend; this is what `hermes
  dashboard --tui` invokes when the desktop bootstrapper spawns Hermes
- cmd_gateway: long-running daemons where the user expects the agent
  to have full skill access

Other entrypoints (cmd_config, cmd_doctor, cmd_login, cmd_status,
etc.) are management commands that don't need skill discovery and were
never running skills_sync in the first place — leaving them alone.

Idempotence
- tools/skills_sync.py is manifest-based: skipped skills cost
  milliseconds. Calling it from multiple entrypoints adds no real
  cost, and users running `hermes chat` then `hermes dashboard` get
  two fast no-ops on the second call.

Failure handling
- Helper wraps skills_sync in try/except. Skills are an enhancement,
  not a hard dependency — Hermes runs fine with an empty skills/ dir.

Files
- hermes_cli/main.py:
  + new helper `_sync_bundled_skills_quietly()` at module level
  + cmd_chat: replace inline block with helper call
  + cmd_dashboard: add helper call after fastapi import succeeds
  + cmd_gateway: add helper call before delegating to gateway_command
---
 hermes_cli/main.py | 35 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------
 1 file changed, 29 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/hermes_cli/main.py b/hermes_cli/main.py
index 5759a0ba9c2..db260e60bb0 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/main.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/main.py
@@ -1342,6 +1342,26 @@ def _pin_kanban_board_env() -> None:
         pass
 
 
+def _sync_bundled_skills_quietly() -> None:
+    """Seed ``~/.hermes/skills/`` with the bundled skill library on first launch.
+
+    Called from any CLI entrypoint that the user might use as their first
+    interaction with Hermes — chat, dashboard (the desktop GUI's backend),
+    and gateway. The skills_sync module is manifest-based and idempotent:
+    skipped skills cost ~milliseconds, so calling this repeatedly is fine.
+
+    Failures are swallowed because skills are an enhancement, not a hard
+    dependency. Hermes still functions without them; the user just sees an
+    empty skills library.
+    """
+    try:
+        from tools.skills_sync import sync_skills
+
+        sync_skills(quiet=True)
+    except Exception:
+        pass
+
+
 def cmd_chat(args):
     """Run interactive chat CLI."""
     use_tui = getattr(args, "tui", False) or os.environ.get("HERMES_TUI") == "1"
@@ -1421,12 +1441,7 @@ def cmd_chat(args):
         pass
 
     # Sync bundled skills on every CLI launch (fast -- skips unchanged skills)
-    try:
-        from tools.skills_sync import sync_skills
-
-        sync_skills(quiet=True)
-    except Exception:
-        pass
+    _sync_bundled_skills_quietly()
 
     # --yolo: bypass all dangerous command approvals
     if getattr(args, "yolo", False):
@@ -1504,6 +1519,8 @@ def cmd_chat(args):
 
 def cmd_gateway(args):
     """Gateway management commands."""
+    _sync_bundled_skills_quietly()
+
     from hermes_cli.gateway import gateway_command
 
     gateway_command(args)
@@ -8973,6 +8990,12 @@ def cmd_dashboard(args):
         print(f"Import error: {e}")
         sys.exit(1)
 
+    # Seed bundled skills on first dashboard launch so the desktop GUI's
+    # skills picker / agent skill discovery sees the bundled library.
+    # cmd_chat does this in its own pre-dispatch block; the dashboard
+    # backend is the desktop's primary entrypoint and needs the same.
+    _sync_bundled_skills_quietly()
+
     if "HERMES_WEB_DIST" not in os.environ:
         if not _build_web_ui(PROJECT_ROOT / "apps" / "dashboard", fatal=True):
             sys.exit(1)