docs(pets): feature guide, petdex skill + catalog

Add the pets feature guide and the petdex skill (SKILL.md + bundled doc),
and register them in the website sidebar and skills catalog.
This commit is contained in:
Brooklyn Nicholson 2026-06-20 14:18:43 -05:00
parent 86b990fe0f
commit 6fd839ac84
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---
name: petdex
description: Install and select animated petdex mascots for Hermes.
version: 1.0.0
author: Hermes Agent
license: MIT
platforms: [linux, macos, windows]
metadata:
hermes:
tags: [petdex, mascot, display, cli, tui, desktop]
category: productivity
homepage: https://petdex.dev
---
# Petdex Skill
Browse, install, and select animated "pet" mascots from the public
[petdex](https://github.com/crafter-station/petdex) gallery. An installed pet
reacts to agent activity (idle, running a tool, reviewing, error, done) across
the Hermes CLI, TUI, and desktop app. This skill drives the `hermes pets` CLI
and the `display.pet` config — it does not generate sprites.
## When to Use
- The user wants a desktop/terminal mascot or asks about "pets" / petdex.
- The user wants to change, preview, or disable the active pet.
- Diagnosing why a pet isn't showing (terminal graphics support, config).
## Prerequisites
- Network access to `petdex.dev` for the gallery/manifest (read-only, no auth).
- Pillow (a core Hermes dependency) for sprite decoding — already installed.
- For full-fidelity terminal rendering: a graphics-capable terminal (kitty,
Ghostty, WezTerm, iTerm2, or sixel). Otherwise a truecolor Unicode
half-block fallback is used automatically.
## How to Run
Use the `terminal` tool to run `hermes pets <subcommand>`.
## Quick Reference
| Goal | Command |
| --- | --- |
| Browse the gallery | `hermes pets list` (add a substring to filter: `hermes pets list cat`) |
| List installed pets | `hermes pets list --installed` |
| Install a pet | `hermes pets install <slug>` (add `--select` to make it active) |
| Set the active pet | `hermes pets select <slug>` (omit slug for a picker) |
| Resize the pet everywhere | `hermes pets scale <factor>` (e.g. `0.5`, clamped 0.13.0) |
| Preview/animate in terminal | `hermes pets show [slug] [--cycle] [--state run]` |
| Disable the pet | `hermes pets off` |
| Remove a pet | `hermes pets remove <slug>` |
| Diagnose setup | `hermes pets doctor` |
## Procedure
1. Find a pet: `hermes pets list <query>` and note its `slug`.
2. Install + activate: `hermes pets install <slug> --select`.
3. Preview it: `hermes pets show` (Ctrl+C to stop).
4. Confirm setup: `hermes pets doctor` — shows the resolved pet, configured
render mode, detected terminal graphics protocol, and effective mode.
Pets install into `<HERMES_HOME>/pets/<slug>/` (profile-aware). Selecting a pet
writes `display.pet.slug` + `display.pet.enabled` to `config.yaml`.
## Configuration
Under `display.pet` in `config.yaml`:
- `enabled` (bool) — master on/off.
- `slug` (str) — active pet; empty = first installed.
- `render_mode``auto` (detect) | `kitty` | `iterm` | `sixel` | `unicode` | `off`.
- `scale` (float) — on-screen size of the native 192×208 frames (default 0.33,
clamped 0.13.0). One knob resizes every surface; set it with
`hermes pets scale <factor>`, the `/pet scale` slash command, or the desktop
Appearance slider.
- `unicode_cols` (int) — width in columns for the Unicode fallback.
## Pitfalls
- A pet only shows once one is installed AND selected (`enabled: true`).
- Inside a pipe/redirect (no TTY) terminal rendering is disabled by design.
- The petdex npm CLI installs to `~/.codex/pets`; Hermes uses its own
profile-scoped `<HERMES_HOME>/pets/` instead — install through `hermes pets`.
## Verification
- `hermes pets doctor` reports `✓ ready` when a pet is installed, selected,
enabled, and Pillow is importable.

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@ -125,6 +125,7 @@ If a skill is missing from this list but present in the repo, the catalog is reg
| [`nano-pdf`](/docs/user-guide/skills/bundled/productivity/productivity-nano-pdf) | Edit PDF text/typos/titles via nano-pdf CLI (NL prompts). | `productivity/nano-pdf` |
| [`notion`](/docs/user-guide/skills/bundled/productivity/productivity-notion) | Notion API + ntn CLI: pages, databases, markdown, Workers. | `productivity/notion` |
| [`ocr-and-documents`](/docs/user-guide/skills/bundled/productivity/productivity-ocr-and-documents) | Extract text from PDFs/scans (pymupdf, marker-pdf). | `productivity/ocr-and-documents` |
| [`petdex`](/docs/user-guide/skills/bundled/productivity/productivity-petdex) | Install and select animated petdex mascots for Hermes. | `productivity/petdex` |
| [`powerpoint`](/docs/user-guide/skills/bundled/productivity/productivity-powerpoint) | Create, read, edit .pptx decks, slides, notes, templates. | `productivity/powerpoint` |
| [`teams-meeting-pipeline`](/docs/user-guide/skills/bundled/productivity/productivity-teams-meeting-pipeline) | Operate the Teams meeting summary pipeline via Hermes CLI — summarize meetings, inspect pipeline status, replay jobs, manage Microsoft Graph subscriptions. | `productivity/teams-meeting-pipeline` |

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---
sidebar_position: 11
title: "Pets (Petdex Mascots)"
description: "Adopt an animated mascot that reacts to agent activity across the CLI, TUI, and desktop app"
---
# Pets
Hermes can show an animated **pet** — a small mascot sprite that reacts to what
the agent is doing (idle, running a tool, thinking, finishing, failing) across
the **CLI**, **TUI**, and **desktop app**. Pets come from the public
[petdex](https://github.com/crafter-station/petdex) gallery.
Pets are purely cosmetic. They have **no effect on prompt caching, tokens, or
the agent's behavior** — the sprite is a display concern only. The feature is
**off by default** and stays dormant until you install and select a pet.
## How it works
- Pets are installed into your profile's `pets/` directory
(`<HERMES_HOME>/pets/<slug>/`), so each [profile](../profiles.md) keeps its
own set.
- Selecting a pet writes `display.pet.slug` and `display.pet.enabled` to
`config.yaml` — nothing is stored as a secret or env var.
- Each surface watches the activity it already tracks and maps it to one of six
animation states. The mapping lives in one place so every surface behaves the
same:
| Agent activity | Pet state |
| --- | --- |
| A tool/turn just failed | `failed` |
| A plan finished (all todos done) | `jump` (celebrate) |
| A turn finished cleanly | `wave` |
| A tool is executing | `run` |
| The model is thinking/reading | `review` |
| Turn in flight (unspecified) | `run` |
| Blocked on you (a clarify/approval prompt is open) | `waiting` (falls back to `idle` on legacy 8-row sheets) |
| Nothing happening | `idle` |
## Rendering
In the terminal (CLI/TUI), Hermes renders the sprite at full fidelity when your
terminal supports a graphics protocol (**kitty**, **Ghostty**, **WezTerm**,
**iTerm2**, or **sixel**). Otherwise it falls back automatically to a truecolor
Unicode **half-block** rendering. Inside a pipe or redirect (no TTY), terminal
rendering is disabled by design.
The desktop app draws the pet as a floating sprite on a canvas and toggles it
from **Settings → Appearance**.
## Quick start (CLI)
```bash
# Browse the gallery (filter by substring)
hermes pets list
hermes pets list cat
# Install a pet and make it active in one step
hermes pets install boba --select
# Preview / animate it in your terminal (Ctrl+C to stop)
hermes pets show
# Check your setup
hermes pets doctor
```
## `hermes pets` commands
| Goal | Command |
| --- | --- |
| Browse the gallery | `hermes pets list [query] [--limit N]` |
| List installed pets | `hermes pets list --installed` |
| Install a pet | `hermes pets install <slug> [--select] [--force]` |
| Set the active pet | `hermes pets select [slug]` (omit slug for a picker) |
| Resize the pet everywhere | `hermes pets scale <factor>` (e.g. `0.5`, clamped 0.13.0) |
| Preview/animate | `hermes pets show [slug] [--state <s>] [--cycle] [--once] [--mode <m>] [--scale <f>]` |
| Disable the pet | `hermes pets off` |
| Remove an installed pet | `hermes pets remove <slug>` |
| Diagnose setup | `hermes pets doctor` |
`hermes pets show` flags:
- `--state` — play a single state (`idle`, `wave`, `run`, `failed`, `review`,
`jump`).
- `--cycle` — cycle through every state.
- `--once` — play once instead of looping.
- `--mode` — override the render protocol (`kitty`, `iterm`, `sixel`,
`unicode`, `auto`).
- `--scale` — override the on-screen scale (`0` = use config).
## `/pet` slash command
Inside the CLI and TUI you can manage the pet without leaving the session:
- `/pet` — toggle the pet on/off (adopts the first installed pet if none is
active).
- `/pet list` — browse the gallery.
- `/pet scale <factor>` — resize the pet everywhere (e.g. `/pet scale 0.5`).
- `/pet <slug>` — adopt a specific pet.
- `/pet off` — disable the pet.
In the TUI, `/pet list` opens an interactive picker overlay; in the desktop app
it opens the Cmd+K pet palette.
## Desktop app
In the desktop app you can manage the pet two ways:
- **Cmd+K → "Pets…"** — browse, search, adopt, and toggle pets without leaving
the keyboard (mirrors the theme picker).
- **Settings → Appearance** — the same gallery plus a **size slider** that
resizes the floating mascot live as you drag.
Both adopt/toggle/resize the floating mascot in place — size changes apply
instantly; adopting a new pet lights it up within a moment.
### Pop-out overlay
**Shift-click** the floating pet to pop it out into its own transparent,
always-on-top desktop window. Out there it stays visible while Hermes is
minimized (Codex-style), so a glance tells you what the agent is doing.
Gestures once it's popped out:
| Gesture | Action |
| --- | --- |
| **Drag** | Move the pet anywhere on screen, even outside the app. Its spot and in/out state persist across restarts. |
| **Single-click** | Open a mini composer to send a prompt to the most recent session — without surfacing the app. |
| **Double-click** | Toggle the app window: minimize it if it's up front, restore it if it's hidden. |
| **Shift-click** | Pop the pet back into the window. |
| **Mail icon** | Appears only when a turn finished while you were away; click to raise the app on the most recent thread (and mark it read). |
Only the popped-out pet shows a **speech bubble** (`working…`, `thinking…`,
`your turn`, …) — in-window the app itself is the surface, so the pet stays
quiet there.
The overlay is a pure puppet of the in-app pet — it carries no separate gateway
connection and never appears in the dock or app switcher.
## Configuration
All settings live under `display.pet` in `config.yaml`:
```yaml
display:
pet:
enabled: false # master on/off (true once you select a pet)
slug: "" # active pet; empty = first installed
render_mode: auto # auto | kitty | iterm | sixel | unicode | off
scale: 0.33 # master size knob (relative to native 192x208 frames)
unicode_cols: 0 # hard override for terminal width (0 = derive from scale)
```
- **`scale`** is the single master size knob. One number shrinks every surface:
the desktop canvas scales its pixels by it, and the CLI/TUI derive their
terminal column width from it. The half-block fallback clamps to a legibility
floor — it can't shrink as far as true-pixel kitty/GUI rendering without
turning to mush, so the same `scale` looks crisp under kitty but is floored in
half-blocks.
- **`render_mode: auto`** detects kitty/iTerm2/sixel and falls back to unicode
half-blocks. Set it explicitly to force a protocol or `off` to disable
terminal rendering while keeping the pet on the desktop.
- **`unicode_cols`** pins the terminal column width independently of `scale`;
leave it at `0` to derive width from `scale`.
## Troubleshooting
Run `hermes pets doctor` — it reports:
- the pets directory and which pets are installed,
- `display.pet.enabled`, `display.pet.slug`, and the resolved active pet,
- the configured `render_mode`, the detected terminal graphics protocol, and the
effective mode for a TTY,
- whether Pillow (used for sprite decoding) is importable.
It prints `✓ ready` once a pet is installed, selected, enabled, and Pillow is
available.
Common gotchas:
- A pet only shows once one is **installed AND selected** (`enabled: true`).
- Inside a pipe/redirect (no TTY), terminal rendering is disabled by design.
- The petdex npm CLI installs to `~/.codex/pets`; Hermes uses its own
profile-scoped `<HERMES_HOME>/pets/` instead — install through `hermes pets`.
## See also
- The [`petdex` skill](../skills/bundled/productivity/productivity-petdex.md)
lets the agent install and switch pets for you on request.

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@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
---
title: "Petdex — Install and select animated petdex mascots for Hermes"
sidebar_label: "Petdex"
description: "Install and select animated petdex mascots for Hermes"
---
{/* This page is auto-generated from the skill's SKILL.md by website/scripts/generate-skill-docs.py. Edit the source SKILL.md, not this page. */}
# Petdex
Install and select animated petdex mascots for Hermes.
## Skill metadata
| | |
|---|---|
| Source | Bundled (installed by default) |
| Path | `skills/productivity/petdex` |
| Version | `1.0.0` |
| Author | Hermes Agent |
| License | MIT |
| Platforms | linux, macos, windows |
| Tags | `petdex`, `mascot`, `display`, `cli`, `tui`, `desktop` |
## Reference: full SKILL.md
:::info
The following is the complete skill definition that Hermes loads when this skill is triggered. This is what the agent sees as instructions when the skill is active.
:::
# Petdex Skill
Browse, install, and select animated "pet" mascots from the public
[petdex](https://github.com/crafter-station/petdex) gallery. An installed pet
reacts to agent activity (idle, running a tool, reviewing, error, done) across
the Hermes CLI, TUI, and desktop app. This skill drives the `hermes pets` CLI
and the `display.pet` config — it does not generate sprites.
## When to Use
- The user wants a desktop/terminal mascot or asks about "pets" / petdex.
- The user wants to change, preview, or disable the active pet.
- Diagnosing why a pet isn't showing (terminal graphics support, config).
## Prerequisites
- Network access to `petdex.dev` for the gallery/manifest (read-only, no auth).
- Pillow (a core Hermes dependency) for sprite decoding — already installed.
- For full-fidelity terminal rendering: a graphics-capable terminal (kitty,
Ghostty, WezTerm, iTerm2, or sixel). Otherwise a truecolor Unicode
half-block fallback is used automatically.
## How to Run
Use the `terminal` tool to run `hermes pets <subcommand>`.
## Quick Reference
| Goal | Command |
| --- | --- |
| Browse the gallery | `hermes pets list` (add a substring to filter: `hermes pets list cat`) |
| List installed pets | `hermes pets list --installed` |
| Install a pet | `hermes pets install <slug>` (add `--select` to make it active) |
| Set the active pet | `hermes pets select <slug>` (omit slug for a picker) |
| Resize the pet everywhere | `hermes pets scale <factor>` (e.g. `0.5`, clamped 0.13.0) |
| Preview/animate in terminal | `hermes pets show [slug] [--cycle] [--state run]` |
| Disable the pet | `hermes pets off` |
| Remove a pet | `hermes pets remove <slug>` |
| Diagnose setup | `hermes pets doctor` |
## Procedure
1. Find a pet: `hermes pets list <query>` and note its `slug`.
2. Install + activate: `hermes pets install <slug> --select`.
3. Preview it: `hermes pets show` (Ctrl+C to stop).
4. Confirm setup: `hermes pets doctor` — shows the resolved pet, configured
render mode, detected terminal graphics protocol, and effective mode.
Pets install into `<HERMES_HOME>/pets/<slug>/` (profile-aware). Selecting a pet
writes `display.pet.slug` + `display.pet.enabled` to `config.yaml`.
## Configuration
Under `display.pet` in `config.yaml`:
- `enabled` (bool) — master on/off.
- `slug` (str) — active pet; empty = first installed.
- `render_mode``auto` (detect) | `kitty` | `iterm` | `sixel` | `unicode` | `off`.
- `scale` (float) — on-screen size of the native 192×208 frames (default 0.33,
clamped 0.13.0). One knob resizes every surface; set it with
`hermes pets scale <factor>`, the `/pet scale` slash command, or the desktop
Appearance slider.
- `unicode_cols` (int) — width in columns for the Unicode fallback.
## Pitfalls
- A pet only shows once one is installed AND selected (`enabled: true`).
- Inside a pipe/redirect (no TTY) terminal rendering is disabled by design.
- The petdex npm CLI installs to `~/.codex/pets`; Hermes uses its own
profile-scoped `<HERMES_HOME>/pets/` instead — install through `hermes pets`.
## Verification
- `hermes pets doctor` reports `✓ ready` when a pet is installed, selected,
enabled, and Pillow is importable.

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@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ const sidebars: SidebarsConfig = {
'user-guide/features/vision',
'user-guide/features/image-generation',
'user-guide/features/spotify',
'user-guide/features/pets',
'user-guide/features/tts',
'user-guide/features/deliverable-mode',
],
@ -277,6 +278,7 @@ const sidebars: SidebarsConfig = {
'user-guide/skills/bundled/productivity/productivity-nano-pdf',
'user-guide/skills/bundled/productivity/productivity-notion',
'user-guide/skills/bundled/productivity/productivity-ocr-and-documents',
'user-guide/skills/bundled/productivity/productivity-petdex',
'user-guide/skills/bundled/productivity/productivity-powerpoint',
'user-guide/skills/bundled/productivity/productivity-teams-meeting-pipeline',
],