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feat(honcho): context injection overhaul, 5-tool surface, cost safety, session isolation (#10619)
Salvaged from PR #9884 by erosika. Cherry-picked plugin changes onto current main with minimal core modifications. Plugin changes (plugins/memory/honcho/): - New honcho_reasoning tool (5th tool, splits LLM calls from honcho_context) - Two-layer context injection: base context (summary + representation + card) on contextCadence, dialectic supplement on dialecticCadence - Multi-pass dialectic depth (1-3 passes) with early bail-out on strong signal - Cold/warm prompt selection based on session state - dialecticCadence defaults to 3 (was 1) — ~66% fewer Honcho LLM calls - Session summary injection for conversational continuity - Bidirectional peer targeting on all 5 tools - Correctness fixes: peer param fallback, None guard on set_peer_card, schema validation, signal_sufficient anchored regex, mid->medium level fix Core changes (~20 lines across 3 files): - agent/memory_manager.py: Enhanced sanitize_context() to strip full <memory-context> blocks and system notes (prevents leak from saveMessages) - run_agent.py: gateway_session_key param for stable per-chat Honcho sessions, on_turn_start() call before prefetch_all() for cadence tracking, sanitize_context() on user messages to strip leaked memory blocks - gateway/run.py: skip_memory=True on 2 temp agents (prevents orphan sessions), gateway_session_key threading to main agent Tests: 509 passed (3 skipped — honcho SDK not installed locally) Docs: Updated honcho.md, memory-providers.md, tools-reference.md, SKILL.md Co-authored-by: erosika <erosika@users.noreply.github.com>
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---
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name: honcho
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description: Configure and use Honcho memory with Hermes -- cross-session user modeling, multi-profile peer isolation, observation config, and dialectic reasoning. Use when setting up Honcho, troubleshooting memory, managing profiles with Honcho peers, or tuning observation and recall settings.
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version: 1.0.0
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description: Configure and use Honcho memory with Hermes -- cross-session user modeling, multi-profile peer isolation, observation config, dialectic reasoning, session summaries, and context budget enforcement. Use when setting up Honcho, troubleshooting memory, managing profiles with Honcho peers, or tuning observation, recall, and dialectic settings.
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version: 2.0.0
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author: Hermes Agent
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license: MIT
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metadata:
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hermes:
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tags: [Honcho, Memory, Profiles, Observation, Dialectic, User-Modeling]
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tags: [Honcho, Memory, Profiles, Observation, Dialectic, User-Modeling, Session-Summary]
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homepage: https://docs.honcho.dev
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related_skills: [hermes-agent]
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prerequisites:
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@ -22,8 +22,9 @@ Honcho provides AI-native cross-session user modeling. It learns who the user is
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- Setting up Honcho (cloud or self-hosted)
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- Troubleshooting memory not working / peers not syncing
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- Creating multi-profile setups where each agent has its own Honcho peer
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- Tuning observation, recall, or write frequency settings
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- Understanding what the 4 Honcho tools do and when to use them
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- Tuning observation, recall, dialectic depth, or write frequency settings
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- Understanding what the 5 Honcho tools do and when to use them
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- Configuring context budgets and session summary injection
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## Setup
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@ -51,6 +52,27 @@ hermes honcho status # shows resolved config, connection test, peer info
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## Architecture
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### Base Context Injection
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When Honcho injects context into the system prompt (in `hybrid` or `context` recall modes), it assembles the base context block in this order:
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1. **Session summary** -- a short digest of the current session so far (placed first so the model has immediate conversational continuity)
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2. **User representation** -- Honcho's accumulated model of the user (preferences, facts, patterns)
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3. **AI peer card** -- the identity card for this Hermes profile's AI peer
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The session summary is generated automatically by Honcho at the start of each turn (when a prior session exists). It gives the model a warm start without replaying full history.
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### Cold / Warm Prompt Selection
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Honcho automatically selects between two prompt strategies:
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| Condition | Strategy | What happens |
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|-----------|----------|--------------|
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| No prior session or empty representation | **Cold start** | Lightweight intro prompt; skips summary injection; encourages the model to learn about the user |
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| Existing representation and/or session history | **Warm start** | Full base context injection (summary → representation → card); richer system prompt |
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You do not need to configure this -- it is automatic based on session state.
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### Peers
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Honcho models conversations as interactions between **peers**. Hermes creates two peers per session:
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@ -112,6 +134,63 @@ How the agent accesses Honcho memory:
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| `context` | Yes | No (hidden) | Minimal token cost, no tool calls |
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| `tools` | No | Yes | Agent controls all memory access explicitly |
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## Three Orthogonal Knobs
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Honcho's dialectic behavior is controlled by three independent dimensions. Each can be tuned without affecting the others:
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### Cadence (when)
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Controls **how often** dialectic and context calls happen.
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| Key | Default | Description |
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|-----|---------|-------------|
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| `contextCadence` | `1` | Min turns between context API calls |
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| `dialecticCadence` | `3` | Min turns between dialectic API calls |
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| `injectionFrequency` | `every-turn` | `every-turn` or `first-turn` for base context injection |
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Higher cadence values reduce API calls and cost. `dialecticCadence: 3` (default) means the dialectic engine fires at most every 3rd turn.
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### Depth (how many)
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Controls **how many rounds** of dialectic reasoning Honcho performs per query.
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| Key | Default | Range | Description |
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|-----|---------|-------|-------------|
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| `dialecticDepth` | `1` | 1-3 | Number of dialectic reasoning rounds per query |
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| `dialecticDepthLevels` | -- | array | Optional per-depth-round level overrides (see below) |
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`dialecticDepth: 2` means Honcho runs two rounds of dialectic synthesis. The first round produces an initial answer; the second refines it.
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`dialecticDepthLevels` lets you set the reasoning level for each round independently:
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```json
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{
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"dialecticDepth": 3,
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"dialecticDepthLevels": ["low", "medium", "high"]
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}
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```
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If `dialecticDepthLevels` is omitted, rounds use **proportional levels** derived from `dialecticReasoningLevel` (the base):
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| Depth | Pass levels |
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|-------|-------------|
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| 1 | [base] |
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| 2 | [minimal, base] |
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| 3 | [minimal, base, low] |
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This keeps earlier passes cheap while using full depth on the final synthesis.
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### Level (how hard)
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Controls the **intensity** of each dialectic reasoning round.
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| Key | Default | Description |
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|-----|---------|-------------|
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| `dialecticReasoningLevel` | `low` | `minimal`, `low`, `medium`, `high`, `max` |
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| `dialecticDynamic` | `true` | When `true`, the model can pass `reasoning_level` to `honcho_reasoning` to override the default per-call. `false` = always use `dialecticReasoningLevel`, model overrides ignored |
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Higher levels produce richer synthesis but cost more tokens on Honcho's backend.
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## Multi-Profile Setup
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Each Hermes profile gets its own Honcho AI peer while sharing the same workspace (user context). This means:
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@ -149,6 +228,7 @@ Override any setting in the host block:
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"hermes.coder": {
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"aiPeer": "coder",
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"recallMode": "tools",
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"dialecticDepth": 2,
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"observation": {
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"user": { "observeMe": true, "observeOthers": false },
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"ai": { "observeMe": true, "observeOthers": true }
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@ -160,19 +240,97 @@ Override any setting in the host block:
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## Tools
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The agent has 4 Honcho tools (hidden in `context` recall mode):
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The agent has 5 bidirectional Honcho tools (hidden in `context` recall mode):
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| Tool | LLM call? | Cost | Use when |
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|------|-----------|------|----------|
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| `honcho_profile` | No | minimal | Quick factual snapshot at conversation start or for fast name/role/pref lookups |
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| `honcho_search` | No | low | Fetch specific past facts to reason over yourself — raw excerpts, no synthesis |
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| `honcho_context` | No | low | Full session context snapshot: summary, representation, card, recent messages |
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| `honcho_reasoning` | Yes | medium–high | Natural language question synthesized by Honcho's dialectic engine |
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| `honcho_conclude` | No | minimal | Write or delete a persistent fact; pass `peer: "ai"` for AI self-knowledge |
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### `honcho_profile`
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Quick factual snapshot of the user -- name, role, preferences, patterns. No LLM call, minimal cost. Use at conversation start or for fast lookups.
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Read or update a peer card — curated key facts (name, role, preferences, communication style). Pass `card: [...]` to update; omit to read. No LLM call.
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### `honcho_search`
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Semantic search over stored context. Returns raw excerpts ranked by relevance, no LLM synthesis. Default 800 tokens, max 2000. Use when you want specific past facts to reason over yourself.
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Semantic search over stored context for a specific peer. Returns raw excerpts ranked by relevance, no synthesis. Default 800 tokens, max 2000. Good when you need specific past facts to reason over yourself rather than a synthesized answer.
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### `honcho_context`
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Natural language question answered by Honcho's dialectic reasoning (LLM call on Honcho's backend). Higher cost, higher quality. Can query about user (default) or the AI peer.
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Full session context snapshot from Honcho — session summary, peer representation, peer card, and recent messages. No LLM call. Use when you want to see everything Honcho knows about the current session and peer in one shot.
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### `honcho_reasoning`
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Natural language question answered by Honcho's dialectic reasoning engine (LLM call on Honcho's backend). Higher cost, higher quality. Pass `reasoning_level` to control depth: `minimal` (fast/cheap) → `low` → `medium` → `high` → `max` (thorough). Omit to use the configured default (`low`). Use for synthesized understanding of the user's patterns, goals, or current state.
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### `honcho_conclude`
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Write a persistent fact about the user. Conclusions build the user's profile over time. Use when the user states a preference, corrects you, or shares something to remember.
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Write or delete a persistent conclusion about a peer. Pass `conclusion: "..."` to create. Pass `delete_id: "..."` to remove a conclusion (for PII removal — Honcho self-heals incorrect conclusions over time, so deletion is only needed for PII). You MUST pass exactly one of the two.
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### Bidirectional peer targeting
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All 5 tools accept an optional `peer` parameter:
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- `peer: "user"` (default) — operates on the user peer
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- `peer: "ai"` — operates on this profile's AI peer
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- `peer: "<explicit-id>"` — any peer ID in the workspace
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Examples:
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```
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honcho_profile # read user's card
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honcho_profile peer="ai" # read AI peer's card
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honcho_reasoning query="What does this user care about most?"
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honcho_reasoning query="What are my interaction patterns?" peer="ai" reasoning_level="medium"
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honcho_conclude conclusion="Prefers terse answers"
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honcho_conclude conclusion="I tend to over-explain code" peer="ai"
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honcho_conclude delete_id="abc123" # PII removal
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```
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## Agent Usage Patterns
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Guidelines for Hermes when Honcho memory is active.
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### On conversation start
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```
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1. honcho_profile → fast warmup, no LLM cost
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2. If context looks thin → honcho_context (full snapshot, still no LLM)
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3. If deep synthesis needed → honcho_reasoning (LLM call, use sparingly)
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```
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Do NOT call `honcho_reasoning` on every turn. Auto-injection already handles ongoing context refresh. Use the reasoning tool only when you genuinely need synthesized insight the base context doesn't provide.
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### When the user shares something to remember
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```
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honcho_conclude conclusion="<specific, actionable fact>"
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```
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Good conclusions: "Prefers code examples over prose explanations", "Working on a Rust async project through April 2026"
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Bad conclusions: "User said something about Rust" (too vague), "User seems technical" (already in representation)
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### When the user asks about past context / you need to recall specifics
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```
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honcho_search query="<topic>" → fast, no LLM, good for specific facts
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honcho_context → full snapshot with summary + messages
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honcho_reasoning query="<question>" → synthesized answer, use when search isn't enough
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```
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### When to use `peer: "ai"`
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Use AI peer targeting to build and query the agent's own self-knowledge:
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- `honcho_conclude conclusion="I tend to be verbose when explaining architecture" peer="ai"` — self-correction
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- `honcho_reasoning query="How do I typically handle ambiguous requests?" peer="ai"` — self-audit
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- `honcho_profile peer="ai"` — review own identity card
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### When NOT to call tools
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In `hybrid` and `context` modes, base context (user representation + card + session summary) is auto-injected before every turn. Do not re-fetch what was already injected. Call tools only when:
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- You need something the injected context doesn't have
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- The user explicitly asks you to recall or check memory
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- You're writing a conclusion about something new
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### Cadence awareness
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`honcho_reasoning` on the tool side shares the same cost as auto-injection dialectic. After an explicit tool call, the auto-injection cadence resets — avoiding double-charging the same turn.
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## Config Reference
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@ -191,18 +349,39 @@ Config file: `$HERMES_HOME/honcho.json` (profile-local) or `~/.honcho/config.jso
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| `observation` | all on | Per-peer `observeMe`/`observeOthers` booleans |
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| `writeFrequency` | `async` | `async`, `turn`, `session`, or integer N |
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| `sessionStrategy` | `per-directory` | `per-directory`, `per-repo`, `per-session`, `global` |
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| `dialecticReasoningLevel` | `low` | `minimal`, `low`, `medium`, `high`, `max` |
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| `dialecticDynamic` | `true` | Auto-bump reasoning by query length. `false` = fixed level |
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| `messageMaxChars` | `25000` | Max chars per message (chunked if exceeded) |
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| `dialecticMaxInputChars` | `10000` | Max chars for dialectic query input |
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### Cost-awareness (advanced, root config only)
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### Dialectic settings
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| Key | Default | Description |
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|-----|---------|-------------|
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| `dialecticReasoningLevel` | `low` | `minimal`, `low`, `medium`, `high`, `max` |
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| `dialecticDynamic` | `true` | Auto-bump reasoning by query complexity. `false` = fixed level |
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| `dialecticDepth` | `1` | Number of dialectic rounds per query (1-3) |
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| `dialecticDepthLevels` | -- | Optional array of per-round levels, e.g. `["low", "high"]` |
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| `dialecticMaxInputChars` | `10000` | Max chars for dialectic query input |
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### Context budget and injection
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| Key | Default | Description |
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|-----|---------|-------------|
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| `contextTokens` | uncapped | Max tokens for the combined base context injection (summary + representation + card). Opt-in cap — omit to leave uncapped, set to an integer to bound injection size. |
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| `injectionFrequency` | `every-turn` | `every-turn` or `first-turn` |
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| `contextCadence` | `1` | Min turns between context API calls |
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| `dialecticCadence` | `1` | Min turns between dialectic API calls |
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| `dialecticCadence` | `3` | Min turns between dialectic LLM calls |
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The `contextTokens` budget is enforced at injection time. If the session summary + representation + card exceed the budget, Honcho trims the summary first, then the representation, preserving the card. This prevents context blowup in long sessions.
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### Memory-context sanitization
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Honcho sanitizes the `memory-context` block before injection to prevent prompt injection and malformed content:
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- Strips XML/HTML tags from user-authored conclusions
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- Normalizes whitespace and control characters
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- Truncates individual conclusions that exceed `messageMaxChars`
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- Escapes delimiter sequences that could break the system prompt structure
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This fix addresses edge cases where raw user conclusions containing markup or special characters could corrupt the injected context block.
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## Troubleshooting
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@ -221,6 +400,12 @@ Observation config is synced from the server on each session init. Start a new s
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### Messages truncated
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Messages over `messageMaxChars` (default 25k) are automatically chunked with `[continued]` markers. If you're hitting this often, check if tool results or skill content is inflating message size.
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### Context injection too large
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If you see warnings about context budget exceeded, lower `contextTokens` or reduce `dialecticDepth`. The session summary is trimmed first when the budget is tight.
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### Session summary missing
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Session summary requires at least one prior turn in the current Honcho session. On cold start (new session, no history), the summary is omitted and Honcho uses the cold-start prompt strategy instead.
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## CLI Commands
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| Command | Description |
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