PR #30136 review caught a false positive: when HERMES_DASHBOARD was
unset, the dashboard run script did `exec sleep infinity`, so
`s6-svstat /run/service/dashboard` reported the slot as 'up'.
`hermes doctor` and any other s6-svstat-based health check saw the
dashboard as supervised-running even though no dashboard process
existed.
Add cont-init.d/03-dashboard-toggle: writes a `down` marker file
into `/run/service/dashboard/` when HERMES_DASHBOARD is falsy,
removes any leftover marker when it's truthy. s6-supervise honors
`down` by not starting the service, so s6-svstat reports 'down' —
matching reality.
The run script's HERMES_DASHBOARD case-statement stays in place as
a belt-and-suspenders guard, so the two layers can never disagree.
Two new integration tests lock the behavior: slot reports down
when unset; slot reports up when set to 1.
PR #30136 review flagged the s6-overlay install as a supply-chain
regression vs the gosu source it replaced — `tianon/gosu` was
digest-pinned via `FROM ...@sha256:...`, but the three new
ADD/curl downloads had no integrity check at all.
Pin all three tarballs (noarch, symlinks-noarch, per-arch) to
upstream-published SHA256s via ARGs. Verification happens via
`sha256sum -c` against a single checksum file (avoids a piped-shell
hadolint DL4006 warning under dash). To bump S6_OVERLAY_VERSION,
fetch the four `.sha256` files from the new release and update
the ARGs — documented inline.
If upstream artifacts are tampered with mid-build, the build now
fails loudly at the verification step instead of silently
producing a tainted image.
The Dockerfile only ADD'd `s6-overlay-x86_64.tar.xz`, so the
`build-arm64` job in docker-publish.yml — which runs on
`ubuntu-24.04-arm` and publishes by digest — produced an image whose
`/init` couldn't exec on actual arm64 hosts. Apple Silicon and ARM
server users were getting a broken container.
Map BuildKit's `TARGETARCH` (`amd64` / `arm64`) to s6's kernel-arch
naming (`x86_64` / `aarch64`) inside the RUN step and fetch the
correct tarball via `curl` (`ADD`'s URL is evaluated at parse time,
before TARGETARCH substitution, so dynamic arch selection requires
RUN). The noarch + symlinks tarballs are architecture-independent
and stay as ADDs.
The audit case is now explicit: unsupported architectures fail loudly
at build time rather than producing a silently-broken image.
The s6-overlay migration replaced every runtime use of gosu with
s6-setuidgid (in stage2-hook.sh, main-wrapper.sh, per-service run
scripts, and cont-init.d hooks), but the gosu binary itself was still
being copied into the image from tianon/gosu, and several comments
across the repo still pointed to it.
Image changes:
- Drop the FROM tianon/gosu:1.19-trixie AS gosu_source stage
- Drop the COPY --from=gosu_source /gosu /usr/local/bin/ layer
- Net: one fewer base-image pull, ~12-15 MB layer eliminated
Documentation/comment refresh (no behavior change):
- Dockerfile: update root-user rationale comment + cont-init.d comment
- docker/main-wrapper.sh: drop "pre-s6 contract (gosu drop)" reference
- docker-compose.yml: update UID/GID remap comment
- .hadolint.yaml: update DL3002 ignore rationale
- website/docs/user-guide/docker.md: privilege-drop helper is s6-setuidgid now
- hermes_cli/config.py: docker_run_as_host_user docstring
tools/environments/docker.py runs *arbitrary user images* via the
terminal backend, not the bundled Hermes image. It still needs SETUID/
SETGID caps so user images that use gosu/su/s6-setuidgid all work.
Renamed the cap-list constant _GOSU_CAP_ARGS → _PRIVDROP_CAP_ARGS and
updated comments to list s6-setuidgid alongside the others as examples.
The matching test (test_security_args_include_setuid_setgid_for_gosu_drop
→ test_security_args_include_setuid_setgid_for_privdrop) was renamed
and its docstring updated; behavior is unchanged.
Verification:
- hadolint clean against .hadolint.yaml
- shellcheck clean against all docker/ shell scripts
- Image rebuilt successfully (sha 1a090924ccea)
- Docker harness: 19 passed in 41.87s (every Phase 0 test + Phase 4
per-profile-gateway lifecycle + container-restart reconciliation)
- tests/tools/test_docker_environment.py: 23 passed (rename did not
break test discovery; pre-existing unrelated mock warning)
The plan document (docs/plans/2026-05-07-s6-overlay-dynamic-subagent-gateways.md)
intentionally retains its historical references to gosu — it describes
the pre-s6 entrypoint as background for understanding the migration.
Phase 4 of the s6-overlay supervision plan. Activates the Phase 3
S6ServiceManager by hooking it into the profile lifecycle and the
`hermes gateway start/stop/restart` dispatcher, and adds a cont-
init.d-time reconciliation pass that survives `docker restart`.
Task 4.0 — container-boot reconciliation:
/run/service/ is tmpfs, so every `docker restart` wipes every
per-profile gateway slot. /etc/cont-init.d/02-reconcile-profiles
invokes hermes_cli.container_boot.reconcile_profile_gateways() on
every boot, which walks $HERMES_HOME/profiles/<name>/, reads each
gateway_state.json, recreates the s6 service slot, and auto-starts
only those whose last state was 'running'. Other states
(stopped, starting, startup_failed, missing) register the slot
in the down state — avoiding crash-loops across restarts for a
gateway that was broken last boot. Per-profile outcome is recorded
to $HERMES_HOME/logs/container-boot.log.
Implementation: hermes_cli/container_boot.py + 12 unit tests.
Profile-marker is SOUL.md, not config.yaml, because `hermes profile
create` only seeds SOUL.md by default (config.yaml comes from
`hermes setup`).
Task 4.1 / 4.2 — profile create/delete hooks:
hermes_cli/profiles.py::create_profile now calls
_maybe_register_gateway_service(<canon>) at the end, which routes
through ServiceManager.register_profile_gateway when running on s6
and no-ops on host backends. delete_profile mirrors with
_maybe_unregister_gateway_service. _allocate_gateway_port produces
a deterministic SHA-256-derived port in [9200, 9800).
Task 4.3 — gateway dispatch + remove rejection arms:
_dispatch_via_service_manager_if_s6(action) intercepts
start/stop/restart at the top of each subcommand and routes them
through S6ServiceManager.{start,stop,restart}. The pre-Phase-4
`elif is_container():` rejection arms are kept as fallback for
pre-s6 containers / unsupported runtimes, but only ever fire when
detect_service_manager() != 's6'. install/uninstall under s6
print informational guidance pointing users at profile create/delete.
Removed the two xfail(strict=True) markers from
tests/docker/test_profile_gateway.py — both tests now pass strictly.
Task 4.4 — status reporting:
get_gateway_runtime_snapshot() reports
Manager: 's6 (container supervisor)' inside an s6 container instead
of 'docker (foreground)'.
Plan-vs-reality drift fixed in this commit:
- Plan's S6ServiceManager._render_run_script used
`gateway start --foreground --port {port}` — invented args; the
real CLI is `gateway run`. Switched accordingly. port arg
retained for API parity but now documented as 'currently ignored'.
- Plan's reconciler keyed on config.yaml; switched to SOUL.md
(config.yaml is created by hermes setup, not by hermes profile
create, so the original gate caught nothing).
- The plan's _dispatch helper used _profile_arg() which returns
'--profile <name>' (i.e. with the flag prefix). Switched to
_profile_suffix() which returns the bare name.
- Architecture B's docker exec doesn't get /command on PATH or
the venv on PATH; Dockerfile's runtime PATH now includes
/opt/hermes/.venv/bin so 'docker exec <c> hermes ...' works
without sourcing the venv.
- stage2-hook now chowns $HERMES_HOME/profiles to hermes on every
boot, not just on the UID-remap path. Without this, files created
by docker-exec-as-root accumulate and the next reconciler run
fails with PermissionError reading SOUL.md.
Test harness:
19 passed, 0 xfailed (the two pre-Phase-4 xfail targets flip to
passing). 78 unit tests across service_manager + container_boot +
profiles_s6_hooks + gateway_s6_dispatch. Hadolint + shellcheck
pass cleanly.
Refs: docs/plans/2026-05-07-s6-overlay-dynamic-subagent-gateways.md
BREAKING CHANGE: the container ENTRYPOINT is now /init (s6-overlay)
instead of /usr/bin/tini. Main hermes runs as the container CMD with
TTY inherited (preserving --tui), dashboard runs as a supervised s6-rc
service (HERMES_DASHBOARD=1 starts it; crashes auto-restart), and the
ground is laid for per-profile gateway supervision (Phase 3+4).
All five pre-s6 docker run invocation patterns continue to work
identically — verified by the Phase 0 docker harness:
docker run <image> → `hermes` with no args
docker run <image> chat -q "..." → `hermes chat -q ...` passthrough
docker run <image> sleep infinity → `sleep infinity` direct
docker run <image> bash → interactive bash
docker run -it <image> --tui → interactive Ink TUI
Phase 2 harness result: 12 passed, 2 xfailed (Phase 4 target). Hadolint
+ shellcheck pass cleanly.
Architecture pivot from plan v3 (documented in main-hermes/run header):
the plan called for main hermes to be an s6-supervised service, but
two real s6-overlay v3 mechanics blocked that — cont-init.d scripts
receive no arguments (CMD args are not visible to stage2-hook), and
`/run/s6/basedir/bin/halt` after writing the exit code did not
propagate the desired exit code (container exits 143). We use the
s6-overlay-native CMD pattern instead: main-wrapper.sh is the
container's main program (ENTRYPOINT prepends it so leading-dash
args like --version aren't intercepted by /init), exec's the final
program with stdin/stdout/stderr inherited, and the program's exit
code becomes the container exit code. main-hermes is now a no-op
`sleep infinity` slot kept for future supervised-gateway-container
modes. This trades "supervised restart of main hermes" for arg-
parity with the pre-s6 contract — main hermes was already unsupervised
under tini, so we lose nothing functional. Dashboard supervision is
the only new guarantee added by this phase.
Files added:
docker/main-wrapper.sh # arg routing + s6-setuidgid drop
docker/stage2-hook.sh # gosu-equivalent + chown + seed
docker/s6-rc.d/main-hermes/{type,run,dependencies.d/base}
docker/s6-rc.d/dashboard/{type,run,dependencies.d/base}
docker/s6-rc.d/user/contents.d/{main-hermes,dashboard}
Files changed:
Dockerfile: tini → s6-overlay install + ENTRYPOINT flip + service wiring
docker/entrypoint.sh: thin shim to stage2-hook.sh for back-compat
tests/docker/test_dashboard.py: add test_dashboard_restarts_after_crash
Refs: docs/plans/2026-05-07-s6-overlay-dynamic-subagent-gateways.md
* feat(config): add install-method stamping + Docker detection
Dockerfile stamps "docker", install.sh stamps "git", and cmd_postinstall
stamps "pip" into ~/.hermes/.install_method. detect_install_method() reads
the stamp first, then falls back to managed-system / container / .git
heuristics. Adds Docker upgrade guidance.
Tracking: #27826
* fix(stamp): move Docker stamp to entrypoint, install.sh stamp after print_success
The Dockerfile stamp was overwritten by the VOLUME overlay at container
start. Moving it to entrypoint.sh ensures it persists. The install.sh
stamp now writes after print_success so it only lands on full success.
The Dockerfile permissions section made /opt/hermes/.venv readable but not
writable by the hermes runtime user. Since the 2026-05-12 policy change
moved messaging packages (discord.py, telegram, slack, etc.) out of [all]
and into lazy_deps.py, the Docker image no longer ships with them
pre-installed. At first gateway boot, lazy_deps.ensure() tries to
`uv pip install` them into the venv but fails with EACCES because
site-packages is root-owned.
The result: every messaging platform adapter silently fails to load inside
Docker containers, producing only a cryptic "discord.py not installed"
warning despite the gateway being correctly configured.
Two-part fix:
1. Dockerfile: add /opt/hermes/.venv to the existing chown -R hermes:hermes
line so the default (UID 10000) case works out of the box.
2. docker/entrypoint.sh: extend the needs_chown block to also re-chown the
.venv when HERMES_UID is remapped. Without this, the build-time chown
becomes stale when someone uses the documented HERMES_UID override in
docker-compose.yml.
Fixes#21536
Related: #17674, #21543, #21755
Before this change, `uv pip install -e ".[all]"` ran AFTER `COPY . .`,
so every commit that changed any .py file busted the layer cache and
re-did the entire Python dep resolve + wheel download + native extension
compile (~4-5 min on cold Docker Hub cache).
Split it into two steps:
1. Before `COPY . .`: copy only pyproject.toml + uv.lock + README.md,
then `uv sync --frozen --no-install-project --all-extras`. This
layer is cached unless any of those three files change, so .py-only
commits skip the heavy work entirely.
2. After `COPY . .` (and its downstream chmod/chown step): run
`uv pip install --no-cache-dir --no-deps -e .` to create the
editable link. With --no-deps this is a ~1s op — no resolution, no
downloads, no compilation.
Combined with the per-arch runner split in the previous commit, this
should drop cache-hit build times to the sub-5-min range.
curl is a ubiquitous tool both for users running ad-hoc commands inside
the container (debugging, health checks, quick HTTP probes) and for
agent workflows — many bundled skills and hub skills lean on curl for
HTTP calls, API exploration, and installer bootstrapping. Its absence
causes silent workflow failures with "curl: command not found" until
the user manually apt-installs it.
Add curl to the single apt-get install layer alongside the other base
utilities (build-essential, nodejs, git, openssh-client, etc.) so it
ships in the image with zero extra layers and negligible size impact
(~400 KB).
- Dockerfile: add curl to the apt-get install list
Install tini in the container image and route ENTRYPOINT through
`/usr/bin/tini -g -- /opt/hermes/docker/entrypoint.sh`.
Without a PID-1 init, orphans reparented to hermes (MCP stdio servers,
git, bun, browser daemons) never get waited() on and accumulate as
zombies. Long-running gateway containers eventually exhaust the PID
table and hit "fork: cannot allocate memory".
tini is the standard container init (same pattern Docker's --init flag
and Kubernetes pause container use). It handles SIGCHLD, reaps orphans,
and forwards SIGTERM/SIGINT to the entrypoint so hermes's existing
graceful-shutdown handlers still run. The -g flag sends signals to the
whole process group so `docker stop` cleanly terminates hermes and its
descendants, not just direct children.
Closes#15012.
E2E-verified with a minimal reproducer image: spawning 5 orphans that
reparent to PID 1 leaves 5 zombies without tini and 0 with tini.
- Remove 'USER hermes' from Dockerfile so entrypoint runs as root and can
usermod/groupmod before gosu drop. Add chmod -R a+rX /opt/hermes so any
remapped UID can read the install directory.
- Fix entrypoint chown logic: always chown -R when HERMES_UID is remapped
from default 10000, not just when top-level dir ownership mismatches.
- Add docker-compose.yml with gateway + dashboard services.
- Add .hermes to .gitignore.
Running 'hermes profile create' inside the container creates wrappers at
/opt/data/.local/bin but that directory isn't on PATH by default.
Add ENV PATH so wrappers are discoverable without touching shell configs.
Remove eager npm install of @whiskeysockets/baileys during
install.sh, install.ps1, and Docker build. The bridge deps are
already installed on-demand by `hermes whatsapp` (Step 4 checks
for node_modules and runs npm install if missing), so there is no
need to pay the cost at initial install for users who never use
WhatsApp.
* perf(docker): layer-cache npm/Playwright and skip redundant web rebuild
Copy package manifests before source so npm install + Playwright only
re-run when lockfiles change. Use COPY --chown instead of chown -R,
set HERMES_WEB_DIST to skip runtime web rebuild, and drop the
USER root / chmod dance since entrypoint.sh is already executable in git.
* Update Dockerfile
The Dockerfile installs root-level npm dependencies (for Playwright) and the
whatsapp-bridge bundle, but never builds the web/ Vite project. As a result,
'hermes dashboard' starts FastAPI on :9119 but serves a broken SPA because
hermes_cli/web_dist/ is empty and requests to /assets/index-<hash>.js 404.
Add a build step inside web/ so the Vite output is baked into the image.
Reproduce (before):
docker build -t hermes-repro -f Dockerfile .
docker run --rm -p 9119:9119 hermes-repro hermes dashboard
curl -sI http://localhost:9119/assets/ | head -1 # -> 404
After: /assets/ returns the built asset path.
- Add gosu for runtime privilege dropping from root to hermes user
- Support HERMES_UID/HERMES_GID env vars for host mount permission matching
- Switch to debian:13.4-slim base image
- Use uv venv instead of pip install --break-system-packages
- Pin uv and gosu multi-stage images with SHA256 digests
- Set PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH to /opt/hermes/.playwright so build-time
chromium install survives the /opt/data volume mount
- Keep procps for container debugging
Based on work by m0n5t3r in PR #5811. Stripped to hardening-only
changes (non-root, virtualenv, slim base); matrix deps, fonts, xvfb,
and entrypoint playwright download deferred to follow-up.
- Combine apt-get update and install into single RUN with cache clearing
- Remove APT lists after installation
- Add --no-cache-dir to pip install
- Add --prefer-offline --no-audit to npm install
- Create .dockerignore to exclude unnecessary files from build context
- Update docker-publish.yml workflow to tag images with release names
- Ensure buildx caching is used (type=gha)
Adds a complete Docker packaging for Hermes Agent:
- Dockerfile based on debian:13.4 with all deps
- Entrypoint that bootstraps .env, config.yaml, SOUL.md on first run
- CI workflow to build, test, and push to DockerHub
- Documentation for interactive, gateway, and upgrade workflows
Closes#850, #913.
Changes vs original PR:
- Removed pre-created legacy cache/platform dirs from entrypoint
(image_cache, audio_cache, pairing, whatsapp/session) — these are
now created on demand by the application using the consolidated
layout from get_hermes_dir()
- Moved docs from docs/docker.md to website/docs/user-guide/docker.md
and added to Docusaurus sidebar
Co-authored-by: benbarclay <benbarclay@users.noreply.github.com>
