Three real bugs from teknium1's first Windows install run:
1. **MinGit has no bash.exe.** MinGit is the minimal-automation Git for Windows
distribution — it ships git.exe but deliberately strips bash and the POSIX
coreutils. Installer logged "Could not locate bash.exe" and Hermes would
fail to run any shell command. Switched to PortableGit — the full Git for
Windows minus the installer UI. PortableGit ships bash.exe at
<root>\bin\bash.exe plus sh, awk, sed, grep, curl, ssh in usr\bin\. ARM64
variant is detected separately (PortableGit-*-arm64.7z.exe). 32-bit falls
back to MinGit-32-bit with a warning (PortableGit is 64-bit only).
PortableGit ships as a 7z self-extractor (56MB vs MinGit's 38MB). We
invoke it with `-o<target> -y` to extract silently — no 7z install needed,
it's self-contained.
Updated tools/environments/local.py::_find_bash candidate order to prefer
the PortableGit layout (<root>\bin\bash.exe) with the MinGit layout
(<root>\usr\bin\bash.exe) as a fallback so existing installs keep working.
2. **os.execvp "Exec format error" on Windows.** Setup wizard's "Launch
hermes chat now? Y" called `os.execvp(["hermes", "chat"])` which on
Windows can only swap to real Win32 .exe files — chokes with OSError(8)
on .cmd batch shims and Python console-script wrappers. Added a
win32 branch in hermes_cli/relaunch.py::relaunch() that uses
subprocess.run + sys.exit — functionally identical (user sees "hermes
exited, then new hermes started") with one extra PID in play. POSIX
path is UNCHANGED — still uses os.execvp for in-place replacement.
Catches OSError in the Windows branch and surfaces a "open a new
terminal so PATH picks up, then re-run hermes" hint instead of a
cryptic traceback.
3. **npm install failures silent on Windows.** The install.ps1 was invoking
`npm install --silent 2>&1 | Out-Null` inside a try/catch. PowerShell's
try/catch does NOT trigger on non-zero process exit codes — only on
unhandled .NET exceptions — so npm failing printed a generic "npm
install failed" with zero information about WHY. The silent pipe ate
the stderr.
Rewrote Install-NodeDeps to:
- Resolve npm.cmd via Get-Command (respects PATHEXT) instead of
relying on bare `npm` name resolution.
- Use Start-Process with -PassThru to capture the actual exit code.
- Redirect stderr to a temp log and surface the first ~800 chars of
the real npm error when install fails, plus the log path for the
full text.
- Fail loudly with the right exit code instead of a misleading success.
- Bail cleanly with a helpful message when npm isn't on PATH at all.
4. **"True" printing to console after Node check.** `Test-Node` returns $true;
installer called it as a bare statement (no assignment, no cast). PowerShell
prints bare return values. Wrapped the call in `[void](Test-Node)`.
## Tests
- Added 3 new tests in tests/hermes_cli/test_relaunch.py covering the
Windows branch: subprocess is called (not execvp), child exit code
propagates, OSError surfaces a helpful message. All 23 tests pass
(20 existing + 3 new).
- 77 Windows-compat tests still pass, POSIX behaviour unchanged.
Second pass on native Windows support, driven by a systematic audit across
five areas: POSIX-only primitives (signal.SIGKILL/SIGHUP/SIGPIPE, os.WNOHANG,
os.setsid), path translation bugs (/c/Users → C:\Users), subprocess patterns
(npm.cmd batch shims, start_new_session no-op on Windows), subsystem health
(cron, gateway daemon, update flow), and module-level import guards.
Every change is platform-gated — POSIX (Linux/macOS) behaviour is preserved
bit-identical. Explicit "do no harm" test: test_posix_path_preserved_on_linux,
test_posix_noop, test_windows_detach_popen_kwargs_is_posix_equivalent_on_posix.
## New module
- hermes_cli/_subprocess_compat.py — shared helpers (resolve_node_command,
windows_detach_flags, windows_hide_flags, windows_detach_popen_kwargs).
All no-ops on non-Windows.
## CRITICAL fixes (would crash or silently break on Windows)
- tui_gateway/entry.py: SIGPIPE/SIGHUP referenced at module top level would
AttributeError on import on Windows, breaking `hermes --tui` entirely (it
spawns this module as a subprocess). Guard each signal.signal() call with
hasattr() and add SIGBREAK as Windows' SIGHUP equivalent.
- hermes_cli/kanban_db.py: os.waitpid(-1, os.WNOHANG) in dispatcher tick was
unguarded. os.WNOHANG doesn't exist on Windows. Gate the whole reap loop
behind `os.name != "nt"` — Windows has no zombies anyway.
- tools/code_execution_tool.py: AF_UNIX socket for execute_code RPC fails on
most Windows builds. Fall back to loopback TCP (AF_INET on 127.0.0.1:0
ephemeral port) when _IS_WINDOWS. HERMES_RPC_SOCKET env var now accepts
either a filesystem path (POSIX) or `tcp://127.0.0.1:<port>` (Windows).
Generated sandbox client parses both.
- cron/scheduler.py: `argv = ["/bin/bash", str(path)]` hardcoded. Use
shutil.which("bash") so Windows (Git Bash via MinGit) works, with a
readable error when bash is genuinely absent.
- 6 bare npm/npx spawn sites: tools_config.py x2, doctor.py, whatsapp.py
(npm install + node version probe), browser_tool.py x2. On Windows npm
is npm.cmd / npx is npx.cmd (batch shims); subprocess.Popen(["npm", ...])
fails with WinError 193. shutil.which(...) returns the absolute .cmd
path which CreateProcessW accepts because the extension routes through
cmd.exe /c. POSIX behaviour unchanged (shutil.which still returns the
same path subprocess would resolve itself).
## HIGH fixes (silent misbehaviour on Windows)
- tools/environments/local.py get_temp_dir: hardcoded /tmp returned on
Windows meant `_cwd_file = "/tmp/hermes-cwd-*.txt"`, which bash wrote
via MSYS2's virtual /tmp but native Python couldn't open. Result: cwd
tracking silently broken — `cd` in terminal tool did nothing. Windows
branch now returns `%HERMES_HOME%/cache/terminal` with forward slashes
(works in both bash and Python, guaranteed no spaces).
- tools/environments/local.py _make_run_env PATH injection: `/usr/bin not
in split(":")` heuristic mangles Windows PATH (";" separator). Gate
the injection behind `not _IS_WINDOWS`.
- hermes_cli/gateway.py launch_detached_profile_gateway_restart: outer
Popen + watcher-script Popen both used start_new_session=True, which
Windows silently ignores. Watcher stayed attached to CLI's console,
died when user closed terminal after `hermes update`, left gateway
stale. Now branches through windows_detach_popen_kwargs() helper
(CREATE_NEW_PROCESS_GROUP | DETACHED_PROCESS | CREATE_NO_WINDOW on
Windows, start_new_session=True on POSIX — identical to main).
## MEDIUM fixes
- gateway/run.py /restart and /update handlers: hardcoded bash/setsid
chain crashes on Windows when user triggers /update in-gateway. Now
has sys.platform=="win32" branch using sys.executable + a tiny
Python watcher with proper detach flags. POSIX path is unchanged.
- cli.py _git_repo_root: Git on Windows sometimes returns /c/Users/...
style paths that break subprocess.Popen(cwd=...) and Path().resolve().
Added _normalize_git_bash_path() helper that translates /c/Users,
/cygdrive/c, /mnt/c variants to native C:\Users form. POSIX no-op.
_git_repo_root() now routes every result through it.
- cli.py worktree .worktreeinclude: os.symlink on directories failed
hard on Windows (requires admin or Developer Mode). Falls back to
shutil.copytree with a warning log.
## Tests
- 29 new tests in tests/tools/test_windows_native_support.py covering:
subprocess_compat helpers, TUI entry signal guards, kanban waitpid
guard, code_execution TCP fallback source-level invariants, cron bash
resolution, npm/npx bare-spawn lint per-file, local env Windows temp
dir, PATH injection gating, git bash path normalization, symlink
fallback, gateway detached watcher flags.
- One existing test assertion adjusted in test_browser_homebrew_paths:
it compared captured Popen argv to the BARE `"npx"` literal; after the
shutil.which() change argv[0] is the absolute path. New assertion
checks the shape (two items, second is `agent-browser`) rather than
the exact first-item string. Behaviour unchanged; test was too strict.
All 56 tests pass on Linux (30 from previous commits + 26 new).
267 tests from the affected files/dirs (browser, code_exec, local_env,
process_registry, kanban_db, windows_compat) all pass — zero regressions.
tests/hermes_cli/ (3909 pass) and tests/gateway/ (5021 pass) unchanged;
all pre-existing test failures confirmed unrelated via `git stash` re-run.
## What's still deferred (LOW priority)
- Visible cmd-window flashes on short-lived console apps (~14 sites) —
cosmetic, needs a follow-up pass once we have user reports.
- agent/file_safety.py POSIX-only security deny patterns — separate
hardening task.
- tools/process_registry.py returning "/tmp" as fallback — theoretical;
reachable only when all env-var candidates fail.
User hit a real failure case: their system Git was in a half-installed state
(can neither uninstall nor reinstall) and winget refused to work around it.
We were one step away from shipping an installer that would have left users
with exactly the problem he already had.
What other agents do (reality check):
- Claude Code: requires pre-installed Git; breaks if user doesn't have it.
- OpenCode, Codex: don't need bash at all — PowerShell-first design.
- Cline: uses whatever shell VSCode is configured with; installs nothing.
None of them solve the "broken system Git" problem. We need to own our Git.
Changes:
- scripts/install.ps1::Install-Git: dropped winget path entirely. Now:
(1) use existing git if present; (2) download portable MinGit from the
official git-for-windows GitHub release to %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes\git.
No winget, no admin, no Windows installer registry, no system impact.
- Added %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes\git\{cmd,usr\bin} to User PATH so git + bash
+ POSIX coreutils (which, env, grep, …) resolve in fresh shells.
- tools/environments/local.py::_find_bash: reorder so Hermes' portable
MinGit install is checked BEFORE falling through to shutil.which("bash")
or system install locations. This way a broken system Git can't
hijack the bash lookup.
- README + installation docs reworded to reflect the new story: "portable
Git Bash, isolated from any system install, recoverable via rm -rf if it
ever breaks."
Recoverability: if Hermes' Git install ever breaks, ``Remove-Item %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes\git``
and re-run the installer — no system impact, no uninstall drama, no winget
to fight with.
Native Windows (with Git for Windows installed) can now run the Hermes CLI
and gateway end-to-end without crashing. install.ps1 already existed and
the Git Bash terminal backend was already wired up — this PR fills the
remaining gaps discovered by auditing every Windows-unsafe primitive
(`signal.SIGKILL`, `os.kill(pid, 0)` probes, bare `fcntl`/`termios`
imports) and by comparing hermes against how Claude Code, OpenCode, Codex,
and Cline handle native Windows.
## What changed
### UTF-8 stdio (new module)
- `hermes_cli/stdio.py` — single `configure_windows_stdio()` entry point.
Flips the console code page to CP_UTF8 (65001), reconfigures
`sys.stdout`/`stderr`/`stdin` to UTF-8, sets `PYTHONIOENCODING` + `PYTHONUTF8`
for subprocesses. No-op on non-Windows. Opt out via `HERMES_DISABLE_WINDOWS_UTF8=1`.
- Called early in `cli.py::main`, `hermes_cli/main.py::main`, and
`gateway/run.py::main` so Unicode banners (box-drawing, geometric
symbols, non-Latin chat text) don't `UnicodeEncodeError` on cp1252
consoles.
### Crash sites fixed
- `hermes_cli/main.py:7970` (hermes update → stuck gateway sweep): raw
`os.kill(pid, _signal.SIGKILL)` → `gateway.status.terminate_pid(pid, force=True)`
which routes through `taskkill /T /F` on Windows.
- `hermes_cli/profiles.py::_stop_gateway_process`: same fix — also
converted SIGTERM path to `terminate_pid()` and widened OSError catch
on the intermediate `os.kill(pid, 0)` probe.
- `hermes_cli/kanban_db.py:2914, 3041`: raw `signal.SIGKILL` →
`getattr(signal, "SIGKILL", signal.SIGTERM)` fallback (matches the
pattern already used in `gateway/status.py`).
### OSError widening on `os.kill(pid, 0)` probes
Windows raises `OSError` (WinError 87) for a gone PID instead of
`ProcessLookupError`. Widened the catch at:
- `gateway/run.py:15101` (`--replace` wait-for-exit loop — without this,
the loop busy-spins the full 10s every Windows gateway start)
- `hermes_cli/gateway.py:228, 460, 940`
- `hermes_cli/profiles.py:777`
- `tools/process_registry.py::_is_host_pid_alive`
- `tools/browser_tool.py:1170, 1206`
### Dashboard PTY graceful degradation
`hermes_cli/pty_bridge.py` depends on `fcntl`/`termios`/`ptyprocess`,
none of which exist on native Windows. Previously a Windows dashboard
would crash on `import hermes_cli.web_server` because of a top-level
import. Now:
- `hermes_cli/web_server.py` wraps the pty_bridge import in
`try/except ImportError` and sets `_PTY_BRIDGE_AVAILABLE=False`.
- The `/api/pty` WebSocket handler returns a friendly "use WSL2 for
this tab" message instead of exploding.
- Every other dashboard feature (sessions, jobs, metrics, config
editor) runs natively on Windows.
### Dependency
- `pyproject.toml`: add `tzdata>=2023.3; sys_platform == 'win32'` so
Python's `zoneinfo` works on Windows (which has no IANA tzdata
shipped with the OS). Credits @sprmn24 (PR #13182).
### Docs
- README.md: removed "Native Windows is not supported"; added
PowerShell one-liner and Git-for-Windows prerequisite note.
- `website/docs/getting-started/installation.md`: new Windows section
with capability matrix (everything native except the dashboard
`/chat` PTY tab, which is WSL2-only).
- `website/docs/user-guide/windows-wsl-quickstart.md`: reframed as
"WSL2 as an alternative to native" rather than "the only way".
- `website/docs/developer-guide/contributing.md`: updated
cross-platform guidance with the `signal.SIGKILL` / `OSError`
rules we enforce now.
- `website/docs/user-guide/features/web-dashboard.md`: acknowledged
native Windows works for everything except the embedded PTY pane.
## Why this shape
Pulled from a survey of how other agent codebases handle native
Windows (Claude Code, OpenCode, Codex, Cline):
- All four treat Git Bash as the canonical shell on Windows, same as
hermes already does in `tools/environments/local.py::_find_bash()`.
- None of them force `SetConsoleOutputCP` — but they don't have to,
Node/Rust write UTF-16 to the Win32 console API. Python does not get
that for free, so we flip CP_UTF8 via ctypes.
- None of them ship PowerShell-as-primary-shell (Claude Code exposes
PS as a secondary tool; scope creep for this PR).
- All of them use `taskkill /T /F` for force-kill on Windows, which
is exactly what `gateway.status.terminate_pid(force=True)` does.
## Non-goals (deliberate scope limits)
- No PowerShell-as-a-second-shell tool — worth designing separately.
- No terminal routing rewrite (#12317, #15461, #19800 cluster) — that's
the hardest design call and needs a separate doc.
- No wholesale `open()` → `open(..., encoding="utf-8")` sweep (Tianworld
cluster) — will do as follow-up if users hit actual breakage; most
modern code already specifies it.
## Validation
- 28 new tests in `tests/tools/test_windows_native_support.py` — all
platform-mocked, pass on Linux CI. Cover:
- `configure_windows_stdio` idempotency, opt-out, env-preservation
- `terminate_pid` taskkill routing, failure → OSError, FileNotFoundError fallback
- `getattr(signal, "SIGKILL", …)` fallback shape
- `_is_host_pid_alive` OSError widening (Windows-gone-PID behavior)
- Source-level checks that all entry points call `configure_windows_stdio`
- pty_bridge import-guard present in `web_server.py`
- README no longer says "not supported"
- 12 pre-existing tests in `tests/tools/test_windows_compat.py` still pass.
- `tests/hermes_cli/` ran fully (3909 passed, 9 failures — all confirmed
pre-existing on main by stash-test).
- `tests/gateway/` ran fully (5021 passed, 1 pre-existing failure).
- `tests/tools/test_process_registry.py` + `test_browser_*` pass.
- Manual smoke: `import hermes_cli.stdio; import gateway.run;
import hermes_cli.web_server` — all clean, `_PTY_BRIDGE_AVAILABLE=True`
on Linux (as expected).
## Files
- New: `hermes_cli/stdio.py`, `tests/tools/test_windows_native_support.py`
- Modified: `cli.py`, `gateway/run.py`, `hermes_cli/main.py`,
`hermes_cli/profiles.py`, `hermes_cli/gateway.py`,
`hermes_cli/kanban_db.py`, `hermes_cli/pty_bridge.py`,
`hermes_cli/web_server.py`, `tools/browser_tool.py`,
`tools/process_registry.py`, `pyproject.toml`, `README.md`, and 4
docs pages.
Credits to everyone whose prior PR work informed these fixes — see
the co-author trailers. All of the PRs listed in
`~/.hermes/plans/windows-support-prs.md` fixing `os.kill` / `signal.SIGKILL`
/ UTF-8 stdio / tzdata / README patterns found the same issues; this PR
consolidates them.
Co-authored-by: Philip D'Souza <9472774+PhilipAD@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Arecanon <42595053+ArecaNon@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: XiaoXiao0221 <263113677+XiaoXiao0221@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Lars Hagen <1360677+lars-hagen@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Luan Dias <65574834+luandiasrj@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Ruzzgar <ruzzgarcn@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: sprmn24 <oncuevtv@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: adybag14-cyber <252811164+adybag14-cyber@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Prasanna28Devadiga <54196612+Prasanna28Devadiga@users.noreply.github.com>
Extends the cua-driver computer-use backend to drive backgrounded macOS
windows without stealing keyboard or mouse focus from the foreground app.
All changes target the cua-driver MCP backend and the shared dispatcher.
## cua_backend.py
**Window-aware capture**: capture() now calls list_windows + get_window_state
instead of the removed capture tool. Prefers structuredContent.windows
(MCP 2024-11-05+ cua-driver) for zero-parse window enumeration; falls back
to regex-parsed text for older builds. Stores the selected (pid, window_id)
as sticky context so subsequent action calls do not need a redundant round-trip.
**Action routing**: click/scroll/type_text/key all carry the sticky pid
(and window_id for element-indexed clicks). type_text routes through
type_text_chars (individual key events) rather than AX attribute write --
WebKit AXTextFields reject attribute writes from backgrounded processes.
**Key parsing**: _parse_key_combo splits cmd+s-style strings into
(key, [modifiers]) and routes to hotkey (modifier present) or
press_key (bare key) -- cua-driver actual tool names.
**set_value method**: new set_value(value, element) calls the cua-driver
set_value MCP tool. For AXPopUpButton / HTML select in a backgrounded Safari,
AXPress opens the native macOS popup which closes immediately when the app is
non-frontmost; set_value AX-presses the matching child option directly
(no menu required, no focus steal).
**focus_app**: reimplemented as a pure window-selector (enumerates
list_windows, sets sticky pid/window_id) without ever raising the window
or stealing focus.
**list_apps**: fixed tool name from listApps to list_apps; handles plain-text
response via regex when structured data is absent.
**Structured-content extraction**: _extract_tool_result now surfaces
structuredContent from MCP results, enabling the list_windows window array
without text parsing.
**Helpers**: _parse_windows_from_text, _parse_elements_from_tree,
_split_tree_text, _parse_key_combo extracted as module-level functions.
## schema.py
Added set_value to the action enum with a description explaining when to
prefer it over click (select/popup elements, sliders, no focus steal).
Added value field for set_value payloads.
## tool.py
Routed set_value action through _dispatch to backend.set_value.
Added set_value to _DESTRUCTIVE_ACTIONS (approval-gated).
Fixed MIME-type detection in _capture_response: cua-driver may return
JPEG; detect from base64 magic bytes (/9j/ -> image/jpeg, else image/png)
rather than hardcoding image/png.
## agent/display.py + run_agent.py
Guard _detect_tool_failure and result-preview logic against non-string
function_result values: multimodal tool results (dicts with _multimodal=True)
are not string-sliceable; treat them as successes and fall back to str()
for length/preview.
Background macOS desktop control via cua-driver MCP — does NOT steal the
user's cursor or keyboard focus, works with any tool-capable model.
Replaces the Anthropic-native `computer_20251124` approach from the
abandoned #4562 with a generic OpenAI function-calling schema plus SOM
(set-of-mark) captures so Claude, GPT, Gemini, and open models can all
drive the desktop via numbered element indices.
- `tools/computer_use/` package — swappable ComputerUseBackend ABC +
CuaDriverBackend (stdio MCP client to trycua/cua's cua-driver binary).
- Universal `computer_use` tool with one schema for all providers.
Actions: capture (som/vision/ax), click, double_click, right_click,
middle_click, drag, scroll, type, key, wait, list_apps, focus_app.
- Multimodal tool-result envelope (`_multimodal=True`, OpenAI-style
`content: [text, image_url]` parts) that flows through
handle_function_call into the tool message. Anthropic adapter converts
into native `tool_result` image blocks; OpenAI-compatible providers
get the parts list directly.
- Image eviction in convert_messages_to_anthropic: only the 3 most
recent screenshots carry real image data; older ones become text
placeholders to cap per-turn token cost.
- Context compressor image pruning: old multimodal tool results have
their image parts stripped instead of being skipped.
- Image-aware token estimation: each image counts as a flat 1500 tokens
instead of its base64 char length (~1MB would have registered as
~250K tokens before).
- COMPUTER_USE_GUIDANCE system-prompt block — injected when the toolset
is active.
- Session DB persistence strips base64 from multimodal tool messages.
- Trajectory saver normalises multimodal messages to text-only.
- `hermes tools` post-setup installs cua-driver via the upstream script
and prints permission-grant instructions.
- CLI approval callback wired so destructive computer_use actions go
through the same prompt_toolkit approval dialog as terminal commands.
- Hard safety guards at the tool level: blocked type patterns
(curl|bash, sudo rm -rf, fork bomb), blocked key combos (empty trash,
force delete, lock screen, log out).
- Skill `apple/macos-computer-use/SKILL.md` — universal (model-agnostic)
workflow guide.
- Docs: `user-guide/features/computer-use.md` plus reference catalog
entries.
44 new tests in tests/tools/test_computer_use.py covering schema
shape (universal, not Anthropic-native), dispatch routing, safety
guards, multimodal envelope, Anthropic adapter conversion, screenshot
eviction, context compressor pruning, image-aware token estimation,
run_agent helpers, and universality guarantees.
469/469 pass across tests/tools/test_computer_use.py + the affected
agent/ test suites.
- `model_tools.py` provider-gating: the tool is available to every
provider. Providers without multi-part tool message support will see
text-only tool results (graceful degradation via `text_summary`).
- Anthropic server-side `clear_tool_uses_20250919` — deferred;
client-side eviction + compressor pruning cover the same cost ceiling
without a beta header.
- macOS only. cua-driver uses private SkyLight SPIs
(SLEventPostToPid, SLPSPostEventRecordTo,
_AXObserverAddNotificationAndCheckRemote) that can break on any macOS
update. Pin with HERMES_CUA_DRIVER_VERSION.
- Requires Accessibility + Screen Recording permissions — the post-setup
prints the Settings path.
Supersedes PR #4562 (pyautogui/Quartz foreground backend, Anthropic-
native schema). Credit @0xbyt4 for the original #3816 groundwork whose
context/eviction/token design is preserved here in generic form.
The prior implementation routed download_to_file through the shared
_request() path, which uses httpx.AsyncClient.request() inside a
context manager that closes before aiter_bytes() iterates. The body
was read into memory first and the chunked write loop replayed it
from buffer. On small test payloads this was invisible; on real
Teams meeting recordings (hundreds of MB) it would force the full
artifact into RAM per download.
Rewrites download_to_file to open its own AsyncClient and use
client.stream(), keeping the context open across the aiter_bytes
iteration so the body is actually streamed chunk-by-chunk to disk.
Retry/token-refresh/Retry-After semantics are preserved by handling
them inline on the stream path. Partial .part files are cleaned up
on transport errors and on exhausted retries.
Adds three tests: large-payload streaming verifies the chunk loop
runs multiple times (discriminator: 512 KiB at chunk_size=65536
yields 8 chunks under streaming, 1 under buffering), transient-5xx
retry recovers after a single retry, and exhausted-retry cleans up
the partial file.
The new _is_gateway_approval_context() widened the gateway classification
to any call with HERMES_SESSION_PLATFORM bound via contextvars. But
cron/scheduler.py binds that same contextvar for delivery routing on
cron jobs that originate from a gateway platform (telegram/discord/etc.),
so those jobs were getting routed through submit_pending with no
listener — blocking indefinitely instead of honoring approvals.cron_mode.
Short-circuit on HERMES_CRON_SESSION before any gateway check. Cron is
always governed by cron_mode config, regardless of where the job was
scheduled from.
Adds regression coverage in TestCronWithGatewayOrigin and records the
contributor email mapping for scripts/release.py.
Adds one reserved token to the cron `deliver` field:
- `all` — expand to every platform with a configured home channel
Resolves at fire time, not create time, so a job created before Telegram
was wired up picks it up once `TELEGRAM_HOME_CHANNEL` is set. Composes
with existing targets: `origin,all`, `all,telegram:-100:17`.
Inspired by Vellum Assistant's reminder routing-intent system.
## Changes
- cron/scheduler.py: _expand_routing_tokens + integrate into _resolve_delivery_targets
- tools/cronjob_tools.py: schema description updated
- tests/cron/test_scheduler.py: TestRoutingIntents (5 cases)
- website/docs/user-guide/features/cron.md: docs + table rows
## Validation
- tests/cron/test_scheduler.py -k 'Routing or Deliver' → 57 passed
Both implement WebSearchProvider via tools/web_providers/ — matching the
existing SearXNG pattern (PR #5c906d702). Search-only; pair with any
extract provider via web.extract_backend.
- tools/web_providers/brave_free.py — Brave Search API (free tier, 2k
queries/mo). Uses BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY as X-Subscription-Token.
- tools/web_providers/ddgs.py — DuckDuckGo via the ddgs Python package.
No API key; gated on package importability.
- tools/web_tools.py: both backends added to _get_backend() config list
and auto-detect chain (trails paid providers), _is_backend_available,
web_search_tool dispatch, web_extract_tool + web_crawl_tool search-only
refusals, check_web_api_key, and the __main__ diagnostic. Introduces
_ddgs_package_importable() helper so tests can monkeypatch a single
symbol for the ddgs availability check.
- hermes_cli/tools_config.py: picker entries for both providers; ddgs
gets a post_setup handler that runs `pip install ddgs`.
- hermes_cli/config.py: BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY in OPTIONAL_ENV_VARS.
- scripts/release.py: AUTHOR_MAP entry for @Abd0r.
- tests: 14 new tests (brave-free) + 15 new tests (ddgs) covering
provider unit behavior, backend wiring, and search-only refusals.
Salvages the brave-free + ddgs portion of PR #19796. Not included: the
in-line helpers in web_tools.py (replaced with provider modules to match
the shipped architecture), the lynx-based extract path (these backends
should refuse extract with a clear error — users pair with a real
extract provider), and scripts/start-llama-server.sh (unrelated).
Co-authored-by: Abd0r <223003280+Abd0r@users.noreply.github.com>
For every connected MCP server we register four "utility" tool schemas
(mcp_<server>_list_resources, read_resource, list_prompts, get_prompt).
The existing gate was `hasattr(server.session, method)` — but
`mcp.ClientSession` defines all four methods on the class regardless of
what the remote server supports, so the gate never filtered anything.
Tools-only servers (e.g. @upstash/context7-mcp which advertises only
`tools`) ended up with 4 dead stubs; every model call to them returned
JSON-RPC -32601 Method not found, which made the model conclude the
server was broken even when the real tools worked.
Capture the `InitializeResult` returned by `await session.initialize()`
on the `MCPServerTask`, then gate each utility schema on the
corresponding `capabilities` sub-object (resources / prompts). A
legacy `hasattr` fallback runs when `initialize_result` is missing
(older test fixtures / not-yet-captured code paths) so pre-existing
behavior is preserved.
Verified against real `mcp.types.InitializeResult` pydantic models:
- Context7 shape (tools only) → 0 utility stubs registered (was 4)
- Resources-only server → 2 stubs (list_resources, read_resource)
- Prompts-only server → 2 stubs (list_prompts, get_prompt)
- Fully capable server → all 4 stubs
Closes#18051.
Co-authored-by: nikolay-bratanov <nikolay-bratanov@users.noreply.github.com>
MCP tool results can include ImageContent blocks (screenshots from
Playwright/Blockbench/Puppeteer etc). The tool result handler only
extracted block.text, so image blocks were silently dropped and the
agent saw an empty or text-only response — losing the actual payload.
Add _cache_mcp_image_block() that base64-decodes the block, validates
the bytes via gateway.platforms.base.cache_image_from_bytes (which
sniffs for PNG/JPEG/WebP signatures and rejects non-images), writes to
the shared `~/.hermes/cache/images/` dir, and returns a MEDIA:<path>
tag. The handler appends that tag to the result parts so downstream
gateway adapters render the image inline.
Logs and drops on malformed base64 / non-image payload rather than
raising — a single bad block shouldn't kill the tool call.
Distilled from #17915 (c3115644151) and #10848 (gnanirahulnutakki), both
too stale to cherry-pick (branches diverged enough to revert dozens of
unrelated fixes). Went with #10848's approach of plumbing through
Hermes' existing MEDIA tag / cache_image_from_bytes infrastructure
rather than #17915's raw tempfile path, because it integrates with the
remote-backend mount system and messaging adapters that already handle
MEDIA tags natively.
Co-authored-by: c3115644151 <c3115644151@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: gnanirahulnutakki <gnanirahulnutakki@users.noreply.github.com>
* fix(mcp): re-raise CancelledError explicitly in MCPServerTask.run
On Python 3.11+, `asyncio.CancelledError` inherits from `BaseException`
(not `Exception`), so the broad `except Exception as exc:` in
`MCPServerTask.run`'s transport loop did NOT catch it. Task cancellation
from gateway restart / explicit `task.cancel()` silently escaped past
the reconnect logic — the MCP server task died without going through
the shutdown/reconnect code paths that check `_shutdown_event`.
Add an explicit `except asyncio.CancelledError: raise` before the broad
catch so cancellation propagation is self-documenting rather than an
accident of exception hierarchy, and future sibling-site work (e.g.
distinguishing shutdown-cancel from transport-cancel) has an obvious
hook. Behavior on pre-3.8 Pythons where CancelledError WAS an Exception
subclass is also corrected: the old path would have caught it and
treated it as a connection failure worth retrying.
Closes#9930.
* fix(mcp): forward OAuth auth and bump sse_read_timeout on SSE transport
Two surgical correctness bugs in the SSE branch of MCPServerTask._run_http,
distilled from @amiller's PR #5981 that couldn't be cherry-picked wholesale
(branch too stale).
1. sse_read_timeout was set to the tool timeout (default 60s). That's the
wrong dimension — it governs how long sse_client will wait between
events on the SSE stream, not per-call latency. SSE servers routinely
hold the stream idle for minutes between events; a 60s read timeout
drops the connection after the first slow stretch (Router Teamwork,
Supermemory on Cloudflare Workers idle-disconnect at ~60s). Bump to
300s to match the Streamable HTTP path's httpx read timeout.
2. OAuth auth was built via get_manager().get_or_build_provider() but
never forwarded to sse_client. SSE MCP servers behind OAuth 2.1 PKCE
would silently fail with 401s on every request.
Keepalive (the other half of #5981) intentionally left for a follow-up —
it's a real improvement but a bigger change, and these two are obvious
corrections to ship now. Credits to @amiller.
Co-authored-by: Andrew Miller <socrates1024@gmail.com>
---------
Co-authored-by: Andrew Miller <socrates1024@gmail.com>
On Python 3.11+, `asyncio.CancelledError` inherits from `BaseException`
(not `Exception`), so the broad `except Exception as exc:` in
`MCPServerTask.run`'s transport loop did NOT catch it. Task cancellation
from gateway restart / explicit `task.cancel()` silently escaped past
the reconnect logic — the MCP server task died without going through
the shutdown/reconnect code paths that check `_shutdown_event`.
Add an explicit `except asyncio.CancelledError: raise` before the broad
catch so cancellation propagation is self-documenting rather than an
accident of exception hierarchy, and future sibling-site work (e.g.
distinguishing shutdown-cancel from transport-cancel) has an obvious
hook. Behavior on pre-3.8 Pythons where CancelledError WAS an Exception
subclass is also corrected: the old path would have caught it and
treated it as a connection failure worth retrying.
Closes#9930.
PR #21238 introduced top-level `allOf: [{if/then/required}]` blocks in the
built-in memory tool's parameters schema as conditional-required hints.
Two problems:
1. OpenAI's Codex backend (chatgpt.com/backend-api/codex, gpt-5.x) rejects
top-level `allOf`/`anyOf`/`oneOf`/`enum`/`not` outright with a
non-retryable 400 — affected every user on openai-codex/gpt-5.x.
2. The `if/then` hints were silently ignored by every other provider
(Chat Completions doesn't honour them on function schemas), so they
never actually enforced anything anywhere.
The runtime handler in `memory_tool()` already validates the per-action
required fields and returns actionable error messages, so removing the
block changes nothing behaviourally.
Paired with the defense-in-depth sanitizer in the previous commit, this
closes the bug both at the source (schema no longer emits the forbidden
form) and at the wire boundary (sanitizer strips it if anything else
re-introduces it).
- Rewrites `tests/tools/test_memory_tool_schema.py` to guard against
regressing the forbidden-combinator shape instead of asserting it.
- Adds AUTHOR_MAP entry for @hrkzogw (author of the sanitizer fix).
When the parent agent uses a composite toolset like hermes-cli, calling
delegate_task with individual toolsets (e.g. web, terminal) resulted in
zero tools because the name-based intersection failed: 'web' != 'hermes-cli'.
Add _expand_parent_toolsets() which collects all tool names from parent
toolsets, then recognises any individual toolset whose tools are a subset
of the parent's available tools. This allows delegate_task(toolsets=['web'])
to work correctly when the parent has hermes-cli enabled.
Fixes#19447
Some exception classes (e.g. anyio.ClosedResourceError) are raised without
a message argument, so str(exc) returns an empty string. The existing error
format f'{type(exc).__name__}: {exc}' would produce messages like
'MCP call failed: ClosedResourceError: ' with nothing after the colon.
Add _exc_str() helper that falls back to repr(exc) when str(exc) is empty,
and apply it to all 6 MCP error formatting sites (5 tool/prompt/resource
handlers + 1 sampling handler).
Fixes#19417
Treat closed-resource, closed-transport, broken-pipe, and EOF MCP failures as stale session equivalents so the existing reconnect/retry-once path can recover. Add regression coverage for the stale-pipe marker variants.\n\nChecks:\n- python -m py_compile tools/mcp_tool.py tests/tools/test_mcp_tool_session_expired.py\n- python -m pytest tests/tools/test_mcp_tool_session_expired.py -q -o addopts=\n- selected secret scan over touched files
Track elapsed wall time in _run_on_mcp_loop, cancel the in-flight future when a timeout expires, and raise a descriptive TimeoutError that includes the elapsed and configured timeout. Add regression coverage for the new timeout diagnostics.
Fixes#9930
When an agent session is interrupted (Ctrl+C or gateway timeout), the
current thread's interrupt flag is set in _interrupted_threads. asyncio
executor threads are pooled and reused across sessions, so a thread that
carried an interrupt flag from a prior session will immediately cancel
any new asyncio work dispatched to it — including MCP server discovery.
Fix: in register_mcp_servers(), temporarily clear the interrupt flag on
the current thread before running _discover_all(), then restore it
afterward in a finally block so the original interrupt state is not lost.
Image generation plugins were dispatched without a model name, leaving
the plugin to pick its default. Users on OpenRouter, ComfyUI, or custom
backends had no way to select a specific model through config — they
had to fork the plugin or patch the tool.
Add _read_configured_image_model() that reads image_gen.model from the
active profile's config.yaml and forwards it into
_dispatch_to_plugin_provider(). When model is set, the plugin call
gains a 'model' kwarg; when unset, the plugin falls back to its own
default, so single-model users see no behavior change.
Example config:
image_gen:
provider: openrouter
model: flux-pro
Tests: all 170 image tool tests pass. The new code path is opt-in via
config and no existing test exercises it, so the change is strictly
additive.
Two fixes for the local terminal backend on Windows (Git Bash):
1. `_drain()` in base.py: `select.select()` only works on sockets on
Windows, not pipe file descriptors. On Windows, use blocking
`os.read()` in the daemon thread instead. EOF arrives promptly
when bash exits, so this is safe.
2. `_run_bash()` in local.py: When `self.cwd` is updated from `pwd`
output, it contains Git Bash-style paths (`/c/Users/...`).
`subprocess.Popen(cwd=...)` needs a native Windows path
(`C:\Users\...`). Added a conversion before Popen.
Without these fixes, all terminal() calls on Windows return empty
output (exit code 126), and cwd tracking breaks.
Tested on Windows 11 with Git for Windows + Python 3.13.
Fixes#14638
Lists the skills sitting in ~/.hermes/skills/.archive/ so users have
something to pass to `hermes curator restore`. `curator status` already
shows counts; this fills the name-discovery gap.
Archive layout is flat (`archive_skill` writes to `.archive/<skill>/`),
so the directory name IS the skill name — no frontmatter parsing
needed. Timestamped collision directories (`<skill>-<ts>`) are listed
literally; user can still pass them to `restore`.
Reshape of @EvilDrag0n's #20651, simplified: drop the frontmatter
rglob + preamble/trailer output + duplicate subcommand registration.
Co-authored-by: EvilDrag0n <lxl694522264@gmail.com>
Cloud metadata endpoints (169.254.169.254 etc.) are now always blocked
by browser_navigate regardless of hybrid routing, allow_private_urls,
or backend.
Bug: commit 42c076d3 (#16136) added hybrid routing that flips
auto_local_this_nav=True for private URLs and short-circuits
_is_safe_url(). IMDS endpoints are technically private (169.254/16
link-local), so the sidecar happily routed them to a local Chromium,
and the agent could read IAM credentials via browser_snapshot. On
EC2/GCP/Azure this is a full SSRF-to-credential-theft.
Fix: new is_always_blocked_url() in url_safety.py — a narrow floor
that checks _BLOCKED_HOSTNAMES, _ALWAYS_BLOCKED_IPS,
_ALWAYS_BLOCKED_NETWORKS only. Applied as an independent gate in
browser_navigate's pre-nav and post-redirect checks, BEFORE
auto_local_this_nav gets a chance to short-circuit. Ordinary private
URLs (localhost, 192.168.x, 10.x, .local, CGNAT) still route to the
local sidecar as the #16136 feature intends.
Secondary fix (reporter's finding): _url_is_private() now explicitly
checks 172.16.0.0/12. ipaddress.is_private only covers that range on
Python ≥3.11 (bpo-40791), so on 3.10 runtimes those URLs were routed
to cloud instead of the local sidecar. No security impact — just a
correctness fix for the hybrid-routing feature.
Closes#16234.
Add support for MCP servers using the SSE transport protocol
(SseServerTransport) alongside the existing Streamable HTTP and stdio
transports. Many MCP servers use SSE (GET /sse + POST /messages/)
which was previously unsupported -- the client silently fell back to
Streamable HTTP, causing 10s connection timeouts.
Changes:
- Import mcp.client.sse.sse_client with graceful fallback
- Check config.get('transport') == 'sse' in _run_http() to select
the SSE transport path with proper timeout handling
- Read transport type from config in get_mcp_status() instead of
hardcoding 'http' for URL-based servers
- Update docstring, example config, and feature list
The MCP SDK discovers OAuth server metadata (token_endpoint, etc.) on
demand and keeps it in memory only. Without disk persistence, a restart
with valid cached refresh tokens forces the SDK to fall back to the
guessed '{server_url}/token' path — which returns 404 on most real
providers (Notion, Atlassian, GitHub remote MCP, etc.) and triggers a
full browser re-authorization even though the refresh token is fine.
Add a .meta.json file next to the existing tokens/client_info files:
HERMES_HOME/mcp-tokens/<server>.json -- tokens (existing)
HERMES_HOME/mcp-tokens/<server>.client.json -- client info (existing)
HERMES_HOME/mcp-tokens/<server>.meta.json -- oauth metadata (new)
Changes:
- HermesTokenStorage.save_oauth_metadata / load_oauth_metadata / _meta_path
— disk layer for the discovered OAuthMetadata.
- HermesTokenStorage.remove() now also clears .meta.json so
'hermes mcp remove <name>' and the manager's remove() path clean up fully.
- HermesMCPOAuthProvider._initialize cold-restores from disk before the
existing pre-flight discovery runs. If disk has metadata we skip the
discovery HTTP round-trips entirely.
- HermesMCPOAuthProvider._prefetch_oauth_metadata now persists ASM as
soon as it's discovered, so even the first pre-flight run seeds disk.
- HermesMCPOAuthProvider._persist_oauth_metadata_if_changed() is called
at the end of async_auth_flow so metadata discovered via the SDK's
lazy 401-branch (not pre-flight) is also saved for next time.
Tests cover the storage roundtrip (save/load/missing/corrupt/remove) and
the manager provider path (cold-load restore, skip-when-in-memory,
persist-on-discover, noop-when-unchanged, end-to-end async_auth_flow).
Co-authored-by: nocturnum91 <50326054+nocturnum91@users.noreply.github.com>
Skills that produce large/lossless images (e.g. info-graph, where a
rendered JPG is 1-2 MB) currently lose quality in Telegram delivery
because `_IMAGE_EXTS` membership routes the file through
`send_multiple_images` → `sendMediaGroup`, which Telegram's server
re-encodes to JPEG @ 1280px max edge. The original bytes only survive
when the file goes through `send_document`, which the dispatch tables
in three places (`_process_message_background`, `_deliver_media_from_response`,
and the `send_message` tool's telegram path) only reach for files
whose extension is NOT in `_IMAGE_EXTS`.
This commit adds an `[[as_document]]` directive that mirrors the
existing `[[audio_as_voice]]` shape: a skill emits the directive once
in its response, and every image-extension MEDIA: file in that response
is delivered via `send_document` instead of `send_multiple_images` /
`sendPhoto`. The directive is detected at the dispatch sites (which see
the raw response) and the directive string is stripped from the
user-visible cleaned text in `extract_media` so it never leaks.
Granularity is intentionally all-or-nothing per response, matching
[[audio_as_voice]]'s scope. Skills that need fine control can split into
two responses.
Verified the targeted use case: info-graph emits
信息图已生成（...）
[[as_document]]
MEDIA:/tmp/info-graph-x/infographic.jpg
→ Telegram receives `infographic.jpg` via sendDocument, original 1MB
JPEG bytes preserved, no recompression. Forwarding and download
filenames stay clean (`infographic.jpg`).
Tests: +3 cases in TestExtractMedia covering directive strip, isolation
from voice flag, and coexistence with [[audio_as_voice]]. All
113 pre-existing media/extract/send tests pass.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The delegate_task tool schema descriptions referenced 'claude --acp --stdio'
as an example, but Claude Code CLI does not support --acp or --stdio flags.
The ACP subprocess transport (agent/copilot_acp_client.py) is specifically
built for GitHub Copilot CLI ('copilot --acp --stdio').
Changes:
- Per-task acp_command example: 'claude' → 'copilot'
- Top-level acp_command description: remove 'Claude Code' reference,
clarify requirement for ACP-compatible CLI (currently Copilot only)
- acp_args description: remove misleading claude-opus-4-6 example
Fixes#19055
The kanban_heartbeat tool called heartbeat_worker but never
heartbeat_claim, so a worker that loops the tool while a single tool
call blocks the agent for >DEFAULT_CLAIM_TTL_SECONDS still got
reclaimed by release_stale_claims. The function name and
heartbeat_claim's own docstring imply otherwise:
"Workers that know they'll exceed 15 minutes should call this
every few minutes to keep ownership."
But there was no caller in the worker tool path. Workers couldn't
invoke heartbeat_claim themselves either — it isn't exposed as a tool.
Fix: _handle_heartbeat now calls heartbeat_claim first, reading
HERMES_KANBAN_CLAIM_LOCK from the worker env (the dispatcher pins
this in _default_spawn). Falls back to _claimer_id() for locally-
driven workers that didn't go through dispatcher spawn.
Test: tests/tools/test_kanban_tools.py::test_heartbeat_extends_claim_expires
rewinds claim_expires into the past, calls the tool, and asserts the
new value is at least now + DEFAULT_CLAIM_TTL_SECONDS // 2. Verified to
fail against the unfixed code (claim_expires stays at the rewound
value).
Closes the root cause underlying the symptom in #21141 (15-min
respawns of long-running workers). #21141 separately addresses
post-reclaim cleanup; this fixes the upstream "shouldn't have been
reclaimed in the first place" half.
When terminal.backend is docker, inbound documents uploaded via messaging
platforms (Telegram, Slack, Discord, Feishu, Email, etc.) are cached at a host
path under ~/.hermes/cache/documents, but the container sandbox only sees them
at the auto-mounted /root/.hermes/cache/documents path.
This PR adds to_agent_visible_cache_path() in tools/credential_files.py (the
natural sibling to get_cache_directory_mounts()) and calls it at the
document-context-injection site in gateway/run.py so the agent always receives
a path it can open directly, matching the mount layout already established
by get_cache_directory_mounts() (#4846).
Scope: only Docker backend for now; other backends use different mount
semantics and are left unchanged until verified.
Fixes#18787
_write_json (the persistence helper used by HermesTokenStorage for both
tokens and client_info) created the temp file via Path.write_text and
only chmod'd it to 0o600 afterward. Between create and chmod the file
existed on disk at the process umask (commonly 0o644 = world-readable),
briefly exposing MCP OAuth access/refresh tokens to other local users.
Use os.open with O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_EXCL and an explicit S_IRUSR|S_IWUSR
mode so the file is created atomically at 0o600, plus tighten the parent
dir to 0o700 so siblings can't traverse to the creds file. The temp name
also gains a per-process random suffix to avoid collisions between
concurrent writers and stale leftovers from a crashed prior write.
Mirrors the fix shipped for agent/google_oauth.py in #19673.
Adds a regression test asserting the resulting file mode is 0o600 and
the parent directory is 0o700 (skipped on Windows where POSIX mode bits
aren't enforced).
Adds SearXNG as a free, self-hosted web search provider. SearXNG is a
privacy-respecting metasearch engine that requires no API key — just a
running instance and SEARXNG_URL pointing at it.
## What this adds
- `tools/web_providers/searxng.py` — `SearXNGSearchProvider` implementing
`WebSearchProvider` (search only; no extract capability)
- `_is_backend_available("searxng")` — gates on SEARXNG_URL
- `_get_backend()` — accepts "searxng" as a configured value; adds it to
auto-detect candidates (lower priority than paid services)
- `web_search_tool` — dispatches to SearXNG when it is the active backend
- `check_web_api_key()` — includes SearXNG in availability check
- `OPTIONAL_ENV_VARS["SEARXNG_URL"]` — registered with tools=["web_search"]
- `tools_config.py` — SearXNG appears in the `hermes tools` provider picker
- `nous_subscription.py` — `direct_searxng` detection, web_active / web_available
- `setup.py` — SEARXNG_URL listed in the missing-credential hint
- 23 tests covering: is_configured, happy-path search, score sorting, limit,
HTTP/request errors, _is_backend_available, _get_backend, check_web_api_key
## Config
```yaml
# Use SearXNG for search, any paid provider for extract
web:
search_backend: "searxng"
extract_backend: "firecrawl"
# Or: SearXNG as the sole backend (web_extract will use the next available)
web:
backend: "searxng"
```
SearXNG is search-only — it does not implement WebExtractProvider. Users
who only configure SEARXNG_URL get web_search available; web_extract falls
back to the next available extract provider (or is unavailable if none).
Closes#19198 (Phase 2 Task 4 — SearXNG provider)
Ref: #11562 (original SearXNG PR)
Introduce the foundation for independently selecting web search and
extract backends — enabling future combinations like SearXNG for
search + Firecrawl for extract.
Architecture:
- tools/web_providers/base.py: WebSearchProvider and WebExtractProvider
ABCs with normalized result contracts (mirrors CloudBrowserProvider)
- tools/web_tools.py: _get_search_backend() and _get_extract_backend()
read per-capability config keys, fall through to shared web.backend
- hermes_cli/config.py: web.search_backend and web.extract_backend in
DEFAULT_CONFIG (empty = inherit from web.backend)
Behavioral change:
- web_search_tool() now dispatches via _get_search_backend()
- web_extract_tool() now dispatches via _get_extract_backend()
- When per-capability keys are empty (default), behavior is identical
to before — _get_search_backend() falls through to _get_backend()
This is purely structural — no new backends are added. SearXNG and
other search-only/extract-only providers can now be added as simple
drop-in modules in follow-up PRs.
12 new tests, 49 existing tests pass with zero regressions.
Ref: #19198
Replaces the per-directory shadow-repo design with a single shared shadow
git store at ~/.hermes/checkpoints/store/. Object DB is now deduplicated
across every working directory the agent has ever touched; a dozen
worktrees of the same project cost near-zero in additional disk.
Why
---
Pre-v2 design had three compounding problems that let ~/.hermes/checkpoints/
grow to multi-GB on active machines:
1. Each working directory got its own full shadow git repo — no object
dedup across projects or across worktrees of the same project.
2. _prune() was a documented no-op: max_snapshots only limited the
/rollback listing. Loose objects accumulated forever.
3. Defaults: enabled=True, auto_prune=False — users paid the disk cost
without ever asking for /rollback.
Field report on a single workstation: 847 MB across 47 shadow repos,
mostly redundant clones of the hermes-agent source tree.
Changes
-------
- tools/checkpoint_manager.py: full rewrite. Single bare store, per-project
refs (refs/hermes/<hash>), per-project indexes (store/indexes/<hash>),
per-project metadata (store/projects/<hash>.json with workdir +
created_at + last_touch). On first v2 init, any pre-v2 per-directory
shadow repos are auto-migrated into legacy-<timestamp>/ so the new
store starts clean. _prune() now actually rewrites the per-project ref
to the last max_snapshots commits and runs git gc --prune=now. New
_enforce_size_cap() drops oldest commits round-robin across projects
when the store exceeds max_total_size_mb. _drop_oversize_from_index()
filters any single file larger than max_file_size_mb out of the snapshot.
- hermes_cli/checkpoints.py: new 'hermes checkpoints' CLI
(status / list / prune / clear / clear-legacy) for managing the store
outside a session.
- hermes_cli/config.py: flipped defaults — enabled=False, max_snapshots=20,
auto_prune=True. Added max_total_size_mb=500, max_file_size_mb=10.
Tightened DEFAULT_EXCLUDES (added target/, *.so/*.dylib/*.dll,
*.mp4/*.mov, *.zip/*.tar.gz, .worktrees/, .mypy_cache/, etc.).
- run_agent.py / cli.py / gateway/run.py: thread the new kwargs through
AIAgent and the startup auto_prune hooks.
- Tests rewritten to match v2 storage while keeping backwards-compat
coverage for the pre-v2 prune path (per-directory shadow repos under
base/ are still swept correctly for anyone mid-migration).
- Docs updated: user-guide/checkpoints-and-rollback.md explains the
shared store, new defaults, migration, and the new CLI;
reference/cli-commands.md documents 'hermes checkpoints'.
E2E validated
-------------
- Legacy migration: pre-v2 shadow repos auto-archived into legacy-<ts>/.
- Object dedup: two projects with an identical shared.py blob resolve to
7 total objects in the store (v1 would have stored the blob twice).
- max_snapshots=3 actually enforced: after 6 commits, list shows 3.
- Orphan prune: deleting a project's workdir + 'hermes checkpoints prune
--retention-days 0' removes its ref, index, and metadata; GC reclaims
the objects.
- max_file_size_mb=1 excludes a 2 MB weights.bin while keeping the
tracked source code files.
- hermes checkpoints {status,prune,clear,clear-legacy} all work from the
CLI without an agent running.
Breaking / migration
--------------------
No in-place data migration — legacy per-directory shadow repos are moved
into legacy-<timestamp>/ on first run. Old /rollback history is still
accessible by inspecting the archive with git; run
'hermes checkpoints clear-legacy' to reclaim the space when ready. Users
relying on /rollback must now set checkpoints.enabled=true (or pass
--checkpoints) explicitly.
Add Lightpanda as an optional browser engine for local mode.
Lightpanda is a headless browser built from scratch in Zig -- faster
navigation than Chrome with significantly less memory.
One config line to enable:
browser:
engine: lightpanda
New functions in browser_tool.py:
- _get_browser_engine() -- config/env reader with validation + caching
- _should_inject_engine() -- only inject in local non-cloud mode
- _needs_lightpanda_fallback() -- detect empty/failed LP results
- _chrome_fallback_screenshot() -- temporary Chrome session for screenshots
- Engine injection in _run_browser_command (--engine flag)
- browser_vision pre-routes screenshots to Chrome when engine=lightpanda
Config:
- browser.engine in DEFAULT_CONFIG (auto/lightpanda/chrome)
- AGENT_BROWSER_ENGINE in OPTIONAL_ENV_VARS
- /browser status shows engine info in local mode
Rebased from PR #7144 onto current main. All existing code preserved --
pure additions only (+520/-2).
25 new tests + 81 total browser tests pass (0 failures).
README:24 claimed "Six terminal backends" while tools/environments/ exposes
seven top-level backend choices through TERMINAL_ENV: local, docker, ssh,
singularity, modal, daytona, vercel_sandbox. Modal additionally has direct
and Nous-managed modes selected via terminal.modal_mode (the
ManagedModalEnvironment class is a Modal sub-mode, not a separate top-level
backend).
The same drift appeared in five other doc and code-comment sites with
inconsistent counts (six, seven, or implicit) and varying lists. Updated
all sites to a consistent seven-backend list in canonical order. The
configuration guide also clarifies how Modal's two modes are selected so
operators do not search for a non-existent backend: managed_modal value.
CONTRIBUTING.md:160 lists six backend filenames in a code tree but does
not carry the "Six terminal" prose; left out of scope per cohesion sweep
guidance to bundle only identical wording.
Files updated:
- README.md (line 24, marketing copy)
- website/docs/index.md (line 49, landing page)
- website/docs/user-guide/configuration.md (line 86, config guide)
- tools/environments/__init__.py (lines 3-6, package docstring)
- tools/file_operations.py (line 6, module docstring)
- environments/README.md (line 43, RL training docs — TERMINAL_ENV list)
The comment at tools/web_tools.py:700-702 stated the runtime default for
auxiliary.web_extract.timeout is 360s. The actual runtime default is 30s
(_DEFAULT_AUX_TIMEOUT in agent/auxiliary_client.py:3140), used by
_get_task_timeout when no auxiliary.web_extract.timeout key is present in
config.yaml.
The 360s figure is the config template default written by
hermes_cli/config.py:697 into freshly-generated config.yaml files. It only
takes effect when that key exists in the user's config — not as a fallback.
Users on configs that predate commit 20b4060d (Apr 5, 2026), or who removed
the key, fall through to the 30s _DEFAULT_AUX_TIMEOUT runtime default.
The comment was introduced in 20b4060d alongside the template-default bump
from 30 to 360. The runtime default in auxiliary_client.py was not changed
in that commit and has remained 30s since 839d9d74 (Mar 28, 2026).
