Adds the last missing parity piece vs the established channels: group
chats can be made opt-in via a mention wake word, exactly like the
BlueBubbles iMessage channel.
- require_mention + mention_patterns, read from config.extra (config.yaml
via the generic gateway bridge) or PHOTON_REQUIRE_MENTION /
PHOTON_MENTION_PATTERNS env vars. Same shapes BlueBubbles accepts
(list / JSON / comma / newline), same default Hermes wake words.
- _dispatch_inbound drops unmatched group messages and strips the leading
wake word from matched ones; DMs are never gated.
- plugin.yaml + docs document both knobs and the config.yaml form.
- New test_mention_gating.py (8 tests): default-off, group drop/pass,
wake-word strip, DM bypass, custom patterns, env comma-list, invalid
regex skip.
The config.yaml -> extra bridge needed no core change — the generic
shared-key loop in gateway/config.py already iterates plugin platforms
(_shared_loop_targets += plugin_entries()), so require_mention /
mention_patterns flow through automatically.
Note: outbound media is the one capability Photon still can't reach —
Photon exposes no HTTP send-attachment endpoint yet (documented API
limitation), so the sidecar can't send files. Not faked.
Validation: 34/34 photon tests; E2E confirms config.yaml require_mention
+ custom mention_patterns bridge through load_gateway_config into a live
adapter and gate/strip correctly.
First-class iMessage support via Photon's managed Spectrum platform.
Targeted as a successor to the BlueBubbles adapter — Photon allocates
the iMessage line, handles delivery, and abuse-prevention so users
don't have to run their own Mac relay. Free tier uses Photon's shared
line pool.
Architecture:
- Inbound: signed JSON webhooks (X-Spectrum-Signature, HMAC-SHA256)
delivered to a local aiohttp listener. Dedupes on message.id,
rejects deliveries with >5min timestamp drift.
- Outbound: small supervised Node sidecar that runs the spectrum-ts
SDK. Photon does not currently expose a public HTTP send-message
endpoint; the sidecar is the only way to call Space.send() today.
When Photon ships an HTTP send endpoint we collapse the sidecar
into _sidecar_send and drop the Node dep — every other layer of
the plugin stays the same.
- Setup: 'hermes photon login' runs the RFC 8628 device-code flow;
'hermes photon setup' creates a Spectrum-enabled project, creates
a shared user (free tier), installs the sidecar's npm deps.
- Webhook management: 'hermes photon webhook register|list|delete'.
- Credentials persisted under credential_pool.photon /
credential_pool.photon_project in ~/.hermes/auth.json.
Plugin path (not built-in) — per current policy (May 2026), all new
platforms ship under plugins/platforms/. Registers itself via
ctx.register_platform() + ctx.register_cli_command(), zero edits to
core gateway code.
Tests cover:
- HMAC-SHA256 signature verification (happy path, tampered body,
wrong secret, drift, missing v0 prefix, empty inputs, non-integer
timestamp)
- Inbound dispatch for text DMs, group ids (any;+;...), and
attachment metadata markers
- Deduplication window
- check_requirements gating when Node is absent
- Device-code flow: request, header-based token return,
body-fallback token return, access_denied propagation
- Project/user/webhook API clients with mocked httpx
Known limitations (current Photon API):
- Attachments are metadata only — no download URL yet
- Outbound attachment send not wired (sidecar can add easily)
- Reactions / message effects not exposed yet
Docs: website/docs/user-guide/messaging/photon.md + sidebar entry.
