* feat(install): --no-skills flag for blank-slate default profile
Add an install-time --no-skills flag so the default ~/.hermes profile can
be created with zero bundled skills, matching what
`hermes profile create --no-skills` already does for named profiles.
The flag writes $HERMES_HOME/.no-bundled-skills and skips the install-time
seed. sync_skills() now honors that marker with an early return
(skipped_opt_out=True), so neither the installer, a later `hermes update`,
nor a direct sync re-injects bundled skills into a profile that opted out.
Previously the marker was only checked by seed_profile_skills() (named
profiles); the default profile had no opt-out and `hermes update` would
re-seed it every time.
Tests: TestNoBundledSkillsOptOut covers marker-present (no-op) and
marker-absent (normal seed) paths.
* feat(skills): hermes skills opt-out / opt-in for existing profiles
Adds an interactive counterpart to the install-time --no-skills flag so
an already-installed profile (default or named) can toggle the
.no-bundled-skills marker without reinstalling.
- `hermes skills opt-out` writes the marker (stop future seeding). Safe
by default: nothing on disk is touched.
- `hermes skills opt-out --remove` ALSO deletes already-present bundled
skills, but ONLY ones that are manifest-tracked AND byte-identical to
their origin hash. User-edited bundled skills, hub-installed skills, and
hand-written skills are never removed. Previews + confirms before
deleting (--yes to skip).
- `hermes skills opt-in [--sync]` removes the marker and optionally
re-seeds immediately.
Core logic lives in tools/skills_sync.py (set_bundled_skills_opt_out,
is_bundled_skills_opt_out, remove_pristine_bundled_skills) reusing the
existing manifest origin-hash machinery for the safety check.
Tests: TestOptOutToggleAndRemove covers marker toggle idempotency and
proves user-modified + non-bundled skills survive --remove.
* docs: blank-slate skills — install --no-skills + opt-out/opt-in
- features/skills.md: new 'Starting with a blank slate' section covering
the install flag, profile-create flag, and runtime opt-out/opt-in, with
a safe-by-default note.
- reference/cli-commands.md: document the new skills opt-out / opt-in
subcommands + examples.
- reference/profile-commands.md: fix the marker filename (was .no-skills,
actually .no-bundled-skills) and cross-link the runtime commands.
Validated with a full docusaurus build (exit 0); the three edited pages
compile clean with no new warnings.
Two related changes to the skill curator:
1. Built-in pruning. New curator.prune_builtins config (default on) lets the
curator archive bundled built-in skills after the inactivity period, not
just agent-created ones. A .curator_suppressed list tells the update-time
re-seeder (tools/skills_sync) to leave pruned built-ins archived, so the
prune is durable across `hermes update`. Built-ins are seeded with a
baseline record on first sight, so the inactivity clock starts at upgrade
time -- no mass-prune on the first run. Hub-installed skills are never
pruned regardless of the flag. Restoring a built-in clears its suppression.
2. Usage tracking for all skills. Telemetry (view/use/patch) was wrongly gated
behind curation-eligibility, so built-ins were tracked only when prunable
and hub skills never. Telemetry is observability and is now decoupled from
curation: every skill accrues usage counts regardless of provenance, while
lifecycle mutators (set_state/set_pinned/mark_agent_created) stay
curation-gated. New usage_report() + provenance() expose all skills with an
agent/bundled/hub tag.
The hermetic CI env (slice 4/6) redirects HERMES_HOME, so a post-restore
_read_manifest() can resolve to an empty/redirected manifest path and return
{}. Assert on sync_skills's in-memory return value (synced["copied"]) instead,
which is the resilient signal that the skill was re-copied and is no longer in
limbo.
The cherry-picked fix's onerror handler chmod'd only the failing path, but
unlinking a child requires write permission on its PARENT directory. On a true
Nix-store copy (r-xr-xr-x dirs + files) rmtree still failed. Now chmod the
parent dir as well before retrying.
Also rewrites the regression test: the original asserted the helper FAILS on a
read-only dir (documenting the limitation), which is the wrong success criterion.
Split into two tests — restore succeeds on a full read-only tree (real Nix case),
and manifest is preserved when removal genuinely cannot proceed (monkeypatched).
Two related bugs in tools/skills_sync.py affecting Nix-store and
immutable-package installs:
**#34972 — reset_bundled_skill corrupts manifest on rmtree failure:**
The function deleted the manifest entry BEFORE attempting rmtree. If
rmtree failed (read-only files from Nix store), the function returned
early — leaving the skill in a manifest-less limbo state where future
syncs silently skip it forever.
Fix: reorder steps — attempt rmtree FIRST, only delete manifest entry
after rmtree succeeds. If rmtree fails, nothing is changed.
**#34860 — stale .bak directories after sync:**
sync_skills() called shutil.rmtree(backup, ignore_errors=True) which
silently failed on read-only files, leaving persistent .bak dirs.
Fix: add _rmtree_writable() helper that makes files writable via an
onerror callback before retrying removal. Used in both sync_skills()
backup cleanup and reset_bundled_skill().
Fixes#34972Fixes#34860
Remove unused imports (F401) and duplicate/shadowed import
redefinitions (F811) across the codebase using ruff's safe
autofixes. No behavioral changes -- imports only.
- ~1400 safe autofixes applied across 644 files (net -1072 lines)
- __init__.py re-exports preserved (excluded from F401 removal so
public re-export surfaces stay intact)
- Re-exports that are imported or monkeypatched by tests but look
unused in their defining module are kept with explicit # noqa:
F401 (gateway/run.py load_dotenv; run_agent re-exports from
agent.message_sanitization, agent.context_compressor,
agent.retry_utils, agent.prompt_builder, agent.process_bootstrap,
agent.codex_responses_adapter)
- Unsafe F841 (unused-variable) fixes deliberately skipped -- those
can change behavior when the RHS has side effects
- ruff lints remain disabled in pyproject.toml (only PLW1514 is
selected); this is a one-time cleanup, not a config change
Verification:
- python -m compileall: clean
- pytest --collect-only: all 27161 tests collect (zero import errors)
- core entry points import clean (run_agent, model_tools, cli,
toolsets, hermes_state, batch_runner, gateway)
- static scan: every name any test imports directly from an edited
module still resolves
When a newly-bundled skill's name collides with a pre-existing user
skill, sync silently kept the user's copy. Users never learned that
a bundled version shipped by that name.
Now (on non-quiet sync only) print:
⚠ <name>: bundled version shipped but you already have a local
skill by this name — yours was kept. Run `hermes skills reset
<name>` to replace it with the bundled version.
No behavior change to manifest writes or to the kept user copy —
purely additive warning on the existing collision-skip path.
When a new bundled skill's name collided with a pre-existing user skill
(from hub, custom, or leftover), sync_skills() recorded the bundled hash
in the manifest even though the on-disk copy was unrelated to bundled.
On the next sync, user_hash != origin_hash (bundled_hash) marked the
skill as "user-modified" permanently, blocking all bundled updates for
that skill until the user ran `hermes skills reset`.
Fix: only baseline the manifest entry when the user's on-disk copy is
byte-identical to bundled (safe to track — this is the reset re-sync or
coincidentally-identical install case). Otherwise skip the manifest
write entirely: the on-disk skill is unrelated to bundled and shouldn't
be tracked as if it were.
This preserves reset_bundled_skill()'s re-baseline flow (its post-delete
sync still writes to the manifest when user copy matches bundled) while
fixing the poisoning scenario for genuinely unrelated collisions.
Adds two tests following the existing test_failed_copy_does_not_poison_manifest
pattern: one verifying the manifest stays clean after a collision with
differing content, one verifying no false user_modified flag on resync.
When a user edits a bundled skill, sync flags it as user_modified and
skips it forever. The problem: if the user later tries to undo the edit
by copying the current bundled version back into ~/.hermes/skills/, the
manifest still holds the old origin hash from the last successful
sync, so the fresh bundled hash still doesn't match and the skill stays
stuck as user_modified.
Adds an escape hatch for this case.
hermes skills reset <name>
Drops the skill's entry from ~/.hermes/skills/.bundled_manifest and
re-baselines against the user's current copy. Future 'hermes update'
runs accept upstream changes again. Non-destructive.
hermes skills reset <name> --restore
Also deletes the user's copy and re-copies the bundled version.
Use when you want the pristine upstream skill back.
Also available as /skills reset in chat.
- tools/skills_sync.py: new reset_bundled_skill(name, restore=False)
- hermes_cli/skills_hub.py: do_reset() + wired into skills_command and
handle_skills_slash; added to the slash /skills help panel
- hermes_cli/main.py: argparse entry for 'hermes skills reset'
- tests/tools/test_skills_sync.py: 5 new tests covering the stuck-flag
repro, --restore, unknown-skill error, upstream-removed-skill, and
no-op on already-clean state
- website/docs/user-guide/features/skills.md: new 'Bundled skill updates'
section explaining the origin-hash mechanic + reset usage
_discover_bundled_skills() used the directory name to identify skills,
but skills_tool.py and skills_hub.py use the `name:` field from SKILL.md
frontmatter. This mismatch caused 9 builtin skills whose directory name
differs from their SKILL.md name to be written to .bundled_manifest
under the wrong key, so `hermes skills list` showed them as "local"
instead of "builtin".
Read the frontmatter name field (with directory-name fallback) so the
manifest keys match what the rest of the codebase expects.
Closes#6835
* feat: nix flake, uv2nix build, dev shell and home manager
* fixed nix run, updated docs for setup
* feat(nix): NixOS module with persistent container mode, managed guards, checks
- Replace homeModules.nix with nixosModules.nix (two deployment modes)
- Mode A (native): hardened systemd service with ProtectSystem=strict
- Mode B (container): persistent Ubuntu container with /nix/store bind-mount,
identity-hash-based recreation, GC root protection, symlink-based updates
- Add HERMES_MANAGED guards blocking CLI config mutation (config set, setup,
gateway install/uninstall) when running under NixOS module
- Add nix/checks.nix with build-time verification (binary, CLI, managed guard)
- Remove container.nix (no Nix-built OCI image; pulls ubuntu:24.04 at runtime)
- Simplify packages.nix (drop fetchFromGitHub submodules, PYTHONPATH wrappers)
- Rewrite docs/nixos-setup.md with full options reference, container
architecture, secrets management, and troubleshooting guide
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
* Update config.py
* feat(nix): add CI workflow and enhanced build checks
- GitHub Actions workflow for nix flake check + build on linux/macOS
- Entry point sync check to catch pyproject.toml drift
- Expanded managed-guard check to cover config edit
- Wrap hermes-acp binary in Nix package
- Fix Path type mismatch in is_managed()
* Update MCP server package name; bundled skills support
* fix reading .env. instead have container user a common mounted .env file
* feat(nix): container entrypoint with privilege drop and sudo provisioning
Container was running as non-root via --user, which broke apt/pip installs
and caused crashes when $HOME didn't exist. Replace --user with a Nix-built
entrypoint script that provisions the hermes user, sudo (NOPASSWD), and
/home/hermes inside the container on first boot, then drops privileges via
setpriv. Writable layer persists so setup only runs once.
Also expands MCP server options to support HTTP transport and sampling.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
* fix group and user creation in container mode
* feat(nix): persistent /home/hermes and MESSAGING_CWD in container mode
Container mode now bind-mounts ${stateDir}/home to /home/hermes so the
agent's home directory survives container recreation. Previously it lived
in the writable layer and was lost on image/volume/options changes.
Also passes MESSAGING_CWD to the container so the agent finds its
workspace and documents, matching native mode behavior.
Other changes:
- Extract containerDataDir/containerHomeDir bindings (no more magic strings)
- Fix entrypoint chown to run unconditionally (volume mounts always exist)
- Add schema field to container identity hash for auto-recreation
- Add idempotency test (Scenario G) to config-roundtrip check
* docs: add Nix & NixOS setup guide to docs site
Add comprehensive Nix documentation to the Docusaurus site at
website/docs/getting-started/nix-setup.md, covering nix run/profile
install, NixOS module (native + container modes), declarative settings,
secrets management, MCP servers, managed mode, container architecture,
dev shell, flake checks, and full options reference.
- Register nix-setup in sidebar after installation page
- Add Nix callout tip to installation.md linking to new guide
- Add canonical version pointer in docs/nixos-setup.md
* docs: remove docs/nixos-setup.md, consolidate into website docs
Backfill missing details (restart/restartSec in full example,
gateway.pid, 0750 permissions, docker inspect commands) into
the canonical website/docs/getting-started/nix-setup.md and
delete the old standalone file.
* fix(nix): add compression.protect_last_n and target_ratio to config-keys.json
New keys were added to DEFAULT_CONFIG on main, causing the
config-drift check to fail in CI.
* fix(nix): skip checks on aarch64-darwin (onnxruntime wheel missing)
The full Python venv includes onnxruntime (via faster-whisper/STT)
which lacks a compatible uv2nix wheel on aarch64-darwin. Gate all
checks behind stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux. The package and devShell
still evaluate on macOS.
* fix(nix): skip flake check and build on macOS CI
onnxruntime (transitive dep via faster-whisper) lacks a compatible
uv2nix wheel on aarch64-darwin. Run full checks and build on Linux
only; macOS CI verifies the flake evaluates without building.
* fix(nix): preserve container writable layer across nixos-rebuild
The container identity hash included the entrypoint's Nix store path,
which changes on every nixpkgs update (due to runtimeShell/stdenv
input-addressing). This caused false-positive identity mismatches,
triggering container recreation and losing the persistent writable layer.
- Use stable symlink (current-entrypoint) like current-package already does
- Remove entrypoint from identity hash (only image/volumes/options matter)
- Add GC root for entrypoint so nix-collect-garbage doesn't break it
- Remove global HERMES_HOME env var from addToSystemPackages (conflicted
with interactive CLI use, service already sets its own)
---------
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Two bugs in sync_skills():
1. Failed copytree poisons manifest: when shutil.copytree fails (disk
full, permission error), the skill is still recorded in the manifest.
On the next sync, the skill appears as "in manifest but not on disk"
which is interpreted as "user deliberately deleted it" — the skill
is never retried. Fix: only write to manifest on successful copy.
2. Failed update destroys user copy: rmtree deletes the existing skill
directory before copytree runs. If copytree then fails, the user's
skill is gone with no way to recover. Fix: move to .bak before
copying, restore from backup if copytree fails.
Both bugs are proven by new regression tests that fail on the old code
and pass on the fix.
Upgrade skills_sync manifest to v2 format (name:origin_hash). The origin
hash records the MD5 of the bundled skill at the time it was last synced.
On update, the user's copy is compared against the origin hash:
- User copy == origin hash → unmodified → safe to update from bundled
- User copy != origin hash → user customized → skip (preserve changes)
v1 manifests (plain names) are auto-migrated: the user's current hash
becomes the baseline, so future syncs can detect modifications.
Output now shows user-modified skills:
~ whisper (user-modified, skipping)
27 tests covering all scenarios including v1→v2 migration, user
modification detection, update after migration, and origin hash tracking.
2009 tests pass.
- Restored 21 skills removed in commits 757d012 and 740dd92:
accelerate, audiocraft, code-review, faiss, flash-attention, gguf,
grpo-rl-training, guidance, llava, nemo-curator, obliteratus, peft,
pytorch-fsdp, pytorch-lightning, simpo, slime, stable-diffusion,
tensorrt-llm, torchtitan, trl-fine-tuning, whisper
- Rewrote sync_skills() with proper update semantics:
* New skills (not in manifest): copied to user dir
* Existing skills (in manifest + on disk): updated via hash comparison
* User-deleted skills (in manifest, not on disk): respected, not re-added
* Stale manifest entries (removed from bundled): cleaned from manifest
- Added sync_skills() to CLI startup (cmd_chat) and gateway startup
(start_gateway) — previously only ran during 'hermes update'
- Updated cmd_update output to show new/updated/cleaned counts
- Rewrote tests: 20 tests covering manifest CRUD, dir hashing, fresh
install, user deletion respect, update detection, stale cleanup, and
name collision handling
75 bundled skills total. 2002 tests pass.
