Add a focused contract test for the headless `serve` command (routes to the
shared dashboard handler, headless by default while `dashboard` is not, accepts
the legacy --no-open, shares the same runtime/lifecycle flag surface). Also
refresh the dashboard.py module docstring to cover both commands.
The desktop app spawned `hermes dashboard --no-open` as its backend, which
made the dashboard look like a desktop prerequisite. Add a dedicated headless
`hermes serve` command that boots the same gateway (shared cmd_dashboard /
start_server) but never opens a browser, and point the desktop backend spawn
exclusively at it. dashboard and serve are now independent surfaces — neither
launches the other.
- subcommands/dashboard.py: factor shared server args; add `serve` parser
(always headless; accepts legacy --no-open as a no-op)
- main.py: register serve in _BUILTIN_SUBCOMMANDS + coalesce set + gui-log
detection; extend stale-backend reaper patterns to match `serve`
- desktop electron: spawn `serve`, rename dashboardArgs -> backendArgs,
update comments + windows-child-process test assertions
- docs: desktop README, desktop.md (incl. remote-backend), AGENTS.md, and
cli-commands.md now describe `hermes serve` as the desktop/headless backend
Remove the dashboard --insecure auth-bypass, add an MCP persistence guard +
IOC blocklist, and raise the API-server key entropy floor.
Driven by the June 2026 hermes-0day campaign (r/hermesagent, live 854.media
instance): scanners find exposed Hermes dashboards/API servers, drive the
root agent to plant a 'command: bash' MCP entry that appends an attacker SSH
key to authorized_keys, which cron + startup then re-execute every tick.
- dashboard: --insecure no longer disables the auth gate. should_require_auth
returns True for every non-loopback bind; a public bind ALWAYS requires an
auth provider (bundled password provider or OAuth). --insecure kept as a
warned no-op for backward compat. Fail-closed error now points at the
password provider, not at --insecure.
- mcp_security: validate_mcp_server_entry now also rejects shell payloads that
write to OS persistence surfaces (authorized_keys/.ssh/pam.d/sudoers/cron/
rc files) and hard-rejects a hermes-0day IOC blocklist (attacker SSH key +
source IPs) anywhere in command/args/env. Runs at save AND spawn time.
- api_server: raise network-bind API_SERVER_KEY entropy floor 8->16 chars;
warn when a network-accessible API server runs an unsandboxed local backend.
Replace the PortPool-based port reservation system (9120-9199 range) with OS-assigned ephemeral ports via --port 0.
Before: Desktop probed a hardcoded port range, reserved ports in-process to close TOCTOU races, and passed the chosen port to the dashboard via CLI arg.
After: Desktop spawns dashboard with --port 0, parses the actual port from a stdout announcement line (HERMES_DASHBOARD_READY port=<N>), and uses that for WebSocket connections.
Changes:
- web_server.py: add --port 0 support with SO_REUSEADDR pre-bind + announcement; add EADDRINUSE preflight for explicit ports
- main.cjs: remove PortPool, PORT_FLOOR/CEILING, pickPort(), isPortAvailable(); add waitForDashboardPort() stdout parser
- Delete port-pool.cjs and port-pool.test.cjs (106 lines removed)
Net effect: eliminates the entire TOCTOU-mitigation reservation infrastructure and arbitrary port range constraints. OS handles port allocation natively.
* feat(dashboard): unify multi-profile management — one machine dashboard, global profile switcher
The dashboard becomes a machine-level management surface with one
write-target selector, replacing per-profile dashboard fragmentation.
Backend:
- profile param (query or body) on /api/config (get/put/raw), /api/env
(get/put/delete/reveal), /api/mcp/servers (list/add/remove/test/enabled),
/api/mcp/catalog (list/install), /api/model/info, /api/model/set —
all scoped through the existing _profile_scope() context manager
- model/set restructured: expensive-model warning (await) runs before the
scope; the config write runs sync inside the scope in a worker thread
- MCP catalog installs + git-bootstrap entries spawn 'hermes -p <profile>'
- chat PTY: ?profile= on /api/pty points the child's HERMES_HOME at the
profile dir (its own gateway subprocess, config/skills/memory/state.db
all profile-bound); in-process gateway attach skipped when scoped
CLI launch unification:
- '<profile> dashboard' routes to the machine dashboard: attach (open
browser at ?profile=) when one is listening, else re-exec pinned to the
default profile with --open-profile preselecting the launcher
- --isolated preserves the old dedicated per-profile server behavior
- start_server(initial_profile=...) appends ?profile= to the auto-open URL
Frontend:
- ProfileProvider + sidebar ProfileSwitcher: ONE global selector, URL-
persisted (?profile=), mirrored into fetchJSON which auto-appends the
param to the scoped endpoint families (explicit params win)
- app-wide amber banner names the managed profile
- SkillsPage's page-local selector (from the skills-scoping PR) folded
into the global context — single source of truth
- ChatPage threads the scope into the PTY WS URL; switching profiles
remounts the terminal into a fresh scoped session
Omitted profile keeps legacy behavior everywhere.
* docs(dashboard): document machine-level multi-profile management
- web-dashboard.md: 'Managing multiple profiles' section (switcher, URL
deep-links, unified launch, --isolated, scoped Chat, what stays
per-profile) + --isolated in the options table
- profiles.md: 'From the dashboard' subsection + set-as-active vs
switcher clarification
- cli-commands.md: --isolated flag + profile-alias launch example
* fix(dashboard): address profile-unification review findings
Review findings (dev review on PR #44007):
1. HIGH — stale page state on profile switch: pages load data on mount
and didn't consume the profile scope, so a page opened under profile A
kept showing A's state while writes silently targeted the newly
selected B. Fixed structurally: ProfileKeyedRoutes wraps the routed
page tree and keys it by the selected profile, remounting every page
(fresh state + refetch) on switch. ChatPage keeps its own remount
(channel keyed on scopedProfile).
2. HIGH — /api/model/auxiliary read was unscoped while /api/model/set
wrote scoped (Models page could show default's aux pins while editing
worker's). Endpoint now takes profile + _profile_scope, added to
PROFILE_SCOPED_PREFIXES, HTTPException re-raise so ghost profiles 404
instead of 500. Regression test asserts read/write symmetry with
differing worker/default aux config.
3. MEDIUM — tools post-setup spawned unscoped from the profile-aware
drawer. Now spawns 'hermes -p <profile> tools post-setup <key>'
(same mechanism as hub installs); drawer threads its profile prop.
Most hooks install machine-level artifacts where the scope is inert,
but hooks reading config/env now see the drawer's HERMES_HOME.
4. LOW — ty warnings: env Optional asserts before subscript/membership,
fastapi import replaced with web_server.HTTPException re-use.
298 tests green across the four affected suites; tsc -b + vite build
green; aux scoping E2E-verified with real imports.
* fix(dashboard): address second profile-unification review (gille)
1. BLOCKER — profile scope dropped on sidebar navigation: ProfileProvider
derived the selection from the current URL, and nav links are bare
paths, so clicking Config from /skills?profile=worker silently reset
the write target. State is now the source of truth; an effect
re-asserts ?profile= onto the new location after every navigation
(URL stays a synchronized projection for deep links/refresh), and an
incoming URL param (e.g. 'Manage skills & tools' links) still wins.
2. BLOCKER — /api/model/options unscoped while model/set wrote scoped:
the picker context (current model/provider, custom providers,
per-profile .env auth state) now loads inside _profile_scope; added
to PROFILE_SCOPED_PREFIXES. Test: a worker-only current-model pin
appears in the scoped payload and not the unscoped one.
3. BLOCKER — MCP test-server probe escaped the scope after the config
read: the probe now re-enters _profile_scope inside the worker thread
so env-placeholder expansion resolves against the selected profile's
.env. Known limit (documented): the probe's dedicated MCP event-loop
thread doesn't inherit the contextvar (OAuth token paths). Test
asserts get_hermes_home() inside the probe == the worker profile dir.
4. BLOCKER — broad excepts swallowed unknown-profile 404s: /api/model/info
degraded to 200-with-empty-model-info and /api/mcp/catalog to a
silently-empty catalog. Both re-raise HTTPException; 404 regression
tests added for info/options/catalog.
Polish: scope banner clears the fixed mobile header (mt-14 lg:mt-0);
--open-profile hidden via argparse.SUPPRESS (internal re-exec flag);
attach-path test now asserts the opened ?profile= URL.
(Stale-page-state + /api/model/auxiliary findings from this review were
already fixed in 92bcd1568 — the review ran against e600f6951.)
35 tests in the two new suites + 274 in the adjacent ones, all green;
tsc -b + vite build green; scoping E2E-verified with real imports.
* docs(dashboard)+fix: self-review pass — Profiles page section, REST profile-param tip, body-beats-query precedence
Docs:
- web-dashboard.md: add the missing 'Profiles' subsection to Pages
(cards, create/builder, manage-skills jump, set-as-active vs switcher
distinction, editors); REST API section gets a profile-scoped-endpoints
tip documenting ?profile= / body profile / 404 semantics / /api/pty
- (profiles.md + cli-commands.md were already updated in e600f6951)
Precedence fix: scoped endpoints taking BOTH a query param and a body
field now resolve body.profile first. The SPA's fetchJSON injects the
query param from the GLOBAL switcher; an explicit body.profile (e.g.
Profile Builder flows writing into a specific new profile) is the more
specific intent and must not be overridden by whatever the sidebar
happens to be set to. Matches the documented 'explicit beats global'
contract in api.ts.
Verified: 304 tests green across the four suites; tsc -b + vite build
green; docusaurus build green (only pre-existing broken-link warnings,
none from this PR's pages).
Batch extraction of every remaining subcommand whose handler is top-level and
whose parser block is pure argparse: model, setup, postinstall, whatsapp, slack,
login, logout, auth, status, webhook, hooks, doctor, security, dump, debug,
backup, import, config, version, update, uninstall, dashboard, gui, logs,
prompt-size.
Each becomes hermes_cli/subcommands/<name>.py with build_<name>_parser() and an
injected handler (no main import). dashboard also injects cmd_dashboard_register
for its nested 'register' action.
Behavior-neutral: all 25 subcommands' --help output (and nested subaction help)
diff-verified byte-identical to pre-extraction. Two RawDescriptionHelpFormatter
epilogs (debug, logs) needed their multi-line string interiors preserved at
column 0 — caught by the --help diff, not compile.
main() 3297 -> 1798 LOC across this PR; add_parser calls in main.py 179 -> 89.
Validation: tests/hermes_cli/ 6476 passed / 0 failed under per-file process
isolation; new test_subcommands_batch.py smoke-tests all 25 builders + the
dashboard two-handler case.
