* feat(goals): /subgoal — user-added criteria appended to active /goal
Layers a /subgoal command on top of the existing freeform Ralph judge
loop. The user can append extra criteria mid-loop; the judge factors
them into its done/continue verdict and the continuation prompt
surfaces them to the agent. No new tool, no agent self-judging — the
existing judge model just sees a richer prompt.
Forms:
/subgoal show current subgoals
/subgoal <text> append a criterion
/subgoal remove <n> drop subgoal n (1-based)
/subgoal clear wipe all subgoals
How it integrates:
- GoalState gains `subgoals: List[str]` (default []), backwards-compat
for existing state_meta rows.
- judge_goal accepts an optional subgoals kwarg; non-empty switches to
JUDGE_USER_PROMPT_WITH_SUBGOALS_TEMPLATE which lists them as
numbered criteria and asks 'is the goal AND every additional
criterion satisfied?'
- next_continuation_prompt picks CONTINUATION_PROMPT_WITH_SUBGOALS_TEMPLATE
when non-empty so the agent sees what to target.
- /subgoal is allowed mid-run on the gateway since it only touches the
state the judge reads at turn boundary — no race with the running
turn.
- Status line shows '... , N subgoals' when present.
Surface:
- hermes_cli/goals.py — field, prompt blocks, manager methods, judge weave
- hermes_cli/commands.py — /subgoal CommandDef
- cli.py — _handle_subgoal_command
- gateway/run.py — _handle_subgoal_command + mid-run dispatch
- tests/hermes_cli/test_goals.py — 15 new tests (backcompat, mutation,
persistence, prompt template selection, judge-prompt content via mock,
status-line rendering)
77 goal-related tests passing across goals + cli + gateway + tui.
* fix(goals): slash commands don't preempt the goal-continuation hook
Two findings from live-testing /subgoal:
1. Slash commands queued while the agent is running landed in
_pending_input (same queue as real user messages). The goal hook's
'is a real user message pending?' check returned True and silently
skipped — but the slash command consumes its queue slot via
process_command() which never re-fires the goal hook, so the loop
stalls indefinitely. Now the hook peeks the queue and only defers
when a non-slash payload is present.
2. The with-subgoals judge prompt was too soft — opus 4.7 said 'done,
implying all requirements met' without verifying. Tightened to
demand specific per-criterion evidence (file contents, output line,
command result) and explicitly reject phrases like 'implying it was
done.'
Live verified: /subgoal injected mid-loop now correctly forces the
judge to refuse done until the new criterion is met. Agent gets the
continuation prompt with subgoals listed, updates the script, judge
confirms done with specific evidence cited.
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