hermes-agent/website/docs
Teknium b8663813b6
feat(state): auto-prune old sessions + VACUUM state.db at startup (#13861)
* feat(state): auto-prune old sessions + VACUUM state.db at startup

state.db accumulates every session, message, and FTS5 index entry forever.
A heavy user (gateway + cron) reported 384MB with 982 sessions / 68K messages
causing slowdown; manual 'hermes sessions prune --older-than 7' + VACUUM
brought it to 43MB. The prune command and VACUUM are not wired to run
automatically anywhere — sessions grew unbounded until users noticed.

Changes:
- hermes_state.py: new state_meta key/value table, vacuum() method, and
  maybe_auto_prune_and_vacuum() — idempotent via last-run timestamp in
  state_meta so it only actually executes once per min_interval_hours
  across all Hermes processes for a given HERMES_HOME. Never raises.
- hermes_cli/config.py: new 'sessions:' block in DEFAULT_CONFIG
  (auto_prune=True, retention_days=90, vacuum_after_prune=True,
  min_interval_hours=24). Added to _KNOWN_ROOT_KEYS.
- cli.py: call maintenance once at HermesCLI init (shared helper
  _run_state_db_auto_maintenance reads config and delegates to DB).
- gateway/run.py: call maintenance once at GatewayRunner init.
- Docs: user-guide/sessions.md rewrites 'Automatic Cleanup' section.

Why VACUUM matters: SQLite does NOT shrink the file on DELETE — freed
pages get reused on next INSERT. Without VACUUM, a delete-heavy DB stays
bloated forever. VACUUM only runs when the prune actually removed rows,
so tight DBs don't pay the I/O cost.

Tests: 10 new tests in tests/test_hermes_state.py covering state_meta,
vacuum, idempotency, interval skipping, VACUUM-only-when-needed,
corrupt-marker recovery. All 246 existing state/config/gateway tests
still pass.

Verified E2E with real imports + isolated HERMES_HOME: DEFAULT_CONFIG
exposes the new block, load_config() returns it for fresh installs,
first call prunes+vacuums, second call within min_interval_hours skips,
and the state_meta marker persists across connection close/reopen.

* sessions.auto_prune defaults to false (opt-in)

Session history powers session_search recall across past conversations,
so silently pruning on startup could surprise users. Ship the machinery
disabled and let users opt in when they notice state.db is hurting
performance.

- DEFAULT_CONFIG.sessions.auto_prune: True → False
- Call-site fallbacks in cli.py and gateway/run.py match the new default
  (so unmigrated configs still see off)
- Docs: flip 'Enable in config.yaml' framing + tip explains the tradeoff
2026-04-22 05:21:49 -07:00
..
developer-guide feat(skills+terminal): make bundled skill scripts runnable out of the box (#13384) 2026-04-21 00:39:19 -07:00
getting-started docs: add PR review guides, rework quickstart, slim down installation 2026-04-19 05:30:50 -07:00
guides docs(delegate): clarify that the parent agent, not the user, populates goal/context (#13698) 2026-04-21 14:27:06 -07:00
integrations refactor: remove smart_model_routing feature (#12732) 2026-04-19 18:12:55 -07:00
reference docs: document delegation width + depth knobs (#13745) 2026-04-21 17:54:39 -07:00
user-guide feat(state): auto-prune old sessions + VACUUM state.db at startup (#13861) 2026-04-22 05:21:49 -07:00
index.md fix(docs): show sidebar on docs homepage 2026-04-16 04:24:45 -07:00