4c2961c51 added referenced_skill_names() so the curator never archives a
skill a cron job depends on — paused jobs and infrequent schedules would
otherwise age their skills out and the next run fails to load them.
62972060c then taught the scheduler that jobs may store ABSOLUTE skill
paths, normalizing them through normalize_skill_lookup_name before
skill_view. The protection set kept returning the raw string, so it now
holds a full path while the curator matches it against bare skill names.
Those jobs silently lost their protection: the skill is archived, and the
next fire logs a warning and runs the job without its instructions.
Canonicalize each reference the same way the scheduler resolves it, with
a deferred import and a verbatim fallback so a resolver failure can never
drop a name (referenced_skill_names has exactly one caller, the curator's
protection lookup, so nothing else sees the change).
The curator LLM review loop (_run_llm_review) built its AIAgent without
enabled_toolsets, so it advertised the full default catalog (~30 tools plus the
context_engine lcm_* family) on every call. The fork uses only four tools, fixed
by its own system prompt, with no dispatch path to the rest, so ~26 tool schemas
shipped on every request as dead weight: ~7K input tokens per call on a loop that
makes 50-100 calls per consolidation pass.
Restrict the fork to enabled_toolsets=["skills", "terminal"], the same tools the
prompt already names. Behavior-neutral: the prompt held the model to these tools
and nothing routed calls to the others. Mirrors the background_review fork
(background_review.py:788-794). Call-site only; AIAgent already forwards the kwarg.
Adds test_review_fork_restricts_toolsets_to_skills_and_terminal (captures the
constructor kwarg) and test_review_fork_toolset_surface_is_skills_plus_terminal
(pins the resolved surface).
Main's 243c9182b1/a16fd675df/7142dc4580 added load_config_readonly
sibling stubs across 38 files; our pruned versions of 11 of those files
kept only the load_config stubs. Re-applied the pairing at every
surviving site (26 patch()/setattr sites) — same return_value/
side_effect as the adjacent load_config stub. 494 tests green across
the 11 files.
The readonly swaps mean agent/ modules now read config through
load_config_readonly(); tests that stubbed only load_config stopped
intercepting those reads. Added sibling readonly stubs (same
return_value/side_effect/lambda) at every affected site across 11 test
files, found via a tree-wide sweep of load_config stubs cross-referenced
against the swapped modules. 3,915 tests green across the 38-file
sibling sweep.
The curator's inactivity prune archived any non-pinned agent-created
skill whose activity was older than archive_after_days (90d). A skill
loaded only by a cron job had its usage bumped solely when the job
fired, so paused jobs, infrequent (quarterly/annual) schedules, and
far-future one-shots aged their skills out from under them — the next
run then failed to load the now-archived skill.
- cron/jobs.py: add referenced_skill_names() returning skills used by
ANY job (incl. paused/disabled).
- curator.apply_automatic_transitions(): skip cron-referenced skills
like pinned; add a use=0 grace floor so a never-used skill is not
marked stale/archived until it is at least stale_after_days old.
- LLM review pass: candidate list marks cron=yes; prompt forbids
pruning cron-referenced skills and never-used skills under 30 days.
Tested E2E against a real cron job + real usage records and with 4 new
unit tests.
The curator_env fixture left async review threads (synchronous=False spawns
a daemon 'curator-review' thread that calls save_state() on completion)
running past test teardown. save_state() resolves the state path from
HERMES_HOME at write time, so a straggler could write into the next test's
tmp home, corrupting test_state_file_survives_corrupt_read (and others)
under CI load. Join the thread on teardown while HERMES_HOME is still
pinned to this test's home.
The salvaged #51875 added a background-review write guard in skill_manage
that refuses mutations to skills.external_dirs skills — but it only fires
when is_background_review() is true. The curator's LLM review fork ran with
the default _memory_write_origin='assistant_tool', so the guard never
triggered during the exact curation pass it exists to protect against
(GH-47688).
- Set _memory_write_origin='background_review' on the curator review fork so
turn_context binds it onto the write-origin ContextVar and the guard fires.
- Add a regression test asserting the fork runs under the background_review
origin (the invariant linking the fork to the guard).
- AUTHOR_MAP: map yu-xin-c for the salvaged commit.
The curator now defaults to prune-only: the deterministic inactivity pass
(mark stale / archive long-unused skills) still runs whenever the curator is
enabled, but the opinionated LLM umbrella-building consolidation fork is OFF
by default.
- agent/curator.py: add DEFAULT_CONSOLIDATE=False + get_consolidate(); gate
the forked aux-model review in run_curator_review behind it (new consolidate
param, None=read config). When off, the LLM pass is skipped entirely (no
aux-model cost); the run is still recorded and reported.
- config.py: add curator.consolidate (default false); v29->v30 migration seeds
the key for existing installs without clobbering a user-set value.
- hermes_cli/curator.py: 'hermes curator run --consolidate' override; status
shows consolidate state; prune-only notice on run.
- docs + tests.
The curator's idle-archival path (apply_automatic_transitions under
prune_builtins) could archive the bundled `plan` skill, killing the
/plan slash command silently — typing /plan then returned 'Unknown
command' with no signal that a skill had vanished. The archived skill's
hash stays in .bundled_manifest, so 'hermes update' wouldn't re-seed it.
Add PROTECTED_BUILTIN_SKILLS ({plan}) enforced at the master gate
is_curation_eligible() (covers archive_skill + the transition walk) and
in the candidate enumerator (so the LLM consolidation pass never sees
them). Immune to prune_builtins, pin state, and LLM judgment.
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.
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
Curator review fork now forwards per-slot credentials from auxiliary.curator
and legacy curator.auxiliary to resolve_runtime_provider, matching the
canonical aux task schema. Add regression tests for binding and main fallback.
* fix(curator): defer first run and add --dry-run preview (#18373)
Curator was meant to run 7 days after install, not on the very first
gateway tick. On a fresh install (no .curator_state), should_run_now()
returned True immediately because last_run_at was None — so the gateway
cron ticker fired Curator against a fresh skill library moments after
'hermes update'. Combined with the binary 'agent-created' provenance
model (anything not bundled and not hub-installed), this consolidated
hand-authored user workflow skills without consent.
Changes:
- should_run_now(): first observation seeds last_run_at='now' and returns
False. The next real pass fires one full interval_hours later (7 days
by default), matching the original design intent.
- hermes curator run --dry-run: produces the same review report without
applying automatic transitions OR permitting the LLM to call
skill_manage / terminal mv. A DRY-RUN banner is prepended to the
prompt and the caller skips apply_automatic_transitions. State is
NOT advanced so a preview doesn't defer the next scheduled real pass.
- hermes update: prints a one-liner on fresh installs pointing at
--dry-run, pause, and the docs. Silent on steady state.
- Docs: curator.md and cli-commands.md explain the deferred first-run
behavior and warn that hand-written SKILL.md files share the
'agent-created' bucket, with guidance to pin or preview before the
first pass.
Tests:
- test_first_run_defers replaces the old 'first run always eligible'
assertion — same fixture, inverted expectation.
- test_maybe_run_curator_defers_on_fresh_install covers the gateway tick
path end-to-end.
- Three new dry-run tests cover state-advance suppression, prompt
banner injection, and apply_automatic_transitions skipping.
Fixes#18373.
* feat(curator): pre-run backup + rollback (#18373)
Every real curator pass now snapshots ~/.hermes/skills/ into
~/.hermes/skills/.curator_backups/<utc-iso>/skills.tar.gz before calling
apply_automatic_transitions or the LLM review. If a run consolidates or
archives something the user didn't want touched, 'hermes curator
rollback' restores the tree in one command. Dry-run is skipped — no
mutation means no snapshot needed.
Changes:
- agent/curator_backup.py (new): tar.gz snapshot + safe rollback. The
snapshot excludes .curator_backups/ (would recurse) and .hub/ (managed
by the skills hub). Extract refuses absolute paths and .. components,
and uses tarfile's filter='data' on Python 3.12+. Rollback takes a
pre-rollback safety snapshot FIRST, stages the current tree into
.rollback-staging-<ts>/ so the extract lands in an empty dir, and
cleans the staging dir on success. A failed extract restores the
staged contents.
- agent/curator.py: run_curator_review() calls curator_backup.
snapshot_skills(reason='pre-curator-run') before apply_automatic_
transitions. Best-effort — a failed snapshot logs at debug and the
run continues (a transient disk issue shouldn't silently disable
curator forever).
- hermes_cli/curator.py: new 'hermes curator backup' and 'hermes curator
rollback' subcommands. rollback supports --list, --id <ts>, -y.
- hermes_cli/config.py: curator.backup.{enabled, keep} config block
with sane defaults (enabled=true, keep=5).
- Docs: curator.md gets a 'Backups and rollback' section; cli-commands
.md table gets the new rows.
Tests (new file tests/agent/test_curator_backup.py, 16 cases):
- snapshot creates tarball + manifest with correct counts
- snapshot excludes .curator_backups/ (recursion guard) and .hub/
- snapshot disabled via config returns None without creating anything
- snapshot uniquifies ids within the same second (-01 suffix)
- prune honors keep count, newest-first
- list_backups + _resolve_backup cover newest-default and unknown-id
- rollback restores a deleted skill with content intact
- rollback is itself undoable — safety snapshot shows up in list_backups
- rollback with no snapshots returns an error
- rollback refuses tarballs with absolute paths or .. components
- real curator runs take a 'pre-curator-run' snapshot; dry-runs do not
All curator tests: 210 passing locally.
Voscko reported curator.auxiliary.provider/model was advertised in the
docs but ignored — the review fork read only model.provider/default. The
narrow fix would wire the one-off key through, but that leaves curator
as a parallel system: not in `hermes model` → auxiliary picker, not in
the dashboard Models tab, missing per-task base_url/api_key/timeout/
extra_body.
Unify curator with the rest of the aux task system so `hermes model`
and the dashboard configure it like every other aux task.
Four sources of truth updated:
- hermes_cli/config.py — add 'curator' slot to DEFAULT_CONFIG.auxiliary
(timeout=600 since reviews run long), drop the one-off curator.auxiliary
block from DEFAULT_CONFIG.curator.
- hermes_cli/main.py — add ('curator', 'Curator', 'skill-usage review pass')
to _AUX_TASKS so the CLI picker offers it.
- hermes_cli/web_server.py — add 'curator' to _AUX_TASK_SLOTS so the
dashboard REST endpoint accepts it.
- web/src/pages/ModelsPage.tsx — add Curator entry so the dashboard
Models tab renders the task.
agent/curator.py _resolve_review_model() now reads auxiliary.curator
first (canonical), falls back to legacy curator.auxiliary (with an info
log asking users to migrate), then falls back to the main chat model.
Pre-unification users keep working.
Docs updated: docs/user-guide/features/curator.md now points at
`hermes model` → auxiliary → Curator and the dashboard Models tab.
Tests: 6 unit tests on _resolve_review_model (auto default, canonical
slot honored, partial override fallback, legacy fallback with
deprecation log assertion, new-wins-over-legacy, empty-config safety)
plus a cross-registry test that curator is wired into all four sources
of truth. test_aux_tasks_keys_all_exist_in_default_config already
covers the DEFAULT_CONFIG ↔ _AUX_TASKS invariant.
Reported by Voscko on Discord.
Every curator pass now emits a dated report directory under
`~/.hermes/logs/curator/{YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS}/` with two files:
- `run.json` — machine-readable full record (before/after snapshot,
state transitions, all tool calls, model/provider, timing, full LLM
final response untruncated, error if any)
- `REPORT.md` — human-readable markdown: model + duration header,
auto-transition counts, LLM consolidation stats, archived-this-run
list, new-skills-this-run list, state transitions, the full LLM
final summary, and a recovery footer pointing at the archive + the
`hermes curator restore` command
Reports live under `logs/curator/`, not inside `skills/` — they're
operational telemetry, not user-authored skill data, and belong
alongside `agent.log` / `gateway.log`.
Internals:
- `_run_llm_review()` now returns a dict (final, summary, model,
provider, tool_calls, error) instead of a bare truncated string so
the reporter has full fidelity
- Report writer is fully best-effort — any failure logs at DEBUG and
never breaks the curator itself. Same-second rerun gets a numeric
suffix so reports can't clobber each other
- Report path stamped into `.curator_state` as `last_report_path`
- `hermes curator status` surfaces a "last report:" line so users
can immediately open the latest run
Tests (all green):
- 7 new tests in tests/agent/test_curator_reports.py covering: report
location (logs not skills), both files written, run.json shape and
diff accuracy, markdown structure, error path still writes, state
transitions captured, same-second runs get unique dirs
- Existing test_run_review_synchronous_invokes_llm_stub updated to
stub the new dict-returning _run_llm_review signature
Live E2E: ran a synchronous pass against a 1-skill test collection
with a stubbed LLM; report written correctly, state stamped with
last_report_path, markdown human-readable, run.json machine-parseable.
Based on three live test runs against 346 agent-created skills on the
author's own setup (~6.5 min, opus-4.7, 86 API calls), the curator
prompt needed three sharpenings before it consistently produced real
umbrella consolidation instead of passive audit output:
**Umbrella-first framing.** The original 'decide keep/patch/archive/
consolidate' framing lets opus default to 'keep' whenever two skills
aren't byte-identical. The new prompt explicitly tells the reviewer
that pairwise distinctness is the wrong bar — the right question is
'would a human maintainer write this as N separate skills, or one
skill with N labeled subsections?' Expect 10-25 prefix clusters; merge
each into an umbrella via one of three methods.
**Three concrete consolidation methods.** (a) Merge into an existing
umbrella (patch the broadest skill, archive siblings); (b) Create a
new umbrella SKILL.md (skill_manage action=create); (c) Demote
session-specific detail into references/, templates/, or scripts/
under the umbrella via skill_manage action=write_file, then archive
the narrow sibling. This matches the support-file vocabulary the
review-prompt side already uses (PR #17213).
**Two observed bailouts pre-empted:** 'usage counters are zero so I
can't judge' (rule 4: judge on content, not use_count) and 'each has
a distinct trigger' (rule 5: pairwise distinctness is the wrong bar).
**Config-aware parent inheritance.** _run_llm_review() was building
AIAgent() without explicit provider/model, hitting an auto-resolve
path that returned empty credentials → HTTP 400 'No models provided'
against OpenRouter. Fork now inherits the user's main provider and
model (via load_config + resolve_runtime_provider) before spawning —
runs on whatever the user is currently on, OAuth-backed or
pool-backed included.
**Unbounded iteration ceiling.** max_iterations=8 was way too low for
an umbrella-build pass over hundreds of skills. A live pass takes
50-100 API calls (scanning, clustering, skill_view'ing candidates,
patching umbrellas, mv'ing siblings). Raised to 9999 — the natural
stopping criterion is 'no more clusters worth processing', not an
arbitrary tool-call budget.
**Tests updated:** test_curator_review_prompt_has_invariants accepts
DO NOT / MUST NOT and drops 'keep' from the required-verb set (the
umbrella-first prompt correctly deemphasizes 'keep' as a first-class
decision label since passive keep-everything is the failure mode
being prevented). Added test_curator_review_prompt_is_umbrella_first
asserting the umbrella framing, class-level thinking, references/
+ templates/ + scripts/ support-file mentions, and the 'use_count
is not evidence of value' pre-emption. Added
test_curator_review_prompt_offers_support_file_actions asserting
skill_manage action=create and action=write_file are both named.
**Live validation on author's setup:**
- Run 1 (old prompt): 3 archives, stopped after surveying — typical passive outcome
- Run 2 (consolidation prompt): 44 archives, 3 patches, surfaced the 50-skill mlops reorg duplicate bug but didn't umbrella
- Run 3 (this prompt): 249 archives + 18 new class-level umbrellas created, reducing agent-created skills from 346 → 118 with every archived skill's content preserved as references/ under its umbrella. Pinned skill untouched. Full report in PR description.
Weekly is closer to how skill churn actually works — most agent-created
skills don't change multiple times per day, so a daily review is pure
cost without benefit. Bumping the default to 7 days reduces aux-model
spend while still catching drift and staleness on the timescales that
matter (30d stale, 90d archive).
Changes:
- DEFAULT_INTERVAL_HOURS: 24 -> 168 (7 days)
- config.yaml default: interval_hours: 24 -> 24 * 7
- CLI status line renders as '7d' when interval is a whole-day multiple
- Test `test_old_run_eligible` decoupled from the exact default: it now
uses 2 * get_interval_hours() so future tweaks don't break it
Previous invariants only gated the primary entry points
(apply_automatic_transitions, archive_skill, CLI pin). Several paths
were unprotected:
- bump_view / bump_use / bump_patch / set_state / set_pinned wrote
usage records unconditionally, which is confusing noise in
.usage.json even though the review list filtered them out
- restore_skill did not check whether a bundled skill now shadows
the archived name
- CLI unpin was asymmetric with CLI pin — it had no gate
Fixes:
- _mutate() (the shared counter / state writer) now drops silently
when the skill is not agent-created. .usage.json never gains a
record for a bundled or hub-installed skill.
- restore_skill() refuses to restore under a name that is now
bundled or hub-installed (would shadow upstream).
- CLI unpin gate matches CLI pin.
New tests:
- 5 provenance-guard tests on skill_usage (one per mutator)
- 1 end-to-end test that hammers every mutator at a bundled skill
and a hub skill, asserts both are untouched on disk, and asserts
the sidecar stays clean
- 2 CLI tests proving pin/unpin refuse bundled skills symmetrically
64/64 tests passing (29 skill_usage + 27 curator + 8 new guards).
The LLM review prompt mentioned bespoke `archive_skill` and `pin_skill`
tools that are not registered as model tools. Swap the prompt to rely
on the real surface:
- skill_manage action=patch — for patching and consolidation
- terminal — to `mv` skill dirs into .archive/
Also drop `pin` from the model's decision list — pinning is a user
opt-out for `hermes curator pin <skill>`, not something the model
should do autonomously.
Decision list is now: keep / patch / consolidate / archive.
Tests updated: prompt-invariant test now asserts the existing tools
are referenced and that bespoke tool names do NOT appear. New test
prevents `pin` from being re-added as a model decision.
Adds the Curator — an auxiliary-model background task that periodically
reviews AGENT-CREATED skills and keeps the collection tidy: tracks usage,
transitions unused skills through active → stale → archived, and spawns
a forked AIAgent to consolidate overlaps and patch drift.
Default: enabled, inactivity-triggered (no cron daemon). Runs on CLI
startup and gateway boot when the last run is older than interval_hours
(default 24) AND the agent has been idle for min_idle_hours (default 2).
Invariants (all load-bearing):
- Never touches bundled or hub-installed skills (.bundled_manifest +
.hub/lock.json double-filter)
- Never auto-deletes — archive only. Archives are recoverable
via `hermes curator restore <skill>`
- Pinned skills bypass all auto-transitions
- Uses the aux client; never touches the main session's prompt cache
New files:
- tools/skill_usage.py — sidecar .usage.json telemetry, atomic writes,
provenance filter
- agent/curator.py — orchestrator: config, idle gating, state-machine
transitions (pure, no LLM), forked-agent review prompt
- hermes_cli/curator.py — `hermes curator {status,run,pause,resume,
pin,unpin,restore}` subcommand
- tests/tools/test_skill_usage.py — 29 tests
- tests/agent/test_curator.py — 25 tests
Modified files (surgical patches):
- tools/skills_tool.py — bump view_count on successful skill_view
- tools/skill_manager_tool.py — bump patch_count on skill_manage
patch/edit/write_file/remove_file; forget record on delete
- hermes_cli/config.py — add curator: section to DEFAULT_CONFIG
- hermes_cli/commands.py — add /curator CommandDef with subcommands
- hermes_cli/main.py — register `hermes curator` subparser via
register_cli() from hermes_cli.curator
- cli.py — /curator slash-command dispatch + startup hook
- gateway/run.py — gateway-boot hook (mirrors CLI)
Validation:
- 54 new tests across skill_usage + curator, all passing in 3s
- 346 tests across all touched files' neighbors green
- 2783 tests across hermes_cli/ + gateway/test_run_progress_topics.py green
- CLI smoke: `hermes curator status/pause/resume` work end-to-end
Companion to PR #16026 (class-first skill review prompt) — together
they form a loop: the review prompt stops near-duplicate skill creation
at the source, and the curator prunes/consolidates what still accumulates.
Refs #7816.
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