Hermes Agent — Oxidane Fork

This repository is a personal operational fork of upstream NousResearch/hermes-agent. It keeps the parts needed for the live local Hermes profiles, records why those changes exist, and follows upstream only when an update is useful enough to forward-port.

For upstream product documentation, installation instructions, and generic feature marketing, use the upstream repository and docs. This README only summarizes what is special about this fork.

What this fork is for

• Run and maintain the local Hermes deployment profiles.
• Keep operational fixes deployed without waiting for upstream to accept or rediscover them.
• Make fork-only behavior easy to audit before future upstream updates.
• Keep the fork branch list small instead of mirroring old upstream PR/topic branches.

Maintained feature set

Feature	User-facing value	Representative commits
Goal automation	/goal survives session compression and stops on evidence of completion instead of looping on bare “done” text. The judge timeout is configurable, so the stronger main model can be used reliably.	6f98baee4, b0b6a411
Voice message handling	Voice notes are delivered to the model as marked transcripts, not exact user wording. The model is prompted to treat ASR text as fallible and use conversation context; voice replies can also answer pending clarification prompts.	2ab1f2c91, d813a03d
Provider fast modes	/fast keeps Anthropic speed=fast separate from ChatGPT/Codex priority processing, while older service_tier=fast configs still behave as expected. This prevents one provider's “fast” switch from accidentally changing another provider's routing semantics.	a8b81172b
Long-session compaction	Compression produces structured handoff checkpoints that preserve the active task, current work state, files, tests, and remaining work. The request shape also keeps the system-prefix/prompt-cache behavior consistent instead of drifting after compaction.	e2e898f60, 60a518780, 39880e662
Codex Responses replay	Auxiliary compaction follows the same Responses-style replay shape as the main agent, preserving tool calls, function outputs, reasoning items, and timeouts/fallbacks instead of flattening the conversation into lossy text.	60a518780, 39880e662
Attachment delivery reliability	When the agent references local files or MEDIA: paths, the gateway attempts native upload for supported files, including archives. If an attachment cannot be parsed or delivered, the user gets an explicit warning and lifecycle hooks see the turn as failed.	27843b92d
Web search credentials	Tavily can use a pool of API keys with fill-first selection and cooldown, keeping web search available when one key hits quota without wasting quota on background probes.	06abd9d49
Background review safety	Background review can collect memory and propose skills, but skill creation or mutation requires approval instead of happening silently from a non-blocking review thread.	dcd0d249

Branch model

• origin/main — active maintained fork line and deployment source.
• upstream/main — fetched from NousResearch/hermes-agent only when comparing or forward-porting upstream changes; it is not mirrored into origin.
• Additional local-maintained branches should stay local unless they have an active documented purpose that is not already represented on main.
• Backup branches, temporary PR branches, and old upstream topic branches are not intended steady-state fork branches.

See docs/local-changes/branch-strategy.md for the exact policy.

Where the fork deltas are documented

• docs/local-changes/README.md — maintained index of local fork changes.
• docs/local-changes/local-branch-2026-05.md — commit-level notes, user impact, verification, and forward-port cautions.
• docs/local-changes/branch-strategy.md — remotes, branch cleanup policy, and upstream intake flow.

Commit landmarks

Commit	Purpose
b776f462	Clarifies the fork branch contract and upstream intake policy.
b0b6a411	Requires evidence before /goal judge completion and honors judge timeout config.
d813a03d	Treats voice transcripts as fallible model context.
a8b81172b	Separates Anthropic Fast Mode from ChatGPT/Codex priority processing.
dcd0d249	Requires approval before background review creates skills.
27843b92d	Makes attachment delivery failures visible.
39880e662	Keeps compaction and Responses replay compatible with the current upstream runtime.
06abd9d49	Keeps Tavily usable across pooled keys.
6f98baee4	Preserves goals across compression session splits.
60a518780	Keeps compaction robust through real Codex Responses replay.
e2e898f60	Adds structured handoff checkpoints for long-session compaction.

Updating from upstream

Use upstream as an input, not as the public branch surface of this fork:

git fetch upstream --tags

Review upstream/main against origin/main, forward-port only the changes that are worth carrying, verify locally, and document any new fork-only behavior under docs/local-changes/.