* refactor(plugins): remove the Sep 2026 decomposition compat layer on schedule
The PLUGIN-COMPAT layer (2776813df3 + d63e380324 + 0a5164cebe) kept pre-#102117 import paths
alive for external plugins until 2026-09-14. That window closed two weeks ago; since then the loader
has already been skipping plugins that use the old paths. This removes the layer itself:
- 328 appended `PLUGIN-COMPAT` blocks (lazy `__getattr__` pointer tables, re-exported third-party
names, restored dead definitions) and the three re-export stub modules
(gateway/startup_watchdog, hermes_cli/observability/relay_runtime, tools/environments/modal_utils)
- COMPAT_MANIFEST.md, compat_manifest.json, scripts/check_compat_pointers.py and its lint step
- the reporting surfaces: CLI banner notice, `hermes plugins compat`, the `hermes doctor` section,
the post-update notice, the Desktop one-time dialog, the loader's pre-import skip and the
`plugins.allow_deprecated_imports` escape hatch
An external plugin that still imports an old path now fails to load with its ImportError as the
reason in `hermes plugins list`, the same path as any broken plugin.
hermes_cli/plugin_compat.py stays as three inert stubs (compat_report, removal_in_effect,
summary_lines): an already-running pre-removal `hermes update` lazy-imports them after the checkout
swap (tests/compat/old_updater_surface.json).
In-tree fallout, both already dead: hermes_cli/setup.py::_check_espeak_ng (no callers; its
`shutil` came from a compat block) and gateway/config.py::SessionResetPolicy ("retained solely for
the scheduled plugin-compat window"). Two test_run_agent patches targeted the removed
`run_agent.handle_function_call` pointer; they now patch `model_tools.handle_function_call`, the
seam production reads, like every sibling test in that file.
* chore: retrigger CI (zero-job startup_failure phantom)
* test: drop resolution allowlist rows for the two deleted which() sites
hermes_cli/setup.py::_check_espeak_ng (dead) and tools/skillevaluator_scan.py::scanner_available
(a restored definition inside a PLUGIN-COMPAT block) no longer exist; the stale-row gate requires
their allowlist entries go with them.
* feat(docker): publish nousresearch/hermes-sandbox:desktop for terminal backends
The terminal backends (docker, modal, daytona, singularity) all default to
nikolaik/python-nodejs:python3.11-nodejs20, a bare Python+Node base. For Bot
Screen, computer_use and the browser to run INSIDE that sandbox instead of on
the gateway host, the sandbox image needs the display stack.
docker/sandbox-desktop.Dockerfile is that base plus:
- the everyday tools it lacked (jq, ripgrep, fd, tmux, less, nano, vim,
zip, rsync, tree, procps, htop, sudo for the base's uid-1000 `pn`)
- the exact package set the Hermes -desktop image installs (TigerVNC,
Xfce components, dbus, xauth, fonts)
- Playwright's headed Chromium (same build as the -desktop image)
- cua-driver 0.28.2 from its pinned release tarball
No Hermes inside; the default user stays root like the base so nothing
changes for people who just switch docker_image. Desktop processes run as
`pn`. 4.27 GB on amd64.
docker.yml gains a `sandbox` variant with its own cache scope and repository
(nousresearch/hermes-sandbox:desktop, :main-desktop, :<release>-desktop);
the docker-integration suite is skipped for it (no Hermes to test) and
docker/sandbox-desktop-smoke.sh runs instead: as `pn`, every launcher and
cua-driver binary resolves, the real launcher.sh publishes :20, the RFB
socket completes the 3.8 handshake relayed over `docker exec -i` stdio, and
a headed Chromium maps a window on that display. hadolint lints the new
Dockerfile in docker-lint.yml.
* feat(docker): sandbox desktop base on python3.13-nodejs26
Matches the Hermes image (Python 3.13 / Node 26) and the top of requires-python;
the default docker_image tag it inherited was Python 3.11 / Node 20. Same pn
uid 1000, Debian 13; smoke (launcher, RFB relay, headed Chromium) passes.
* feat(docker): bake agent-browser into hermes-sandbox:desktop
The browser tools drive the agent-browser CLI; when the browser follows the
terminal backend that CLI has to exist inside the sandbox. Pinned to the same
^0.26.0 range the gateway resolves, --ignore-scripts like the gateway's npx path.
* feat(bot_desktop): the screen, computer_use and the browser follow the terminal backend
A user who sandboxes `terminal` (docker/ssh/singularity) had the agent's
screen, cua-driver and Chromium running on the gateway HOST beside that
sandbox: Bot Screen gave a headless host a display, the Xfce panel carries
xfce4-terminal, and `computer_use` could open a shell outside the boundary
the sandbox exists for.
Now the desktop lives where the terminal lives:
- tools/environments/streams.py: one primitive per spawn-per-call backend, the
local argv prefix that runs its remainder inside the sandbox with stdio open
(`docker exec -i`, `ssh`, `apptainer exec`). SDK backends (modal, daytona,
vercel) have none and report so.
- tools/bot_desktop/sandbox_host.py: launcher.sh runs inside the sandbox as
the image's `pn`; the pane's RFB bytes ride a 12-line python relay over that
prefix; `cua-driver mcp` is the prefix + the sandbox image's own driver.
- tools/bot_desktop/placement.py + `bot_desktop.placement` (auto|terminal|
gateway). `auto` follows the backend; a sandbox that cannot host a screen
REFUSES with the opt-in named instead of silently using the host.
- runtime.start/stop/status/published_env branch on placement; the pane,
lease, epoch fencing and CLI are unchanged.
- cua_backend: the MCP invocation is the sandbox one when the screen is
there; the host driver's runtime contract is irrelevant then; check_fn is
true under a terminal placement without a host binary.
- browser_tool_session: agent-browser invocations are wrapped in the prefix
with the daemon, socket dir and profile inside the sandbox; screenshots are
fetched back so MEDIA: paths keep working; recycle closes the sandbox
daemon.
- web_routers/display.py: the bridge pumps a relay's stdio when the screen is
in a sandbox, a unix socket otherwise.
Live on docker with nousresearch/hermes-sandbox:desktop: start/observe/RFB
handshake through the dashboard bridge, human takeover fences the agent
(HumanHasControl) and keystrokes reach the sandbox Xvnc, handback restores,
three start/stop rounds leave zero desktop processes; computer_use capture
and list_windows see only the sandbox's Xfce; browser_navigate/snapshot/
vision run with Chromium and agent-browser inside the container and zero
host processes on the bot profile; modal + auto refuses naming the opt-in.
* feat(desktop): Screen pane shows where a sandbox-placed screen runs; Install is host-only
DesktopStatus gains placement ('gateway' | 'terminal:<backend>'). A sandbox
image lacking the stack is a blocker naming hermes-sandbox:desktop, shown in
place of Start; install_command stays None there because the pane's Install
button runs the package manager on the gateway host, the wrong machine, and
display.install refuses for the same reason. The pane header carries
'Screen runs inside the docker sandbox, with the terminal' (4 locales).
* fix(bot_desktop): "is the screen in the sandbox" is a disk check on hot paths, never a config read
Every browser command and CUA spawn asked in_sandbox(), which resolves placement by
loading config, which initializes HERMES_HOME. Under a test's fake home that raised
HomeInitializationError from _run_browser_command; on a real host it read config per
click. Hot paths now ask sandbox_screen_running(): the start marker on disk, written
only by a sandbox start. Policy (in_sandbox) stays for start/install, where config is
the question. display.observe gates on "an RFB endpoint exists" for either placement.
* test(moa): late-accounting sink test asserts the wedged slot's row, not sink order
Under CI load the poll loop can see the interrupt before collecting the fast slot, so the
fast slot also arrives late and first; the test then failed on sink_calls[0]. The
contract is that the wedged slot's real usage reaches the sink.
* chore: retrigger CI (zero-job dispatch failure, auto-heal)
* fix(bot_desktop): a sandbox that died under a live screen fails loudly, never falls to the host
sandbox_screen_running() drops a start marker whose terminal environment is no longer
registered (stale after a process restart). When the environment object outlives its
container, the browser's sandbox wrap now checks the published DISPLAY and raises
"the screen inside the terminal backend's sandbox is gone; start it again" instead of
KeyError('AGENT_BROWSER_PROFILE'). Live: fresh sandbox navigate ok; docker rm -f the
container; next navigate returns that error; zero host Chromium either way.
* feat(terminal): nousresearch/hermes-sandbox:desktop is the default container sandbox
Every container backend (docker, modal, daytona, singularity) now defaults to the
sandbox image with the desktop stack, so Bot Screen, computer_use and the browser
run inside the sandbox for everyone who never chose an image; Python 3.13 / Node 26
match the Hermes image. One constant (DEFAULT_SANDBOX_IMAGE) replaces six copies of
the old literal. Migration 47 moves saved configs still holding the OLD default and
never touches an image the user pinned. Docker reuse recreates a container built
from another image, or the flip would silently never take effect for anyone with a
persisted container (live: old container removed, new one on 3.13 / Node 26 with
Xvnc, cua-driver, agent-browser present).
* chore: retrigger CI (zero-job dispatch failure)
* chore: retrigger CI (zero-job dispatch failure, auto-heal)
* chore: retrigger CI (zero-job dispatch failure, auto-heal)
* chore(config): template stamps v47 and shows the new default sandbox image
The template is what install.sh / docker / doctor --fix seed; a stamp behind
DEFAULT_CONFIG makes every fresh install migrate on first run.
* feat(sandbox): the default image change is a decision, not a surprise
A persisted Docker sandbox on another image is kept when docker_image is unset;
only a written docker_image (an explicit pin) recreates it. The pin verdict
travels as TERMINAL_DOCKER_IMAGE_PINNED through both terminal bridges (process
env and per-profile scope) and the container-config allowlist.
Approval surfaces, all through hermes_cli.sandbox_image_switch: the interactive
CLI asks once at startup (y = pin the new image, n = pin the current one, Enter =
ask later); the Screen pane shows the same choice with Switch / Keep buttons via
display.switchSandboxImage; `hermes config set terminal.docker_image …` is the
same answer from any shell. Gateways and cron never decide: they keep the sandbox
and log the notice.
Migration 47 now unsets a saved image equal to the OLD default instead of
rewriting it to the new one — that value was the template copied, not a pin, and
rewriting it would have made the runtime recreate existing sandboxes unasked.
Modal restores its snapshot and Daytona reuses its labeled sandbox regardless of
the configured image, so existing sandboxes there were already untouched.
* fix(config): both plain defaults that preceded the desktop sandbox image are template copies
main pinned nikolaik/python-nodejs:python3.14-nodejs22 (cd0f97f833) without a migration;
a saved config holding either literal is unset by migration 47, so it follows the default
and existing sandboxes get the keep-or-switch decision instead of a silent recreate.
* ci(docker): build the sandbox image on release/dispatch, not every main push
Leaves docker.yml exactly as on main. The sandbox image carries no Hermes code,
so two 4 GB multi-arch builds per merge bought nothing. sandbox-image.yml builds
and smokes on a PR that edits its own Dockerfile/smoke, and publishes only on a
release or a manual dispatch with publish=true. Stable tag stays :desktop.
* fix(config): keep main's config.py/config_defaults.py edits under the sandbox-image delta
The rebase resolved both files wholesale with the branch side, dropping main's move to
hermes_yaml (the 3.14 runtime venv has no PyYAML) and the 3.14 base pin. This is main's
version plus exactly the branch's own changes: DEFAULT_SANDBOX_IMAGE, the pin verdict in the
env bridge, placement defaults and the v47 stamp.
* test: sandbox-image tests read config.yaml through hermes_yaml (no PyYAML on the 3.14 runtime)
* fix(bot_desktop): read the sandbox marker BOM-tolerantly (windows footgun lint)
* fix(bot_desktop): placement is the authority; sandbox screen survives restarts
Review findings on the sandbox-hosted Bot Screen, each reproduced live first.
Authority. The browser preflight and the CUA invocation keyed off screen
LIVENESS, so `placement: terminal` with the screen not yet up handed the tool an
unchanged host command. `runtime.tool_placement()` is now the one resolver:
terminal placement starts the sandbox screen on demand (no auto_start opt-in
inside the user's own sandbox), refused placement raises its reason, and neither
ever yields the host. placement.resolve() answers a local backend from env alone
so the common case costs no config load on the spawn path.
Restart. sandbox_screen_running() deleted the marker whenever the process-local
terminal registry was empty, i.e. after every gateway restart, while Xvnc kept
running in the container; stop() then returned False and left it. The marker
now records the owning container; liveness comes from `docker inspect` on it,
stop/status re-attach to the recorded owner (even after the placement setting
moved), and only a container that is gone drops the marker.
SSH. remote_argv emitted `bash -c <script>` as three words; OpenSSH joins them
and the remote login shell ran `bash -c export` and the rest itself. The script
travels as one quoted word for ssh (remote_command knows the backend); docker
and apptainer keep argv.
CDP reach. agent-browser inside the sandbox reports the sandbox's loopback;
the Browser Use harness, browser_exec and the vault supervisor connect from the
host and got connection refused. streams.forward_port() proxies a local port
over the exec stream (same relay as the RFB bridge) and the CDP URL is rewritten
to the local end.
pids limit. --pids-limit 256 counts threads; measured on the desktop image the
desktop stack is 44, one Chromium tab 212, the agent's browser with two tabs
488. Past the cap every further docker exec died with "procReady not received".
Default is 2048 with the measurements in the comment.
Replacement. An approved image switch force-removed the old container before
`docker run` tried the new image; a private tag or registry outage left nothing.
The image is inspected/pulled first and the old container kept on failure.
Desktop integration. The sandbox start never passed the dock's browser launcher
(no Browser icon) and the thumbnail needed a host launcher pid + host ImageGrab
(always None). The dock runs the sandbox's Playwright Chromium on the shared
profile; the thumbnail is grabbed inside the sandbox (Pillow baked into the
image). The browser profile moves from /tmp — a 512 MB tmpfs emptied on every
container stop — to the desktop user's home, so logins follow the container.
Pin provenance. A TERMINAL_DOCKER_IMAGE written in a routed profile's .env is a
pin even when it spells the default; the scope compared values before.
* docs(bot-screen): no literal tmp path in the profile-location note
* fix(bot_desktop): docker inspect liveness probe closes stdin (TUI subprocess guard)
* fix(bot_desktop): adopting a screen the sandbox kept records the marker
Live ssh probe: after the host's state was lost while the sandbox kept its
Xvnc, start() took the idempotent early return (display already published)
and never wrote the host marker, so status/thumbnail/stop lost the screen.
Record the adopted display like a fresh launch.
Docs: what an ssh host of your own must carry, and why a Dockerfile ENV is
not enough for a login session (PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH via /etc/environment).
* docker(sandbox-desktop): login sessions find the browser (PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH via /etc/environment)
* docs(bot-screen): what the Apptainer path inherits from the image and what it does not
* chore(config): sandbox-image migration is 47→48 (main took 47 for compression.threshold_tokens)
* chore: retrigger CI (zero-job dispatch failure, auto-heal)
tool.py inferred 'walk capped' by re-reading cua's private config through
_cua_configured_ax_max_elements() — a leaky abstraction that also cost a
config load per capture. The backend now records the max_elements it put on
the get_window_state call and returns it on CaptureResult.ax_max_elements
(defaulted field, 0 = unbounded / vision); _capture_view compares
len(cap.elements) >= cap.ax_max_elements > 0 and the getattr guards go
since the field is always set. Hint text and line order unchanged.
PROOF: tests/tools/test_computer_use_ax_walk_bound.py 5 passed (hint tests
now build CaptureResult(ax_max_elements=bound)); the new
_ax_max_elements_sent assertion is red with cua_backend_capture.py
reverted to HEAD~1 ('AttributeError: ... no attribute _ax_max_elements_sent',
1 failed 4 passed). Probe: 200/200 -> capped hint + 'full ' dropped;
199/200 and 8/0 -> full tree promised. check-windows-footguns --all clean.
`_capture_view`'s hint promised a "full element tree saved to elements_file",
but once `computer_use.ax_max_elements` bounds the driver's walk the spill
holds only the first N nodes. When the capture returned at least the bound
(bound > 0), drop "full" and add "accessibility walk capped at N elements;
pass app= to narrow" so the model knows how to reach the rest.
Extract only backend admission/lifetime protection from #114565 (484b5d7), adapted to the existing DISPLAY identity and human-lease fences in #108914. No WSL selection, installer, config or UI changes.
Main replaced every *.request/*.respond event pair with real JSON-RPC server→client requests and
made Python the single source of the wire (tui_gateway/contracts → generated TS). Bot Screen now
speaks that dialect:
- tui_gateway/contracts/display.py declares the eight display.* methods, the display.install.sudo
server request and the four display.* events; the generated TS/OpenRPC is regenerated.
- The install sudo card is a `display.install.sudo` server request (app-level, empty session);
the desktop answers it through respondToServerRequest, so the respondMethod/origin plumbing
that pinned a reply to its socket is gone: a JSON-RPC response cannot land elsewhere.
- screen-connection.ts consumes the generated DisplayStatus/DisplayLease instead of hand-typed
copies (holder named by viewer_hash only; epoch always present).
- computer_use: the lease fence and main's screenshot-dedup session key ride the same read
handlers; the fence fires before a frame reaches the dedup cache.
- server.py keeps the display module registration a naive --theirs would have dropped.
The "screen unchanged" result points the model at its previous capture. After
context compression that capture may be summarized away, so the note would refer
to pixels no longer in context. Mirror read_file's reset_file_dedup: the
compaction boundary (both the summary path and the codex app-server path) now
clears the session's screenshot digest, and the first capture afterwards delivers
the image again even when the screen is byte-identical.
Key the screenshot-dedup state by the same profile-scoped session id the
backend cache uses, so two multiplexed profiles sharing a session id (or a
DISPLAY) never dedup against each other's frames, and forget the state in
release_computer_use_session so a re-created session's first capture
always delivers pixels. Reword the unchanged note to cover the aux-vision
path (where the prior result was an analysis, not an image). Tests: the
dispatch path (explicit capture + capture_after) honours the streak cap;
release forgets state.
Port from openclaw/openclaw#129924: a capture whose pixels are
byte-identical to the previous capture of the same target in the same
session returns its full text metadata (element index included) plus an
explicit 'screen unchanged' note instead of the multimodal image block.
Adapted for Hermes: openclaw gates dedup on per-frame context-epoch
tracking; Hermes bounds staleness with a consecutive-omission streak cap
(2) so full pixels are re-delivered before compaction could evict the
referenced image. Dedup state is per-session (no cross-session leaks),
append-only (no history rewrites — prompt cache prefixes untouched),
and skipped entirely when no session_id is present.
Both process-global caches were keyed by the caller's session/task id alone, so under
gateway.multiplex_profiles two profiles using the same id — a shared `browser_exec session=`
name, or two Hermes sessions whose screens report the same DISPLAY — resolved to the FIRST
profile's cloud browser / cua-driver, and a command issued in one bot's chat could act on
another bot's screen.
The key now carries the routed profile's home key whenever a served-profile scope is active
(`get_hermes_home_override()` set), the same shape `tools/approval.py::_baseline_key` and the
camofox/cloud caches already use; outside a scope every key is byte-identical to before. The
computer_use lookup, install and release paths all go through one `_scoped_sid`, so a release
under profile B never stops profile A's driver; approval-bypass state keeps the bare session id.
Fixes#110032 (report by @wolfyy970, from @vandaimer's manual test on #108914).
`computer_use` carried two Bot Screen actions, `request_handoff` and `wait_for_human`, that let
the model ask for the screen and then block a tool call until the human handed it back. Both only
make sense when a person is guaranteed to be watching the Desktop pane; from Telegram, the CLI or
a cron worker the request lands nowhere and the wait burns minutes before returning. The blocking
wait also fought the sequential tool deadline (600 s default vs 420 s), so the model saw a timeout
before the wait returned while the thread stayed parked.
The agent now simply says what it needs in its reply and ends the turn; the user takes over from
the pane, does the step, hands back and tells it to continue. Take over / hand back and every fence
(actions refused with human_has_control, epoch-voided results, suppressed thumbnails) are
unchanged. Removes the handoff module, the schema entries and their host-conditional rewriter,
the lease's pending_handoff field and wait helpers, and the "Bot needs you" badge in the pane.
computer_use kept its own approval decision: two module dicts
(_session_auto_approve / _always_allow) mirroring tools.approval's
session store and _persist_choice, a private verdict vocabulary
(approve_once/approve_session/always_approve) that hermes_cli mapped
back to once/session/always, and — the real problem — `if
_approval_callback is None: return None`. Only the interactive CLI ever
installed that callback, so every other host (gateway turns, cron,
api_server, tui_gateway, ACP) ran destructive desktop input with no
approval at all, ignoring cron_mode / unattended_mode / the permanent
allowlist, and "always" grants were invisible to `is_approved`,
`clear_session` and the messaging-platform approval buttons.
_request_approval now calls tools.approval._run_approval_gate with
pattern_key `cua:<action>:<background|foreground>` (the old scope shape,
so a background grant still never covers the visible foreground variant)
and fail_closed_when_no_human=True, the same posture as
request_tool_approval / the SSH-config write gate. The private dicts,
their release/atexit clearing, the verdict mapping in
hermes_cli/cli_modal_mixin.py and the extra callback install in cli.py
are deleted: the CLI's terminal_tool callback answers computer_use
prompts like any other tool. set_approval_callback stays as an optional
explicit-callback hook with the shared callback contract
(cb(command, description, **kw) -> once|session|always|deny|timeout);
no in-tree host uses it.
Behavior change:
- No approval callback and no gateway (cron, api_server/webhook,
headless -q, plain library use): destructive actions are now REFUSED
with a BLOCKED error and never reach the backend. Previously they
silently ran. cron honors approvals.cron_mode, unattended platforms
approvals.unattended_mode, -q approvals.single_query_mode.
- --yolo / gateway /yolo / approvals.mode: off still allow (unchanged).
- Gateway sessions (Telegram/Discord/Slack/...) now get a real pending
approval with once/session/always buttons instead of default-allow.
- session/always grants live in tools.approval's store; "always" is one
command_allowlist entry (`cua:click:background`) and is scoped to that
action+mode — the old blanket "always_approve unlocks everything for
the session" no longer exists.
- Denial wording is the shared gate's ("BLOCKED: User denied ...",
"BLOCKED: Action timed out ..."); the error JSON keeps `action`.
Tests: tests/tools/test_computer_use_approval_isolation.py
::test_no_callback_refuses_unless_yolo (blocked + no backend call, then
yolo executes) and ::test_always_grant_lands_in_the_shared_store
(is_approved sees the cua:<action>:<mode> key; second call served from
the store). Sabotage: restoring the `callback is None -> allow`
short-circuit fails the first; swapping the shared gate for a private
grant set fails the second plus the three delivery-ladder scope tests.
tests/tools/conftest.py gains `grant_computer_use_approvals` for
dispatch tests that only care about routing.
Input actions never receive fence=, so a take-over then hand-back during
approval still clicks: assert_agent_may_act only asks if the holder is
human now. Compare admitted.epoch immediately before _dispatch.
Test uses a recording backend and does not patch _dispatch.
Addresses kvnloo on #108914.
(cherry picked from commit 97ce5d5a579ccc797c7ef50b6bb92465955a3277)
The epoch check ran only after _dispatch() returned, by which point the
capture path had already written the PNG to the media cache, spilled the
element tree to disk and routed the frame through auxiliary vision — the
human's screen had left the process before being "discarded". A fence
callable is threaded into _dispatch; capture and capture_after call it
the moment backend.capture() returns, and the post-dispatch check stays
for every other action.
(cherry picked from commit 70c09e5fad89d2817f13aea772bd845ab7cc4c8a)
Independent review of the PR head found the control boundary only held inside
one process and several claims the code did not back. Each item below was
reproduced, fixed, covered by an invariant test proven red without the fix, and
re-verified live on a real Xvnc/Xfce screen.
- Lease authority on disk. `lease.json` under an fcntl lock in the profile's
bot-desktop dir; every read goes to the file. `hermes serve` (viewer bridge),
the messaging gateway, a CLI turn and isolated workers now agree. Live: a
takeover in process A made `computer_use capture` in process B return
human_has_control; release in C made B work again.
- Takeover fences admitted actions. `handle_computer_use` re-checks the lease
under the dispatch lock and discards a result produced after the lease epoch
changed, so an action admitted before a takeover cannot picture what the human
typed during approval / backend start-up waits.
- Sudo reply pinned to its origin. `SudoRequest.origin` records the
(connection, profile) the card came from; SudoDialog answers through
`requestGatewayForAgent` on that socket, never the foreground gateway. A
password typed for host A can no longer reach host B. `sudo.expire` and
`display.install.sudo.expire` now tear the card down (the Desktop never
handled sudo.expire).
- Dock Browser IS the bot's browser. `tools/bot_desktop/browser.py` resolves one
identity — the Chromium agent-browser drives + a persistent per-profile
user-data-dir (`bot-desktop/browser-profile`) — and both sides use it: the
agent env gets AGENT_BROWSER_EXECUTABLE_PATH / AGENT_BROWSER_PROFILE, the
dock launcher gets the same exe + --user-data-dir. Live: the bot wrote
localStorage on http://127.0.0.1:8765 through agent-browser; a dock click and
a typed URL on the screen showed BOT-WROTE-THIS in Chrome for Testing.
- Safe display reuse. Allocation under a host-wide lock; a recorded number is
reused only when no live server holds it; the launcher never unlinks a lock
whose pid is alive. Live: A stopped, B took :20, A restarted on :21, B kept
running.
- Install worker keeps the caller's profile scope (copy_context carries the
HERMES_HOME override and the transport); the done event carries the requested
profile's status.
- Honest scope: `bot_desktop.auto_start` defaults to false (opt-in; Start lives
in the Screen pane); request_handoff no longer claims a Telegram/Discord
message was sent — the model relays the ask in its reply; docs match.
A bot running on a headless Linux gateway now gets its own desktop (TigerVNC
Xvnc + a minimal Xfce session, one per profile) that Hermes Desktop streams
live. The user can watch the bot work, take over to type a login / 2FA code /
CAPTCHA, and hand control back; the bot refuses every computer_use action
(screenshots included) while a human holds the screen, then resumes with the
session cookies the human just created.
Why this shape:
- The screen lives on the machine Hermes runs on, not in a vendor cloud browser,
so it works for any app the bot drives and keeps the session on the user's host.
- Xfce components are launched individually (xfwm4, xfce4-panel, xfdesktop,
xfsettingsd) under a private dbus session rather than xfce4-session/the
metapackage: no screensaver, power manager or polkit agent to lock or prompt
a headless desktop.
- Transport is raw RFB over a WebSocket beside /api/ws, authenticated with a
one-shot ticket minted through the already-authenticated RPC channel; noVNC
runs in the Electron renderer. The bridge parses the RFB client stream and
drops keyboard/pointer/clipboard (incl. QEMU Extended KeyEvent, which noVNC
switches to once Xvnc advertises it) from any viewer that does not hold the
lease, so viewOnly is enforced server-side, not by the client.
- One lease per profile (agent | human viewer) is the single truth for the RFB
bridge, the computer_use tool and the Desktop UI; taking control evicts other
viewers' input with close code 4000 control-taken.
- Auto-start happens only at the computer_use tool boundary (headless host,
packages present, bot_desktop.auto_start=true); env builders stay pure so
status probes and tests never spawn X servers. tests/tools/conftest.py pins
the binaries to "missing" for the same reason the browser-use fixture does.
Surfaces: Desktop (Bots → right-click → Open Screen; Take over / Hand back),
CLI (`hermes computer-use screen status|start|stop|install-deps`), tool
(`computer_use` actions request_handoff / wait_for_human), gateway RPCs
(display.status/start/stop/observe/lease.acquire/lease.release + display.lease
event), docs page user-guide/features/bot-screen.
Camofox VNC one-shot, computer-use aux-vision verdict, tirith binary path, MCP
discovery lock path, remote-backend probe text, learned image token costs,
auxiliary per-task semaphores and the custom-endpoint /models memo all held one
profile's config-derived value for the whole process. The skill-sync debounce
Timer ran with empty ContextVars, so a secondary's write pushed as the launch
profile (and cancelled its pending push).
Each memo is now keyed by hermes_home_key() (or credential fingerprint for the
per-key catalog) under an override; the timer is per home and runs its callback
inside the scheduling turn's copied context. Unscoped slots are unchanged.
The Sep 2026 decomposition (PR #102117) makes internal import paths a non-API: names now live in
the focused modules that define them. This commit is the ONLY thing keeping the old paths alive,
so external plugins have time to update. It is deliberately a single, unsquashed commit:
git revert <this sha>
removes every shim, stub and manifest at once on the announced date. Nothing in-tree may depend on
these pointers: scripts/check_compat_pointers.py (wired into lint.yml) fails CI if it does.
What it adds (see COMPAT_MANIFEST.md, compat_manifest.json):
- 332 facade modules get one delimited `PLUGIN-COMPAT` block appended at the end of the file
- 1,172 moved names resolved lazily via a module `__getattr__` (PEP 562) — never a top-level import,
so no import cycles; facades that already had `__getattr__` get a chained one
- 592 third-party/stdlib names the old modules used to expose, with their original import statements
- 266 public definitions that had been deleted as unused, restored byte-for-byte from the pre-decomposition
tree (+40 private helpers and 16 imports pulled in only because a restored definition needs them)
- 3 deleted modules recreated as re-export stubs (gateway/startup_watchdog, hermes_cli/observability/
relay_runtime, tools/environments/modal_utils)
- private names (`_x`) get no pointer: they were never API (3,792 skipped)
Verified: all 335 touched modules import under a fresh HERMES_HOME and every manifest name resolves;
the lint reports zero in-tree uses; ruff clean; targeted suites unchanged.
For each issue anchor present in BASE 63279301bc non-test .py and absent on HEAD, the BASE comment/docstring block was re-attached at the HEAD location of the code it explained (matched by the distinctive code line / enclosing def). Sentences already covered by an existing HEAD comment were deduped; the issue number always survives. Insert-only: no code lines changed.
main guarded scroll's x/y independently (coordinate=[null,100] -> y=100),
while click treats a coordinate without x as no point. The shared _xy()
applied click semantics to scroll; split out _scroll_xy() with main's
per-axis guard and pin both behaviors in a test.
