Root AGENTS.md § Code Shape Rules replaces "module-level constants are fine — they cache after _apply_profile_override() sets HERMES_HOME" (true for `hermes -p x <cmd>`, inverted under the multiplex gateway and the Desktop/dashboard `serve` backend, where os.environ holds the LAUNCH profile) with the invariant: a profile = home + secret scope + terminal scope, bound per profile ACTIVITY, and every execution point with no turn on the stack binds it explicitly. Names the real seams: gateway/run.py::_profile_runtime_scope, tui_gateway @_profile_scoped + _session_profile_runtime_scope (+ _profile_runtime_scope_tokens, launch_profile_policy -> set_multiplex_active), cron/scheduler_provider.py::_profile_cron_scope, gateway/run_agent_cache.py::_run_release_in_profile_scope, tools/environments/local.py:: served_profile_child_env, agent/memory_provider.py::spawn_context_thread. Adds a routing-table row for profiles / multiplex / secret scope. Area AGENTS.md paragraphs, one per seam, for gateway/ (activity-not-turn binding, hooks per profile, adapter YAML never reaches os.environ, unserved shared-ingress reported via _note_unserved_secondary_platform + needs_attention at the single writer), tui_gateway/ (RPC binding is home AND secret AND terminal; HOME-only is half-bound; teardown chokepoint), cron/ (per-home tick lock, ticker scope incl. pre-loop code, kanban notifier routing, worker liveness by (pid, worker_started_at) fingerprint, descendant fence as a path), hermes_cli/ (DEFAULT_CONFIG key <-> reader parity, service-install matrix, -p vs multiplex home binding), tools/ (check_fn reads through get_secret and is cached per hermes_home_key, one env builder per spawn, MCP trust per profile), plugins/ (lifecycle hooks are bound by the caller; never cache the home from initialize()), apps/desktop/src/ (pooled serve per (connection, profile); remote topologies), agent/ (end-of-session flush is caller-bound; set_multiplex_active gates fail-closed). Corrects the statements the multiplex model made wrong, in the same PR: root module-constant sentence; hermes_cli "sets HERMES_HOME before any import" (+ cli-internals.md); ADDING_A_PLATFORM.md §2 raw os.getenv loader (now an _ENV_STEPS row through config.py::_getenv) and §4 platform_env_map in gateway/run.py (now _PLATFORM_ALLOWLIST_ENV in pairing.py + registry allowed_users_env); platform_registry.py "may set os.environ (guard with not os.getenv)"; cron/AGENTS.md hardcoded ~/.hermes/cron/.tick.lock; gateway-internals.md agent:main as THE key format, ~/.hermes/hooks/, single-profile `gateway stop`, plus a new "Multiplexed profiles" section; tools/AGENTS.md os.getenv check_fn sample; "installed per turn" wording; "one temp HERMES_HOME" E2E wording; multi-profile-gateways.md intro lists system units, Windows tasks, s6 and the Desktop backend.
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sidebar_position, title, description
| sidebar_position | title | description |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | CLI Internals | How hermes_cli is shaped: slash dispatch, config loaders, the skin engine, the transactional update pipeline, and process-identity rules |
CLI Internals
Companion to hermes_cli/AGENTS.md (the rules) — this page holds the longer explanations.
Update pipeline
The stage-by-stage contract (plan → snapshot → apply → restart-per-kind → verify → report) and the
field failure each stage guards are documented in hermes_cli/AGENTS.md; user-facing behaviour
(receipts, --plan, snapshot modes) is in Updating.
The systemd blunt-restart fallback waits for the unit's TimeoutStopUSec plus
TimeoutStartUSec, with 15 seconds of client-side slack. It reads the target unit
in the same manager scope as the restart; both the initial attempt and retry use
this budget, including the catch-up restart after an interrupted update.
A start after a graceful drain uses only the start budget plus slack.
A missing, unparseable, or infinite phase limit falls back to 90 seconds
for that phase, keeping unattended updates bounded. Timing out the systemctl
client does not cancel the manager's transaction. Custom multi-command stop
chains or EXTEND_TIMEOUT_USEC can still outlast this estimate; a real timeout
remains an incomplete restart, and successful commands still require the existing
service-health and fleet-version verification. Raw numeric *USec values are
microseconds, while formatted values use systemd's fixed units, including days,
weeks, months and years. The combined timeout is capped below the native signed
32-bit millisecond poll limit (with rounding headroom), so exceptionally long
unit limits cannot overflow subprocess polling. Zero/unknown/infinite phase
limits use the bounded fallback. This does not change active-turn drain settings.
Process identity: never infer it from argv substrings
The bug class behind ~10 fleet-update issues (#90778, #87594, #78089, #76129, #91964, ...):
classifying a process by "serve" in cmdline or similar. kanban --preserve-cache contains
"serve"; a flag VALUE can equal a subcommand (-m dashboard serve); truncated cmdlines hide the real
subcommand. Rules:
- Use the canonical matchers:
gateway.status.looks_like_gateway_command_line(gateway run),hermes_cli.update_cmd._hermes_holder_subcommand(top-level subcommand of any Hermes argv). Never hand-roll token scans. - Flag sets must be DERIVED from the parser (
_holder_value_flags()introspectsbuild_top_level_parser()), never hand-written lists — they drift. - Never blanket-exclude ancestors from process scans: when
/updateruns as the gateway's child, a gateway ancestor must stay visible to the pause machinery (#87594). Exclude interactive ancestry, carve out gateway-shaped ancestors. - Match on FULL cmdlines; truncate only at display time (#78089).
- Before adding any new scan heuristic, read #92091 — the gateway control socket replaces scans as the primary coordination mechanism; scans are the fallback layer for old/crashed processes.
Skin engine — what skins customize
| Element | Skin key | Used by |
|---|---|---|
| Banner panel border / title / section headers / dim / body | colors.banner_border, banner_title, banner_accent, banner_dim, banner_text |
banner.py |
| Response box border | colors.response_border |
cli.py |
| Spinner faces (waiting / thinking) | spinner.waiting_faces, spinner.thinking_faces |
display.py |
| Spinner verbs / wings (optional) | spinner.thinking_verbs, spinner.wings |
display.py |
| Tool output prefix / per-tool emojis | tool_prefix, tool_emojis |
display.py → get_tool_emoji() |
| Agent name / welcome / response label / prompt symbol | branding.agent_name, welcome, response_label, prompt_symbol |
banner.py, cli.py |
Built-in skins (_BUILTIN_SKINS in hermes_cli/skin_engine.py): default (classic gold/kawaii),
ares (crimson/bronze with custom spinner wings), mono (grayscale), slate (cool blue). Add a
built-in as a dict entry {"name", "description", "colors", "spinner", "branding", "tool_prefix"}.
User skins are ~/.hermes/skins/<name>.yaml with the same keys, activated with /skin <name> or
display.skin: <name>; the full YAML template is in the
Skins & Themes user guide.
Profiles: multi-instance support
Hermes supports profiles — fully isolated instances, each with its own HERMES_HOME (config, API
keys, memory, sessions, skills, gateway). For single-profile commands (hermes -p x <cmd>),
_apply_profile_override() in hermes_cli/main.py sets HERMES_HOME before any module imports, so
every get_hermes_home() reference scopes to the active profile. The multiplex gateway and the
Desktop/dashboard serve backend serve several profiles from one process instead: the active
profile is a contextvar override bound per activity, os.environ["HERMES_HOME"] stays the launch
profile's, and a module-level constant derived from the home freezes to that launch profile (see
Gateway Internals § Multiplexed profiles). Profile
operations are HOME-anchored (_get_profiles_root() returns
Path.home() / ".hermes" / "profiles", not get_hermes_home() / "profiles") so
hermes -p coder profile list sees all profiles regardless of which one is active — intentional.
Profile-safe coding rules are in the root AGENTS.md; multiplex secret-scope rules in
gateway/AGENTS.md.