Agent Breaking Changes_

← Hermes Agent

Hermes Agent Hermes Agent v0.13.0 (2026.5.7) — The Tenacity Release

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2026-05-07 · official notes

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# Hermes Agent v0.13.0 (v2026.5.7)

**Release Date:** May 7, 2026
**Since v0.12.0:** 864 commits · 588 merged PRs · 829 files changed · 128,366 insertions · 282 issues closed (13 P0, 36 P1) · 295 community contributors (including co-authors)

> The Tenacity Release — Hermes Agent now finishes what it starts. Kanban ships as a durable multi-agent board (heartbeat, reclaim, zombie detection, auto-block on incomplete exit, per-task retries, hallucination recovery). `/goal` keeps the agent locked on a target across turns (Ralph loop). Checkpoints v2 rewrites state persistence with real pruning. Gateway auto-resumes interrupted sessions after restart. Cron grows a `no_agent` watchdog mode. A security wave closes 8 P0s — redaction is now ON by default, Discord role-allowlists are guild-scoped, WhatsApp rejects strangers by default, and TOCTOU windows close across auth.json and MCP OAuth. Google Chat becomes the 20th platform. Providers become a pluggable surface. Seven i18n locales ship.

---

## ✨ Highlights

- **Multi-agent Kanban — delegate to an AI team that actually finishes** — Spin up a durable board, drop tasks on it, and let multiple Hermes workers pick them up, hand off, and close them out. Heartbeats, reclaim, zombie detection, retry budgets, and a hallucination gate keep the team honest. One install, many kanbans. ([#17805](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/17805), [#19653](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19653), [#20232](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20232), [#20332](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20332), [#21330](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21330), [#21183](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21183), [#21214](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21214))

- **`/goal` — the agent doesn't forget what you asked it to do** — Lock the agent onto a target and it stays on task across turns. The Ralph loop as a first-class primitive. ([#18262](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/18262), [#18275](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/18275), [#21287](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21287))

- **Show it a video** — new `video_analyze` tool for native video understanding on Gemini and compatible multimodal models. (@alt-glitch) ([#19301](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19301))

- **Clone a voice** — xAI Custom Voices lands as a TTS provider with voice cloning support. (@alt-glitch) ([#18776](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/18776))

- **Hermes speaks your language** — static gateway + CLI messages translate to 7 locales: Chinese, Japanese, German, Spanish, French, Ukrainian, and Turkish. Docs site gains a Chinese (zh-Hans) locale. ([#20231](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20231), [#20329](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20329), [#20467](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20467), [#20474](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20474), [#20430](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20430), [#20431](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20431))

- **Google Chat — the 20th messaging platform** — plus a generic platform-plugin hooks surface so third-party adapters drop in without touching core (IRC and Teams migrated). ([#21306](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21306), [#21331](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21331))

- **Sessions survive restarts** — gateway bounces mid-agent, `/update` restarts, source-file reloads — conversations auto-resume when the gateway comes back. ([#21192](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21192))

- **Security wave — 8 P0 closures** — redaction ON by default, Discord role-allowlists guild-scoped (CVSS 8.1 cross-guild DM bypass closed), WhatsApp rejects strangers by default, TOCTOU windows closed across `auth.json` and MCP OAuth, browser enforces cloud-metadata SSRF floor, cron prompt-injection scans assembled skill content, `hermes debug share` redacts at upload. ([#21193](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21193), [#21241](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21241), [#21291](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21291), [#21176](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21176), [#21194](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21194), [#21228](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21228), [#21350](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21350), [#19318](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19318))

- **Checkpoints v2** — state persistence rewritten. Real pruning, disk guardrails, no more orphan shadow repos. ([#20709](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20709))

- **The agent lints its own writes** — post-write delta lint on `write_file` + `patch`. Python, JSON, YAML, TOML. Syntax errors surface immediately instead of shipping downstream. ([#20191](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20191))

- **`no_agent` cron mode — script-only watchdog** — cron jobs can now skip the agent entirely and just run a script. Empty stdout is silent, non-empty gets delivered verbatim. ([#19709](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19709))

- **Platform allowlists everywhere** — `allowed_channels` / `allowed_chats` / `allowed_rooms` config across Slack, Telegram, Mattermost, Matrix, and DingTalk. ([#21251](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21251))

- **Providers are now plugins** — `ProviderProfile` ABC + `plugins/model-providers/`. Drop in third-party providers without touching core. ([#20324](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20324))

- **API server — long-term memory per session** — `X-Hermes-Session-Key` header gives memory providers a stable session identifier. ([#20199](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20199))

- **MCP levels up** — SSE transport with OAuth forwarding, stale-pipe retries, image results surface as MEDIA tags instead of getting dropped, keepalive on long-lived lifecycle waits. ([#21227](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21227), [#21323](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21323), [#21289](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21289), [#21328](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21328), [#20209](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20209))

- **Curator grows subcommands** — `hermes curator archive`, `prune`, `list-archived`. Manual `hermes curator run` is synchronous now — you see results without polling. ([#20200](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20200), [#21236](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21236), [#21216](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21216))

- **ACP — `/steer` and `/queue`** — direct the in-flight agent or queue follow-ups from Zed, VS Code, or JetBrains. Plus atomic session persistence and reasoning-metadata preservation across restarts. (@HenkDz) ([#18114](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/18114), [#20279](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20279), [#20296](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20296), [#20433](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20433))

- **TUI glow-up** — `/model` picker matches `hermes model` with inline auth (@austinpickett), collapsible startup banner sections (@kshitijk4poor), context-compression counter in the status bar. ([#18117](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/18117), [#20625](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20625), [#21218](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21218))

- **Dashboard grows up** — Plugins page (manage, enable/disable, auth status) (@austinpickett), Profiles management page (@vincez-hms-coder), sortable analytics tables, reverse-proxy support via `X-Forwarded-Prefix`, new `default-large` 18px theme. ([#18095](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/18095), [#16419](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/16419), [#18192](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/18192), [#21296](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21296), [#20820](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20820))

- **SearXNG + split web tools** — SearXNG ships as a native search-only backend; web tools now let you pick different backends per capability (search vs extract vs browse). (@kshitijk4poor) ([#20823](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20823), [#20061](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20061), [#20841](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20841))

- **OpenRouter response caching** — explicit cache control for models that expose it. (@kshitijk4poor) ([#19132](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19132))

- **`[[as_document]]` — skill media-routing directive** — skills can force the gateway to deliver output as a document on platforms that support it. ([#21210](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21210))

- **`transform_llm_output` plugin hook** — new lifecycle hook that lets plugins reshape or filter LLM output before it hits the conversation. Useful for context-window reducers and content filters. ([#21235](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21235))

- **Nous OAuth persists across profiles** — shared token store: sign in once, every profile inherits the session. ([#19712](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19712))

- **QQBot — native approval keyboards** — feature parity with Telegram / Discord approval UX. Chunked upload, quoted attachments. ([#21342](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21342), [#21353](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21353))

- **6 new optional skills** — Shopify (Admin + Storefront GraphQL), here.now, shop-app personal shopping assistant, Anthropic financial-services bundle, kanban-video-orchestrator (@SHL0MS), searxng-search (@kshitijk4poor). ([#18116](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/18116), [#18170](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/18170), [#20702](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20702), [#21180](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21180), [#19281](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19281), [#20841](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20841))

- **New models** — `deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro`, `x-ai/grok-4.3`, `openrouter/owl-alpha` (free), `tencent/hy3-preview` (@Contentment003111), Arcee Trinity Large Thinking temperature + compression overrides. ([#20495](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20495), [#20497](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20497), [#18071](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/18071), [#21077](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21077), [#20473](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20473))

- **100 fresh CLI startup tips** — the random tip banner gets 100 new entries covering cron, kanban, curator, plugins, and lesser-known flags. ([#20168](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20168))

---

## 🧩 Multi-Agent Kanban (Durable)

### New — durable multi-profile collaboration board
- **`feat(kanban): durable multi-profile collaboration board`** — post-revert reimplementation, multi-profile by design ([#17805](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/17805))
- **Multi-project boards** — one install, many kanbans ([#19653](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19653), [#19679](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19679))
- **Share board, workspaces, and worker logs across profiles** ([#19378](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19378))
- **Hallucination gate + recovery UX for worker-created-card claims** (closes #20017) ([#20232](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20232))
- **Generic diagnostics engine for task distress signals** ([#20332](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20332))
- **Per-task `max_retries` override** (supersedes #20972) ([#21330](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21330))
- **Multiline textarea for inline-create title** (salvage of #20970) ([#21243](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21243))

### Kanban Dashboard
- **Workspace kind + path inputs in inline create form** ([#19679](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19679))
- **Per-platform home-channel notification toggles** ([#19864](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19864))
- **Sharper home-channel toggle contrast + drop → running action** ([#19916](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19916))
- Fix: reject direct status transition to 'running' via dashboard API (salvage of #19554) ([#19705](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19705))
- Fix: dashboard board pin authoritative over server current file (#20879) ([#21230](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21230))
- Fix: treat dashboard event-stream cancellation as normal shutdown (#20790) ([#21222](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21222))
- Fix: filter dashboard board by selected tenant (#19817) ([#21349](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21349))
- Fix: code/pre styling theme-immune across all themes (#21086) ([#21247](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21247))
- Fix: reset `<code>` background inside dashboard board ([#20687](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20687))
- Fix: preserve dashboard completion summaries + add kanban edit (salvages #20016) ([#20195](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20195))
- Fix: avoid fragile failure-column renames (salvage #20848) (@kshitijk4poor) ([#20855](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20855))

### Worker lifecycle + reliability
- **Heartbeat + reclaim + zombie + retry-cap fixes** (#21147, #21141, #21169, #20881) ([#21183](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21183))
- **Auto-block workers that exit without completing + shutdown race** (#20894) ([#21214](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21214))
- **Detect darwin zombie workers** (salvages #20023) ([#20188](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20188))
- **Unify failure counter across spawn/timeout/crash outcomes** ([#20410](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20410))
- **Enforce worker task-ownership on destructive tool calls** ([#19713](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19713))
- **Drop worker identity claim from KANBAN_GUIDANCE** ([#19427](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19427))
- Fix: skip dispatch for tasks assigned to non-profile lanes (salvages #20105, #20134) ([#20165](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20165))
- Fix: include default profile in on-disk assignee enumeration (salvages #20123) ([#20170](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20170))
- Fix: ignore stale current board pointers (salvages #20063) ([#20183](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20183))
- Fix: profile discovery ignores HERMES_HOME in custom-root deployments (@jackey8616) ([#19020](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19020))
- Fix: allow orchestrator profiles to see kanban tools via toolsets config ([#19606](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19606))

### Batch salvages
- Tier-1 batch — metadata test, max_spawn config, run-id lifecycle guard (salvages #19522 #19556 #19829) ([#20440](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20440))
- Tier-2 batch — doctor, started_at, parent-guard, latest_summary, selects, linked-children ([#20448](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20448))

### Documentation
- Backfill multi-board refs in reference docs ([#19704](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19704))
- Document `/kanban` slash command ([#19584](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19584))
- Document recommended handoff evidence metadata (salvage #19512) ([#20415](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20415))
- Fix orchestrator + worker skill setup instructions (@helix4u) ([#20958](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20958), [#20960](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20960))

---

## 🎯 Persistent Goals, Checkpoints & Session Durability

### `/goal` — persistent cross-turn goals (Ralph loop)
- **`feat: /goal — persistent cross-turn goals`** ([#18262](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/18262))
- **Docs page — Persistent Goals (/goal)** ([#18275](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/18275))
- Fix: honor configured goal turn budget (salvage #19423) ([#21287](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21287))

### Checkpoints v2
- **Single-store rewrite with real pruning + disk guardrails** ([#20709](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20709))

### Session durability
- **Auto-resume interrupted sessions after gateway restart** (salvage #20888) ([#21192](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21192))
- **Preserve pending update prompts across restarts** ([#20160](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20160))
- **Preserve home-channel thread targets across restart notifications** (salvage #18440) ([#19271](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19271))
- **Preserve thread routing from cached live session sources** ([#21206](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21206))
- **Preserve assistant metadata when branching sessions** ([#18222](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/18222))
- **Preserve thread routing for /update progress and prompts** ([#18193](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/18193))
- **Preserve document type when merging queued events** ([#18215](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/18215))

---

## 🛡️ Security & Reliability

### Security hardening (8 P0 closures)
- **Enable secret redaction by default** (#17691, #20785) ([#21193](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21193))
- **Discord — scope `DISCORD_ALLOWED_ROLES` to originating guild** (#12136, CVSS 8.1) ([#21241](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21241))
- **WhatsApp — reject strangers by default, never respond in self-chat** (#8389) ([#21291](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21291))
- **MCP OAuth — close TOCTOU window when saving credentials** ([#21176](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21176))
- **`hermes_cli/auth.py` — close TOCTOU window in credential writers** ([#21194](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21194))
- **Browser — enforce cloud-metadata SSRF floor in hybrid routing** (#16234) ([#21228](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21228))
- **`hermes debug share` — redact log content at upload time** (@GodsBoy) ([#19318](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19318))
- **Cron — scan assembled prompt including skill content for prompt injection** (#3968) ([#21350](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21350))
- **Restore .env/auth.json/state.db with 0600 perms** ([#19699](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19699))
- **SRI integrity for dashboard plugin scripts** (salvage #19389) ([#21277](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/21277))
- **Bind Meet node server to localhost, restrict token file to owner read** ([#19597](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19597))
- **Extend sensitive-write target to cover shell RC and credential files** ([#19282](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/19282))
- **Harden YOLO mode env parsing against quoted-bool strings** ([#18214](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/18214))
- **OSV-Scanner CI + Dependabot for github-actions only** ([#20037](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/20037))

### Reliability — critical bug closures
- **CLI crash o
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