Hermes History Ingest — Conversation & Memory Mining

You are extracting knowledge from the user's Hermes agent history and distilling it into the Obsidian wiki. Hermes stores both free-form memories and structured session transcripts — focus on durable knowledge, not operational telemetry.

This skill can be invoked directly or via the wiki-history-ingest router (/wiki-history-ingest hermes ).

Before You Start

• Read .env to get OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH and HERMES_HISTORY_PATH (default to ~/.hermes if unset)

• Read .manifest.json at the vault root to check what has already been ingested

• Read index.md at the vault root to understand what the wiki already contains

Ingest Modes

Append Mode (default)

Check .manifest.json for each source file. Only process:

• Files not in the manifest (new memory files, new session logs)

• Files whose modification time is newer than ingested_at in the manifest

Use this mode for regular syncs.

Full Mode

Process everything regardless of manifest. Use after wiki-rebuild or if the user explicitly asks for a full re-ingest.

Hermes Data Layout

Hermes stores all local artifacts under ~/.hermes/ (or $HERMES_HOME for non-default profiles).

~/.hermes/ ├── memories/ # Persistent agent memories (markdown or JSON) │ └── *.md / *.json ├── skills/ # Installed skills (read-only for ingest purposes) │ └── <skill-name>/SKILL.md ├── sessions/ # Session transcripts (if session logging is enabled) │ └── YYYY-MM-DD/ │ └── <session-id>.jsonl ├── config.yaml # User config (model, theme, paths) └── .hub/ # Skills Hub state (lock.json, audit.log, quarantine/)

Key data sources ranked by value

• memories/.md / memories/.json — highest signal; curated persistent knowledge the agent accumulated

• sessions/**/*.jsonl — structured turn-by-turn transcripts; rich but noisy

• config.yaml — metadata only (model preferences, paths); rarely worth ingesting

Skip .hub/ internals (audit/quarantine state) and the skills/ directory (source material, not user knowledge).

Step 1: Survey and Compute Delta

Scan HERMES_HISTORY_PATH and compare against .manifest.json :

• ~/.hermes/memories/

• ~/.hermes/sessions/**/ (if present)

Classify each file:

• New — not in manifest

• Modified — in manifest but file is newer than ingested_at

• Unchanged — already ingested and unchanged

Report a concise delta summary before deep parsing.

Step 2: Parse Memories First

Memories are the highest-value source. Hermes writes them as either:

• Markdown — structured prose with optional frontmatter; ingest directly

• JSON — {"content": "...", "created_at": "...", "tags": [...]} records

For each memory:

• Extract the core knowledge claim

• Note any tags Hermes attached (they often map to wiki categories)

• Merge into the appropriate wiki page rather than creating one memory = one page

Step 3: Parse Session JSONL Safely

Each session JSONL line is an event envelope. Common shapes:

{"role": "user", "content": "..."} {"role": "assistant", "content": "..."} {"type": "tool_use", "name": "...", "input": {...}} {"type": "tool_result", "content": "..."}

Extraction rules

• Prioritize assistant responses that state conclusions, patterns, or decisions

• Extract user intent from high-signal turns; skip low-information follow-ups

• Treat tool_use / tool_result pairs as context, not primary content

• Skip token accounting, internal plumbing, and repeated plan echoes

Critical privacy filter

Session logs can include injected instructions, tool payloads, and sensitive text. Do not ingest verbatim.

• Remove API keys, tokens, passwords, credentials

• Redact private identifiers unless relevant and user-approved

• Summarize; do not quote raw transcripts verbatim

Step 4: Cluster by Topic

Do not create one wiki page per memory or session.

• Group memories by stable topic (concept, tool, project, technique)

• Split mixed sessions into separate themes

• Merge recurring patterns across dates and projects

• Use file paths or session cwd metadata to infer project scope when available

Step 5: Distill into Wiki Pages

Route extracted knowledge using existing wiki conventions:

• Project-specific architecture/process → projects/<name>/...

• General concepts → concepts/

• Recurring techniques/debug playbooks → skills/

• Tools/services/frameworks → entities/

• Cross-session patterns → synthesis/

For each impacted project, create/update projects/<name>/<name>.md .

Writing rules

• Distill knowledge, not chronology

• Avoid "on date X we discussed..." unless date context is essential

• Add summary: frontmatter on each new/updated page (1–2 sentences, ≤ 200 chars)

• Add provenance markers:

• ^[extracted] when directly grounded in explicit memory/session content

• ^[inferred] when synthesizing patterns across multiple memories

• ^[ambiguous] when memories conflict

• Add/update provenance: frontmatter mix for each changed page

Step 6: Update Manifest, Log, and Index

Update .manifest.json

For each processed source file:

• ingested_at , size_bytes , modified_at

• source_type : hermes_memory | hermes_session

• project : inferred project name (when applicable)

• pages_created , pages_updated

Add/update a top-level summary block:

{ "hermes": { "source_path": "~/.hermes/", "last_ingested": "TIMESTAMP", "memories_ingested": 42, "sessions_ingested": 7, "pages_created": 5, "pages_updated": 12 } }

Update special files

Update index.md and log.md :

• [TIMESTAMP] HERMES_HISTORY_INGEST memories=N sessions=M pages_updated=X pages_created=Y mode=append|full

hot.md — Read $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/hot.md (create from the template in wiki-ingest if missing). Update Recent Activity with a one-line summary — e.g. "Ingested 42 Hermes memories and 7 sessions; dominant themes: reasoning strategies, tool use patterns." Keep the last 3 operations. Update updated timestamp.

Privacy and Compliance

• Distill and synthesize; avoid raw memory or transcript dumps

• Default to redaction for anything that looks sensitive

• Ask the user before storing personal or sensitive details

• Keep references to other people minimal and purpose-bound

Reference

See references/hermes-data-format.md for field-level notes and extraction guidance.