hermes-progress-tail

Compact Hermes gateway plugin for live progress tails.

What it does

• Shows latest tool calls, sticky todo state, delegated subagent progress, reasoning/thinking, and background jobs in compact progress bubbles.
• Updates one editable progress message instead of spamming chat.
• Keeps completed turn progress bubbles visible as history.
• Starts a fresh progress bubble for a new user turn after the prior final answer, while true interrupts keep updating the active bubble.
• Keeps running background jobs visible after the parent turn finishes.
• Falls back conservatively on no-edit platforms.
• Redacts common secrets before rendering progress.
• Disables conflicting Hermes built-in progress/reasoning display during recommended install.

Before / after

Install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tickernelz/hermes-progress-tail/v0.1.19/install.sh | bash

Restart Hermes manually after install/update:

/restart

Uninstall:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tickernelz/hermes-progress-tail/v0.1.19/uninstall.sh | bash

By default, the installer is interactive and asks for target profile plus setup depth. It never restarts Hermes automatically.

Install options

Use environment variables for automation:

• HPT_INTERACTIVE=0 — non-interactive install/update.
• HPT_DRY_RUN=1 — show what would change without writing files; non-interactive by default.
• HPT_PROFILES=work,personal — install/update selected profiles.
• HPT_ALL_PROFILES=1 — install/update default plus every discovered profile.
• HERMES_HOME=/path/to/.hermes — target a custom Hermes home.
• HPT_REPO=owner/repo — download from another GitHub repo.
• HPT_REF=v0.1.19 — download a specific tag/branch/ref.
• HPT_SOURCE_DIR=/path/to/repo — install from a local checkout instead of downloading.

Examples:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tickernelz/hermes-progress-tail/v0.1.19/install.sh | env HPT_INTERACTIVE=0 bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tickernelz/hermes-progress-tail/v0.1.19/install.sh | env HPT_DRY_RUN=1 bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tickernelz/hermes-progress-tail/v0.1.19/install.sh | env HPT_PROFILES=work,personal bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tickernelz/hermes-progress-tail/v0.1.19/install.sh | env HPT_ALL_PROFILES=1 bash

Local checkout install:

HPT_INTERACTIVE=0 HPT_SOURCE_DIR=/path/to/hermes-progress-tail bash install.sh

Python installer entrypoint:

python -m hermes_progress_tail.installer install --hermes-home ~/.hermes --set-display-off

Expected config

The installer merges missing defaults without overwriting existing user values.

plugins:
  enabled:
    - hermes-progress-tail

display:
  tool_progress: off
  show_reasoning: false

agent:
  gateway_notify_interval: 0

progress_tail:
  enabled: true

  tools:
    enabled: true
    lines: 3
    preview_length: 120
    show_completed: true
    show_duration: true
    timestamp: true
    timestamp_format: "%H:%M"

  delegates:
    enabled: true
    max_delegates: 4
    lines_per_delegate: 2
    max_goal_chars: 48
    max_line_chars: 120
    show_model: false
    show_tool_count: true
    show_completion: true
    thinking: off

  todo:
    sticky: true
    hide_tool_line: true
    max_pending: 3
    max_completed: 3
    max_cancelled: 2
    max_item_chars: 40

  patch:
    detail: smart
    preview_chars: 48
    max_files: 3

  reasoning:
    enabled: true
    max_lines: 3
    max_chars: 600
    min_update_chars: 80
    no_edit_strategy: off

  background_jobs:
    enabled: true
    list_running: true
    show_completed: true
    completed_ttl_seconds: 180
    max_jobs: 4
    head_lines: 2
    tail_lines: 3
    max_line_chars: 120
    update_interval_seconds: 3
    suppress_native_notify: true
    suppress_watch_notifications: true
    default_notify_on_complete: false

  renderer:
    strategy: auto
    edit_interval: 1.5
    stale_ttl_seconds: 900
    redact_secrets: true
    mode: sectioned
    style: emoji # emoji|plain
    density: normal # compact|normal|debug
    code_fence: auto # auto|on|off
    code_fence_language: ""

  no_edit:
    interval_seconds: 30
    min_new_events: 3
    final_summary: true
    max_snapshots_per_turn: 5

Turn lifecycle is internal: completed progress bubbles stay visible, but new user turns get new progress bubbles after the prior final answer. If a background job is still visible, its progress bubble can keep updating.

Commands

/progresstail status
/progresstail doctor
/progresstail demo
/progresstail demo plain
/progresstail demo failed

Development

python -m pip install -e '.[dev]'
pre-commit install
pre-commit run --all-files
python -m pytest

Useful direct checks:

ruff format .
ruff check .
python -m compileall -q .
git diff --check

Notes

Reasoning and delegate progress use guarded plugin-local monkeypatches around Hermes AIAgent / delegate_task internals. Hermes source files are not modified. If upstream internals change, the plugin should fail closed and /progresstail status should show the issue.