Using abmind with Hermes-Agent

abmind plugs into Hermes-Agent as a memory provider: automatic recall before every turn, automatic turn capture, compression-safe checkpoints, nightly sleep maintenance, and explicit memory tools — all backed by your local abmind database. The same memories are shared with any other abmind-connected tool, so context follows you when you switch tools.

What you get

Event	What happens
Session start	Recent facts and profile hydrated into context
Before each turn	Relevant memories recalled and injected (judged, compact)
After each turn	Turn recorded automatically
Context compression	Uncommitted messages checkpointed durably before discard
Nightly	One sleep run: extract, consolidate, age, detect contradictions
On demand	abmind_recall / abmind_store tools for explicit use

Recalled context is fenced and labeled; injections never silently suppress later recall, and failures always degrade to ordinary operation rather than invented answers.

Requirements

• Node.js 22+
• abmind installed (Install), ideally running as a service (Service)
• Hermes-Agent with the memory provider slot free (one external provider at a time)

Install

# 1. Copy the plugin into Hermes (from an abmind checkout)
mkdir -p ~/.hermes/plugins/abmind
cp hermes-plugin/__init__.py hermes-plugin/plugin.yaml \
   hermes-plugin/SKILL.md hermes-plugin/config_schema.py \
   hermes-plugin/cli.py ~/.hermes/plugins/abmind/

# 2. In ~/.hermes/config.yaml:
memory:
  provider: abmind
  abmind:
    mode: local   # or: remote (see below)

# 3. Verify
hermes memory status     # abmind listed as the active provider
hermes abmind status     # bridge up, lifecycle ready

Enabling automatic capture

Reading memories works out of the box. Writing (turn capture, checkpoints, mirrors) additionally requires the daemon to name your principal as an enabled lifecycle writer — otherwise capture is skipped with a reason, never failed open.

Find your principal first: it defaults to your Hermes user id. Then enable it on the daemon. If you run the daemon directly:

abmind-daemon.js --lifecycle-write-owners <principal>

If you run it as a managed service, set the environment in the service definition instead (systemd override or launchd EnvironmentVariables):

ABMIND_LIFECYCLE_WRITE_OWNERS=<principal>

Restart the daemon, then check hermes abmind status again and confirm a chat turn is remembered with abmind recall --translated "<a phrase from the turn>".

Configuration reference

Settings resolve in this order: ABMIND_* environment variables, then the dashboard panel ($HERMES_HOME/abmind/config.json, written by the memory provider panel), then memory.abmind in config.yaml. The bridge binary is found automatically from the installed abmind command; ABMIND_BRIDGE_BIN overrides that for custom layouts.

Key	Env	Default	Meaning
mode	ABMIND_MODE	local	local Unix socket, or remote signed profile
socket_path	ABMIND_SOCKET	~/.abmind/run/abmind.sock	Local daemon socket
remote_profile	ABMIND_REMOTE_PROFILE	—	Remote profile name (remote mode)
principal	ABMIND_PRINCIPAL	Hermes user id	abmind identity to act as
recall_limit	ABMIND_RECALL_LIMIT	5	Max recall hits per turn (1–50)
recall_max_chars	ABMIND_RECALL_MAX_CHARS	2000	Max injected chars per turn
fallback	ABMIND_FALLBACK	off	cli opts into legacy CLI reads when the bridge is down

The same fields are editable from the Hermes dashboard (memory provider panel).

Remote mode

memory:
  provider: abmind
  abmind:
    mode: remote
    remote_profile: myprofile

Remote connections fail closed: an authentication or transport failure never falls back to a different local store.

Tools

The provider registers six tools (gated by the memory toolset like any provider):

• abmind_recall / abmind_store — explicit search and deliberate stores.
• abmind_sleep — start, status, events, cancel, resume maintenance runs.
• abmind_sleep_runtime — the maintenance-agent lease flow (the scheduled nightly job uses these; humans rarely need them).
• abmind_operational_recall / abmind_operational_draft — working memory (lessons and drafts under review). Drafts are proposals; nothing is promoted automatically. This is separate from private long-term memory.

Writes from built-in Hermes memory tools are mirrored into abmind; revisions carrying an old text and removals are kept as reviewable observations — nothing is silently superseded or deleted.

Sleep (memory maintenance)

If abmind runs under abtars, skip this section: abtars defines a default sleep-cycle task that already schedules and serves maintenance, so there is nothing to set up. The flow below is for non-abtars deployments only.

Scheduling sleep is the operator's job — the provider never registers jobs by itself. Create one nightly job in Hermes' own cron, exactly like any other host-owned task:

/cron add 0 3 * * * "You are the abmind sleep maintenance agent. Perform one bounded maintenance pass over this profile's abmind memory: 1. Open a runtime lease: abmind_sleep_runtime action=open. 2. Start a sleep run if none is active: abmind_sleep action=start level=normal. 3. Poll abmind_sleep_runtime action=next (waitMs 60000). For each completion request, answer concisely from the given prompt and submit via action=complete. Serve at most 12 completions or 25 minutes, whichever comes first. 4. On error, report via action=fail with a short code. When next reports no request, the run is terminal, or the budget is spent, close the lease via action=close and stop. Rules: never call memory capture/store tools for maintenance content; never start a second run while one is active; always close the lease, even on failure. Report the final sleep status in one line." --name abmind-sleep

Check /cron list afterwards: exactly one abmind-sleep job should exist. The scheduled run opens its own short-lived connection, performs the bounded pass, and closes it. Session-end hooks never trigger sleep.

In CLI-only Hermes there is no cron subsystem, so schedule outside Hermes instead — for example an OS cron line running abmind sleep with ABMIND_LLM_CMD set (see abmind sleep --help), which needs no Hermes involvement at all.

Backup

Hermes backup does not include abmind state (the live database must never be raw-copied). Back up memory separately with abmind backup (see Backup).

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
hermes abmind status: no bridge binary	No abmind command resolves on PATH	Install abmind, or set ABMIND_BRIDGE_BIN for a custom layout
Turns are not remembered	Principal not enabled for capture	Set ABMIND_LIFECYCLE_WRITE_OWNERS / flag, restart daemon
abmind_recall returns nothing	Empty memory, or provider inert	Check hermes abmind status; store something first
Sleep job missing	CLI-only Hermes, or gateway cron unavailable	Expected in CLI mode; gateway registers on first primary run
Memory tools absent from the agent	memory toolset gated off	Check platform toolsets / disabled toolsets for the session