hermes-history-ingest — Claude Code skill: what it does, install

---
name: hermes-history-ingest
description: >
  Ingest Hermes agent history into Obsidian as distilled knowledge. Use for importing or mining ~/.hermes sessions, memories, or logs; use wiki-agent for targeted topic-only cross-agent recall.
---

# 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

**Writing profile:** Before drafting or rewriting natural-language Markdown, read and apply the `Writing Profile Resolution` section in `llm-wiki/SKILL.md`. Framework schema, provenance, safety, and operation-specific requirements take precedence.
`WRITING.md` preferences apply only to newly drafted or rewritten natural-language Markdown; preserve source content and structured records.

1. **Resolve config** — follow the Config Resolution Protocol in `llm-wiki/SKILL.md` (inline `@name` override → walk up CWD for `.env` → global config → prompt setup). This gives `OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH` and `HERMES_HISTORY_PATH` (defaults to `~/.hermes`)
2. Read `.manifest.json` at the vault root to check what has already been ingested
3. 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

1. `memories/*.md` / `memories/*.json` — highest signal; curated persistent knowledge the agent accumulated
2. `sessions/**/*.jsonl` — structured turn-by-turn transcripts; rich but noisy
3. `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:

```json
{"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 confidence and lifecycle fields to every new page:
  ```yaml
  base_confidence: 0.42
  lifecycle: draft
  lifecycle_changed: <obsidian-wiki memory now --date>
  ```
  Leave `lifecycle` unchanged on update.
- 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:

```json
{
  "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`, `log.md`, and `hot.md` with one locked call:

```bash
obsidian-wiki memory sync HERMES_HISTORY_INGEST \
  memories=<memories> sessions=<sessions> pages_updated=<pages_updated> \
  pages_created=<pages_created> mode=<mode> \
  --takeaways "Ingested 42 Hermes memories and 7 sessions; dominant themes: reasoning strategies, tool use patterns."
```

Never hand-edit `index.md`, `log.md`, or `hot.md` — the command takes the lock that keeps a parallel writer from dropping your update. `--takeaways` is the one-line conceptual summary that used to go in Recent Activity;
omit it to leave the previous takeaways untouched.

See `.skills/llm-wiki/references/MEMORY.md` for the full procedure.

## 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.

## QMD Refresh After Vault Writes

QMD is a search index, not the source of truth. If `$QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION` is empty or unset, skip this step. Run it only after this skill has written or rewritten vault markdown. If QMD refresh fails, do not roll back the vault changes; report the QMD status separately.

Use `$QMD_CLI` if set; otherwise use `qmd`.

```bash
${QMD_CLI:-qmd} update
```

If the output says vectors are needed or embeddings may be stale, run:

```bash
${QMD_CLI:-qmd} embed
```

Verify the collection with either:

```bash
${QMD_CLI:-qmd} ls "$QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION"
```

or, when a specific page path is known:

```bash
${QMD_CLI:-qmd} get "qmd://$QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION/<page>.md" -l 5
```

Record one of:
- `QMD refreshed: update + embed + verified`
- `QMD refreshed: update only + verified`
- `QMD skipped: QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION unset`
- `QMD skipped: qmd CLI unavailable`
- `QMD failed: <short error summary>`