Commit Graph

3 Commits

Author SHA1 Message Date
Teknium
b2b479b40e docs(kanban): backfill multi-board refs in reference docs (#19704)
Followup to #19653. The feature PR updated the Kanban user guide but
missed four other pages that document the same surface. Caught when
Teknium asked 'did you add docs to the guide and any other kanban
related docs around this?'.

- reference/cli-commands.md: rewrite the `hermes kanban` section to
  document the `--board <slug>` global flag, the `boards`
  subcommand group (list/create/switch/show/rename/rm), board
  resolution order, and worked examples. Also fills in the
  `create` / `complete` flag lists that had drifted from the
  current CLI (`--summary`, `--metadata`, `--triage`,
  `--idempotency-key`, `--max-runtime`, `--skill`).
- reference/environment-variables.md: add `HERMES_KANBAN_BOARD`
  row, update `HERMES_KANBAN_DB` precedence note.
- reference/slash-commands.md: add `/kanban boards ...` and
  `/kanban --board <slug> ...` to the two `/kanban` rows (CLI
  table + gateway table).
- features/kanban-tutorial.md: the walkthrough uses the `default`
  board, so just a note pointing readers at the overview's Boards
  section if they want multiple queues, plus the corrected per-board
  DB path.

Skill docs (devops-kanban-orchestrator, -worker) intentionally not
updated: those are agent-facing lifecycle playbooks and boards are
transparent to workers (HERMES_KANBAN_BOARD env var pins the DB
automatically), so there's nothing new for a worker to know.
2026-05-04 04:47:19 -07:00
Teknium
986ec04048 docs: document /kanban slash command (#19584)
* docs: document /kanban slash command

The kanban user guide and slash-commands reference only mentioned the
/kanban slash command in passing. Add a proper section covering:

- CLI and gateway both expose the full hermes kanban surface via
  hermes_cli.kanban.run_slash (identical argument surface)
- Mid-run usage: /kanban bypasses the running-agent guard, so reads
  and writes land immediately while an agent is still in a turn
- Auto-subscribe on /kanban create from the gateway — originating
  chat is subscribed to terminal events, with a worked example
- Output truncation (~3800 chars) in messaging
- Autocomplete hint list vs full subcommand surface

Also adds /kanban rows to both slash-command tables (CLI + messaging)
in reference/slash-commands.md and moves it into the 'works in both'
notes bucket.

* docs(kanban): frame the model's tool surface as primary, CLI as the human surface

The kanban user guide and CLI reference read as if you drive the board
by running `hermes kanban` commands everywhere. In practice:

- **You** (human, scripts, cron, dashboard) use the `hermes kanban …`
  CLI, the `/kanban …` slash command, or the REST/dashboard.
- **Workers** spawned by the dispatcher use a dedicated `kanban_*`
  toolset (`kanban_show`, `kanban_complete`, `kanban_block`,
  `kanban_heartbeat`, `kanban_comment`, `kanban_create`,
  `kanban_link`) and never shell out to the CLI.

Changes to `user-guide/features/kanban.md`:

- New 'Two surfaces' intro distinguishes the two front doors up front.
- Quick-start section re-labelled so each step says who is running it
  (you vs. orchestrator vs. worker).
- 'How workers interact with the board' rewritten:
  - Lead with "Workers do not shell out to `hermes kanban`."
  - Tool table extended with required params.
  - Concrete worker-turn example (`kanban_show` → `kanban_heartbeat`
    → `kanban_complete`) and an orchestrator fan-out example
    (`kanban_create` x N with `parents=[...]`).
  - Moved 'Why tools not CLI' from a defensive aside to a clean
    follow-up section.
- 'Worker skill' section explicitly says the lifecycle is taught
  in tool calls, not CLI commands.
- 'Pinning extra skills' reordered — orchestrator tool form first
  (the usual case), human/CLI second, dashboard third.
- 'Orchestrator skill' now shows a canonical `kanban_create` /
  `kanban_link` / `kanban_complete` tool-call sequence instead of
  only describing what the skill teaches.
- CLI-command-reference heading now clarifies this is the human
  surface, with a cross-link to the tool-surface section.
- 'Runs — one row per attempt' structured-handoff example replaced:
  the primary example is now `kanban_complete(summary=..., metadata=...)`
  (what a worker actually does), with the CLI form retained as
  "when you, the human, need to close a task a worker can't."

Changes to `reference/cli-commands.md`:

- `hermes kanban` intro marks itself as the human / scripting surface
  and links out to the worker tool surface.
- Corrected `comment <id>` description — the next worker reads it via
  `kanban_show()`, not by running `hermes kanban show`.

* docs(kanban-tutorial): reframe worker actions as tool calls

Honest answer to Teknium's follow-up: no, the first pass missed the
tutorial. The four stories all showed `hermes kanban claim /
complete / block / unblock` as if the backend-dev, pm, and reviewer
personas were humans running CLI commands. In a real hermes kanban
run those agents are dispatcher-spawned workers driving the board
through the `kanban_*` tool surface.

Changes:

- Setup intro now distinguishes the three surfaces up front
  (dashboard / CLI for you, `kanban_*` tools for workers) and
  establishes the convention: `bash` blocks are commands *you* run,
  `# worker tool calls` blocks are what the agent emits.
- Story 1 (solo dev schema): 'Claim the schema task, do the work,
  hand off' block replaced with the dispatcher spawning the
  backend-dev worker and a `kanban_show → kanban_heartbeat →
  kanban_complete` tool-call sequence. The 'On the CLI' `hermes
  kanban show / runs` block re-labelled as 'you peeking at the board'
  to keep it correct as a human inspection step.
- Story 2 (fleet farming): note about structured handoff updated
  from `--summary` / `--metadata` CLI flags to
  `kanban_complete(summary=..., metadata=...)` tool form.
- Story 3 (role pipeline): the big PM/engineer/reviewer block fully
  rewritten as three worker tool-call sequences — PM worker
  completes spec, engineer worker blocks, human/reviewer
  `hermes kanban unblock` (or `/kanban unblock`), engineer worker
  respawns and completes. The respawn-as-new-run mechanic is now
  explicit.
- Reviewer paragraph: `build_worker_context` replaced with
  `kanban_show()` — that's the tool that delivers the parent
  handoff to the model.
- Structured handoff section heading and body updated:
  `--summary`/`--metadata` → `summary`/`metadata` (tool params),
  with a note that the tool surface doesn't expose a bulk variant
  for the same reason the CLI refuses multi-task `complete`.

Story 4 (circuit breaker) unchanged — its workers fail to spawn,
so there are no tool calls to show; the `hermes kanban create` and
`hermes kanban runs` commands in it are correctly human-driven.
2026-05-04 03:05:34 -07:00
Teknium
c868425467 feat(kanban): durable multi-profile collaboration board (#17805)
Salvage of PR #16100 onto current main (after emozilla's #17514 fix
that unblocks plugin Pydantic body validation). History preserved on
the standing `feat/kanban-standing` branch; this squashes the 22
iterative commits into one clean landing.

What this lands:
- SQLite kernel (hermes_cli/kanban_db.py) — durable task board with
  tasks, task_links, task_runs, task_comments, task_events,
  kanban_notify_subs tables. WAL mode, atomic claim via CAS,
  tenant-namespaced, skills JSON array per task, max-runtime timeouts,
  worker heartbeats, idempotency keys, circuit breaker on repeated
  spawn failures, crash detection via /proc/<pid>/status, run history
  preserved across attempts.
- Dispatcher — runs inside the gateway by default
  (`kanban.dispatch_in_gateway: true`). Ticks every 60s, reclaims
  stale claims, promotes ready tasks, spawns `hermes -p <assignee>
  chat -q "work kanban task <id>"` with HERMES_KANBAN_TASK +
  HERMES_KANBAN_WORKSPACE env. Auto-loads `--skills kanban-worker`
  plus any per-task skills. Health telemetry warns on stuck ready
  queue.
- Structured tool surface (tools/kanban_tools.py) — 7 tools
  (kanban_show, kanban_complete, kanban_block, kanban_heartbeat,
  kanban_comment, kanban_create, kanban_link). Gated on
  HERMES_KANBAN_TASK via check_fn so zero schema footprint in normal
  sessions.
- System-prompt guidance (agent/prompt_builder.py KANBAN_GUIDANCE)
  injected only when kanban tools are active.
- Dashboard plugin (plugins/kanban/dashboard/) — Linear-style board
  UI: triage/todo/ready/running/blocked/done columns, drag-drop,
  inline create, task drawer with markdown, comments, run history,
  dependency editor, bulk ops, lanes-by-profile grouping, WS-driven
  live refresh. Matches active dashboard theme via CSS variables.
- CLI — `hermes kanban init|create|list|show|assign|link|unlink|
  claim|comment|complete|block|unblock|archive|tail|dispatch|context|
  init|gc|watch|stats|notify|log|heartbeat|runs|assignees` +
  `/kanban` slash in-session.
- Worker + orchestrator skills (skills/devops/kanban-worker +
  kanban-orchestrator) — pattern library for good summary/metadata
  shapes, retry diagnostics, block-reason examples, fan-out patterns.
- Per-task force-loaded skills — `--skill <name>` (repeatable),
  stored as JSON, threaded through to dispatcher argv as one
  `--skills X` pair per skill alongside the built-in kanban-worker.
  Dashboard + CLI + tool parity.
- Deprecation of standalone `hermes kanban daemon` — stub exits 2
  with migration guidance; `--force` escape hatch for headless hosts.
- Docs (website/docs/user-guide/features/kanban.md + kanban-tutorial.md)
  with 11 dashboard screenshots walking through four user stories
  (Solo Dev, Fleet Farming, Role Pipeline, Circuit Breaker).
- Tests (251 passing): kernel schema + migration + CAS atomicity,
  dispatcher logic, circuit breaker, crash detection, max-runtime
  timeouts, claim lifecycle, tenant isolation, idempotency keys, per-
  task skills round-trip + validation + dispatcher argv, tool surface
  (7 tools × round-trip + error paths), dashboard REST (CRUD + bulk
  + links + warnings), gateway-embedded dispatcher (config gate, env
  override, graceful shutdown), CLI deprecation stub, migration from
  legacy schemas.

Gateway integration:
- GatewayRunner._kanban_dispatcher_watcher — new asyncio background
  task, symmetric with _kanban_notifier_watcher. Runs dispatch_once
  via asyncio.to_thread so SQLite WAL never blocks the loop. Sleeps
  in 1s slices for snappy shutdown. Respects HERMES_KANBAN_DISPATCH_IN_GATEWAY=0
  env override for debugging.
- Config: new `kanban` section in DEFAULT_CONFIG with
  `dispatch_in_gateway: true` (default) + `dispatch_interval_seconds: 60`.
  Additive — no \_config_version bump needed.

Forward-compat:
- workflow_template_id / current_step_key columns on tasks (v1 writes
  NULL; v2 will use them for routing).
- task_runs holds claim machinery (claim_lock, claim_expires,
  worker_pid, last_heartbeat_at) so multi-attempt history is first-
  class from day one.

Closes #16102.

Co-authored-by: emozilla <emozilla@nousresearch.com>
2026-04-30 13:36:47 -07:00