The backup takes a consistent snapshot of each .db via sqlite3.backup(),
so shipping the live .db-wal / .db-shm / .db-journal alongside pairs the
fresh snapshot with stale sidecar state and produces a torn restore on
first open. Sidecars are transient and SQLite regenerates them on next
connection anyway.
This also trims multi-MB of junk from every zip — state.db-wal alone was
~9 MB here, doubled by the fact the WAL is the live write-ahead log, not
data.
Session-local trajectory cache — keyed by session hash, regenerated
per-session, won't port to another machine anyway. On a large install
this was multiple GB of pure noise in every zip.
Also adds a regression test for the pre-existing backups/ exclusion
so the two machine-local dirs share coverage.
The zip backup could add minutes to every 'hermes update' on large
HERMES_HOME directories. Flip the default to off and add a --backup
flag for one-off opt-in runs.
- updates.pre_update_backup default: True -> False
- hermes update: new --backup flag (opposite of existing --no-backup)
- Silent no-op when disabled (no message spam on every update)
- Existing --no-backup still works and wins over --backup
- Users who explicitly set pre_update_backup: true keep the old behavior
- Tests updated to cover default-off, --backup opt-in, and config-enabled paths
Every 'hermes update' now runs a full backup of ~/.hermes/ first, so
users can always roll back to the exact state they had before the
update if anything goes wrong (corrupted sessions.db, broken skills,
config migrations that don't round-trip, etc.).
Changes:
- hermes_cli/backup.py: new create_pre_update_backup() helper. Writes
to <HERMES_HOME>/backups/pre-update-<stamp>.zip using the same
exclusion rules and SQLite safe-copy as 'hermes backup'. Auto-rotates
(keep last N, pre-update-*.zip only — hand-dropped zips in backups/
are untouched). Adds 'backups' to _EXCLUDED_DIRS so subsequent backups
don't nest prior ones.
- hermes_cli/main.py: _run_pre_update_backup() wired into
_cmd_update_impl before any git operation. Prints save path, restore
command, and how to disable. Swallows failures so a broken backup
never blocks the update itself. New --no-backup flag on 'hermes
update' for one-off override.
- hermes_cli/config.py: new 'updates' section in DEFAULT_CONFIG with
pre_update_backup (default true) and backup_keep (default 5).
Auto-surfaces in the dashboard config UI.
- tests/hermes_cli/test_backup.py: +11 tests covering backup location,
content parity with 'hermes backup', no-recursion, rotation, manual
file preservation, config gate, --no-backup flag, flag-wins-over-config.
Quick state snapshot now includes pairing JSONs (generic + legacy +
Feishu comment pairing), and `hermes update` takes a pre-update
snapshot labeled `pre-update` before pulling.
Pairing data lives outside state.db in platform-specific JSONs under
~/.hermes/pairing/, ~/.hermes/platforms/pairing/, and
~/.hermes/feishu_comment_pairing.json. The update command already
couldn't touch $HERMES_HOME, but #15733 reports lost pairing after
an update — this gives users something to restore from via
`/snapshot list` / `/snapshot restore <id>` if anything clobbers
the approved-user lists.
- Extend _QUICK_STATE_FILES with pairing paths (files + dirs)
- Snapshot walks directories recursively and records each file in the
manifest individually so restore logic is unchanged
- _cmd_update_impl calls create_quick_snapshot(label='pre-update')
after 'Found N new commits' and before 'Pulling updates'
- Snapshot failures are logged at debug and never block the update
Refs #15733.
ZipFile.write() raises ValueError for files with mtime before 1980-01-01
(the ZIP format uses MS-DOS timestamps which can't represent earlier dates).
This crashes the entire backup. Add ValueError to the existing except clause
so these files are skipped and reported in the warnings summary, matching the
existing behavior for PermissionError and OSError.
Three changes consolidated into the existing backup system:
1. Fix: hermes backup now uses sqlite3.Connection.backup() for .db files
instead of raw file copy. Raw copy of a WAL-mode database can produce
a corrupted backup — the backup() API handles this correctly.
2. hermes backup --quick: fast snapshot of just critical state files
(config.yaml, state.db, .env, auth.json, cron/jobs.json, etc.)
stored in ~/.hermes/state-snapshots/. Auto-prunes to 20 snapshots.
3. /snapshot slash command (alias /snap): in-session interface for
quick state snapshots. create/list/restore/prune subcommands.
Restore by ID or number. Powered by the same backup module.
No new modules — everything lives in hermes_cli/backup.py alongside
the existing full backup/import code.
No hooks in run_agent.py — purely on-demand, zero runtime overhead.
Closes the use case from PRs #8406 and #7813 with ~200 lines of new
logic instead of a 1090-line content-addressed storage engine.
The backup validation checked for 'hermes_state.db' and 'memory_store.db'
as telltale markers of a valid Hermes backup zip. Neither name exists in a
real Hermes installation — the actual database file is 'state.db'
(hermes_state.py: DEFAULT_DB_PATH = get_hermes_home() / 'state.db').
A fresh Hermes installation produces:
~/.hermes/state.db (actual name)
~/.hermes/config.yaml
~/.hermes/.env
Because the marker set never matched 'state.db', a backup zip containing
only 'state.db' plus 'config.yaml' would fail validation with:
'zip does not appear to be a Hermes backup'
and the import would exit with sys.exit(1), silently rejecting a valid backup.
Fix: replace the wrong marker names with the correct filename.
Adds TestValidateBackupZip with three cases:
- state.db is accepted as a valid marker
- old wrong names (hermes_state.db, memory_store.db) alone are rejected
- config.yaml continues to pass (existing behaviour preserved)
* feat: add `hermes backup` and `hermes import` commands
hermes backup — creates a zip of ~/.hermes/ (config, skills, sessions,
profiles, memories, skins, cron jobs, etc.) excluding the hermes-agent
codebase, __pycache__, and runtime PID files. Defaults to
~/hermes-backup-<timestamp>.zip, customizable with -o.
hermes import <zipfile> — restores from a backup zip, validating it
looks like a hermes backup before extracting. Handles .hermes/ prefix
stripping, path traversal protection, and confirmation prompts (skip
with --force).
29 tests covering exclusion rules, backup creation, import validation,
prefix detection, path traversal blocking, confirmation flow, and a
full round-trip test.
* test: improve backup/import coverage to 97%
Add 17 additional tests covering:
- _format_size helper (bytes through terabytes)
- Nonexistent hermes home error exit
- Output path is a directory (auto-names inside it)
- Output without .zip suffix (auto-appends)
- Empty hermes home (all files excluded)
- Permission errors during backup and import
- Output zip inside hermes root (skips itself)
- Not-a-zip file rejection
- EOFError and KeyboardInterrupt during confirmation
- 500+ file progress display
- Directory-only zip prefix detection
Remove dead code branch in _detect_prefix (unreachable guard).
* feat: auto-restore profile wrapper scripts on import
After extracting backup files, hermes import now scans profiles/ for
subdirectories with config.yaml or .env and recreates the ~/.local/bin
wrapper scripts so profile aliases (e.g. 'coder chat') work immediately.
Also prints guidance for re-installing gateway services per profile.
Handles edge cases:
- Skips profile dirs without config (not real profiles)
- Skips aliases that collide with existing commands
- Gracefully degrades if hermes_cli.profiles isn't available (fresh install)
- Shows PATH hint if ~/.local/bin isn't in PATH
3 new profile restoration tests (49 total).
