Files
hermes-agent/website/docs/developer-guide/provider-runtime.md
Teknium 289cc47631 docs: resync reference, user-guide, developer-guide, and messaging pages against code (#17738)
Broad drift audit against origin/main (b52b63396).

Reference pages (most user-visible drift):
- slash-commands: add /busy, /curator, /footer, /indicator, /redraw, /steer
  that were missing; drop non-existent /terminal-setup; fix /q footnote
  (resolves to /queue, not /quit); extend CLI-only list with all 24
  CLI-only commands in the registry
- cli-commands: add dedicated sections for hermes curator / fallback /
  hooks (new subcommands not previously documented); remove stale
  hermes honcho standalone section (the plugin registers dynamically
  via hermes memory); list curator/fallback/hooks in top-level table;
  fix completion to include fish
- toolsets-reference: document the real 52-toolset count; split browser
  vs browser-cdp; add discord / discord_admin / spotify / yuanbao;
  correct hermes-cli tool count from 36 to 38; fix misleading claim
  that hermes-homeassistant adds tools (it's identical to hermes-cli)
- tools-reference: bump tool count 55 -> 68; add 7 Spotify, 5 Yuanbao,
  2 Discord toolsets; move browser_cdp/browser_dialog to their own
  browser-cdp toolset section
- environment-variables: add 40+ user-facing HERMES_* vars that were
  undocumented (--yolo, --accept-hooks, --ignore-*, inference model
  override, agent/stream/checkpoint timeouts, OAuth trace, per-platform
  batch tuning for Telegram/Discord/Matrix/Feishu/WeCom, cron knobs,
  gateway restart/connect timeouts); dedupe the Cron Scheduler section;
  replace stale QQ_SANDBOX with QQ_PORTAL_HOST

User-guide (top level):
- cli.md: compression preserves last 20 turns, not 4 (protect_last_n: 20)
- configuration.md: display.platforms is the canonical per-platform
  override key; tool_progress_overrides is deprecated and auto-migrated
- profiles.md: model.default is the config key, not model.model
- sessions.md: CLI/TUI session IDs use 6-char hex, gateway uses 8
- checkpoints-and-rollback.md: destructive-command list now matches
  _DESTRUCTIVE_PATTERNS (adds rmdir, cp, install, dd)
- docker.md: the container runs as non-root hermes (UID 10000) via
  gosu; fix install command (uv pip); add missing --insecure on the
  dashboard compose example (required for non-loopback bind)
- security.md: systemctl danger pattern also matches 'restart'
- index.md: built-in tool count 47 -> 68
- integrations/index.md: 6 STT providers, 8 memory providers
- integrations/providers.md: drop fictional dashscope/qwen aliases

Features:
- overview.md: 9 image models (not 8), 9 TTS providers (not 5),
  8 memory providers (Supermemory was missing)
- tool-gateway.md: 9 image models
- tools.md: extend common-toolsets list with search / messaging /
  spotify / discord / debugging / safe
- fallback-providers.md: add 6 real providers from PROVIDER_REGISTRY
  (lmstudio, kimi-coding-cn, stepfun, alibaba-coding-plan,
  tencent-tokenhub, azure-foundry)
- plugins.md: Available Hooks table now includes on_session_finalize,
  on_session_reset, subagent_stop
- built-in-plugins.md: add the 7 bundled plugins the page didn't
  mention (spotify, google_meet, three image_gen providers, two
  dashboard examples)
- web-dashboard.md: add --insecure and --tui flags
- cron.md: hermes cron create takes positional schedule/prompt, not
  flags

Messaging:
- telegram.md: TELEGRAM_WEBHOOK_SECRET is now REQUIRED when
  TELEGRAM_WEBHOOK_URL is set (gateway refuses to start without it
  per GHSA-3vpc-7q5r-276h). Biggest user-visible drift in the batch.
- discord.md: HERMES_DISCORD_TEXT_BATCH_SPLIT_DELAY_SECONDS default
  is 2.0, not 0.1
- dingtalk.md: document DINGTALK_REQUIRE_MENTION /
  FREE_RESPONSE_CHATS / MENTION_PATTERNS / HOME_CHANNEL /
  ALLOW_ALL_USERS that the adapter supports
- bluebubbles.md: drop fictional BLUEBUBBLES_SEND_READ_RECEIPTS env
  var; the setting lives in platforms.bluebubbles.extra only
- qqbot.md: drop dead QQ_SANDBOX; add real QQ_PORTAL_HOST and
  QQ_GROUP_ALLOWED_USERS
- wecom-callback.md: replace 'hermes gateway start' (service-only)
  with 'hermes gateway' for first-time setup

Developer-guide:
- architecture.md: refresh tool/toolset counts (61/52), terminal
  backend count (7), line counts for run_agent.py (~13.7k), cli.py
  (~11.5k), main.py (~10.4k), setup.py (~3.5k), gateway/run.py
  (~12.2k), mcp_tool.py (~3.1k); add yuanbao adapter, bump platform
  adapter count 18 -> 20
- agent-loop.md: run_agent.py line count 10.7k -> 13.7k
- tools-runtime.md: add vercel_sandbox backend
- adding-tools.md: remove stale 'Discovery import added to
  model_tools.py' checklist item (registry auto-discovery)
- adding-platform-adapters.md: mark send_typing / get_chat_info as
  concrete base methods; only connect/disconnect/send are abstract
- acp-internals.md: ACP sessions now persist to SessionDB
  (~/.hermes/state.db); acp.run_agent call uses
  use_unstable_protocol=True
- cron-internals.md: gateway runs scheduler in a dedicated background
  thread via _start_cron_ticker, not on a maintenance cycle; locking
  is cross-process via fcntl.flock (Unix) / msvcrt.locking (Windows)
- gateway-internals.md: gateway/run.py ~12k lines
- provider-runtime.md: cron DOES support fallback (run_job reads
  fallback_providers from config)
- session-storage.md: SCHEMA_VERSION = 11 (not 9); add migrations
  10 and 11 (trigram FTS, inline-mode FTS5 re-index); add
  api_call_count column to Sessions DDL; document messages_fts_trigram
  and state_meta in the architecture tree
- context-compression-and-caching.md: remove the obsolete 'context
  pressure warnings' section (warnings were removed for causing
  models to give up early)
- context-engine-plugin.md: compress() signature now includes
  focus_topic param
- extending-the-cli.md: _build_tui_layout_children signature now
  includes model_picker_widget; add to default layout

Also fixed three pre-existing broken links/anchors the build warned
about (docker.md -> api-server.md, yuanbao.md -> cron-jobs.md and
tips#background-tasks, nix-setup.md -> #container-aware-cli).

Regenerated per-skill pages via website/scripts/generate-skill-docs.py
so catalog tables and sidebar are consistent with current SKILL.md
frontmatter.

docusaurus build: clean, no broken links or anchors.
2026-04-29 20:55:59 -07:00

195 lines
7.3 KiB
Markdown

---
sidebar_position: 4
title: "Provider Runtime Resolution"
description: "How Hermes resolves providers, credentials, API modes, and auxiliary models at runtime"
---
# Provider Runtime Resolution
Hermes has a shared provider runtime resolver used across:
- CLI
- gateway
- cron jobs
- ACP
- auxiliary model calls
Primary implementation:
- `hermes_cli/runtime_provider.py` — credential resolution, `_resolve_custom_runtime()`
- `hermes_cli/auth.py` — provider registry, `resolve_provider()`
- `hermes_cli/model_switch.py` — shared `/model` switch pipeline (CLI + gateway)
- `agent/auxiliary_client.py` — auxiliary model routing
If you are trying to add a new first-class inference provider, read [Adding Providers](./adding-providers.md) alongside this page.
## Resolution precedence
At a high level, provider resolution uses:
1. explicit CLI/runtime request
2. `config.yaml` model/provider config
3. environment variables
4. provider-specific defaults or auto resolution
That ordering matters because Hermes treats the saved model/provider choice as the source of truth for normal runs. This prevents a stale shell export from silently overriding the endpoint a user last selected in `hermes model`.
## Providers
Current provider families include:
- AI Gateway (Vercel)
- OpenRouter
- Nous Portal
- OpenAI Codex
- Copilot / Copilot ACP
- Anthropic (native)
- Google / Gemini
- Alibaba / DashScope
- DeepSeek
- Z.AI
- Kimi / Moonshot
- MiniMax
- MiniMax China
- Kilo Code
- Hugging Face
- OpenCode Zen / OpenCode Go
- Custom (`provider: custom`) — first-class provider for any OpenAI-compatible endpoint
- Named custom providers (`custom_providers` list in config.yaml)
## Output of runtime resolution
The runtime resolver returns data such as:
- `provider`
- `api_mode`
- `base_url`
- `api_key`
- `source`
- provider-specific metadata like expiry/refresh info
## Why this matters
This resolver is the main reason Hermes can share auth/runtime logic between:
- `hermes chat`
- gateway message handling
- cron jobs running in fresh sessions
- ACP editor sessions
- auxiliary model tasks
## AI Gateway
Set `AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY` in `~/.hermes/.env` and run with `--provider ai-gateway`. Hermes fetches available models from the gateway's `/models` endpoint, filtering to language models with tool-use support.
## OpenRouter, AI Gateway, and custom OpenAI-compatible base URLs
Hermes contains logic to avoid leaking the wrong API key to a custom endpoint when multiple provider keys exist (e.g. `OPENROUTER_API_KEY`, `AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY`, and `OPENAI_API_KEY`).
Each provider's API key is scoped to its own base URL:
- `OPENROUTER_API_KEY` is only sent to `openrouter.ai` endpoints
- `AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY` is only sent to `ai-gateway.vercel.sh` endpoints
- `OPENAI_API_KEY` is used for custom endpoints and as a fallback
Hermes also distinguishes between:
- a real custom endpoint selected by the user
- the OpenRouter fallback path used when no custom endpoint is configured
That distinction is especially important for:
- local model servers
- non-OpenRouter/non-AI Gateway OpenAI-compatible APIs
- switching providers without re-running setup
- config-saved custom endpoints that should keep working even when `OPENAI_BASE_URL` is not exported in the current shell
## Native Anthropic path
Anthropic is not just "via OpenRouter" anymore.
When provider resolution selects `anthropic`, Hermes uses:
- `api_mode = anthropic_messages`
- the native Anthropic Messages API
- `agent/anthropic_adapter.py` for translation
Credential resolution for native Anthropic now prefers refreshable Claude Code credentials over copied env tokens when both are present. In practice that means:
- Claude Code credential files are treated as the preferred source when they include refreshable auth
- manual `ANTHROPIC_TOKEN` / `CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN` values still work as explicit overrides
- Hermes preflights Anthropic credential refresh before native Messages API calls
- Hermes still retries once on a 401 after rebuilding the Anthropic client, as a fallback path
## OpenAI Codex path
Codex uses a separate Responses API path:
- `api_mode = codex_responses`
- dedicated credential resolution and auth store support
## Auxiliary model routing
Auxiliary tasks such as:
- vision
- web extraction summarization
- context compression summaries
- session search summarization
- skills hub operations
- MCP helper operations
- memory flushes
can use their own provider/model routing rather than the main conversational model.
When an auxiliary task is configured with provider `main`, Hermes resolves that through the same shared runtime path as normal chat. In practice that means:
- env-driven custom endpoints still work
- custom endpoints saved via `hermes model` / `config.yaml` also work
- auxiliary routing can tell the difference between a real saved custom endpoint and the OpenRouter fallback
## Fallback models
Hermes supports a configured fallback model/provider pair, allowing runtime failover when the primary model encounters errors.
### How it works internally
1. **Storage**: `AIAgent.__init__` stores the `fallback_model` dict and sets `_fallback_activated = False`.
2. **Trigger points**: `_try_activate_fallback()` is called from three places in the main retry loop in `run_agent.py`:
- After max retries on invalid API responses (None choices, missing content)
- On non-retryable client errors (HTTP 401, 403, 404)
- After max retries on transient errors (HTTP 429, 500, 502, 503)
3. **Activation flow** (`_try_activate_fallback`):
- Returns `False` immediately if already activated or not configured
- Calls `resolve_provider_client()` from `auxiliary_client.py` to build a new client with proper auth
- Determines `api_mode`: `codex_responses` for openai-codex, `anthropic_messages` for anthropic, `chat_completions` for everything else
- Swaps in-place: `self.model`, `self.provider`, `self.base_url`, `self.api_mode`, `self.client`, `self._client_kwargs`
- For anthropic fallback: builds a native Anthropic client instead of OpenAI-compatible
- Re-evaluates prompt caching (enabled for Claude models on OpenRouter)
- Sets `_fallback_activated = True` — prevents firing again
- Resets retry count to 0 and continues the loop
4. **Config flow**:
- CLI: `cli.py` reads `CLI_CONFIG["fallback_model"]` → passes to `AIAgent(fallback_model=...)`
- Gateway: `gateway/run.py._load_fallback_model()` reads `config.yaml` → passes to `AIAgent`
- Validation: both `provider` and `model` keys must be non-empty, or fallback is disabled
### What does NOT support fallback
- **Subagent delegation** (`tools/delegate_tool.py`): subagents inherit the parent's provider but not the fallback config
- **Auxiliary tasks**: use their own independent provider auto-detection chain (see Auxiliary model routing above)
Cron jobs **do** support fallback: `run_job()` reads `fallback_providers` (or legacy `fallback_model`) from `config.yaml` and passes it to `AIAgent(fallback_model=...)`, matching the gateway's `_load_fallback_model()` pattern. See [Cron Internals](./cron-internals.md).
### Test coverage
See `tests/test_fallback_model.py` for comprehensive tests covering all supported providers, one-shot semantics, and edge cases.
## Related docs
- [Agent Loop Internals](./agent-loop.md)
- [ACP Internals](./acp-internals.md)
- [Context Compression & Prompt Caching](./context-compression-and-caching.md)