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

Read .env to get OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH and HERMES_HISTORY_PATH (default to ~/.hermes if unset)
Read .manifest.json at the vault root to check what has already been ingested
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

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

{"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 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:

{
  "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 and log.md:

- [TIMESTAMP] HERMES_HISTORY_INGEST memories=N sessions=M pages_updated=X pages_created=Y mode=append|full

hot.md — Read $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/hot.md (create from the template in wiki-ingest if missing). Update Recent Activity with a one-line summary — e.g. "Ingested 42 Hermes memories and 7 sessions; dominant themes: reasoning strategies, tool use patterns." Keep the last 3 operations. Update updated timestamp.

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.

hermes-history-ingest