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hermes - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: Loading skill A prompts for skill B's missing env_vars (global prerequisites scan) [1 comments, 1 participants]

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NousResearch/hermes-agent#17372•Fetched 2026-04-30 06:48:06
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Root Cause

Root Cause Analysis (Observed)

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Bug Description

When asking the agent about a topic (e.g., "What are Honcho's competitors?"), the agent loads a relevant skill (e.g., honcho-self-hosting), but then prompts the user for a secret (X_API_KEY) that belongs to a completely unrelated skill (xitter).

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Have the xitter skill installed (which declares prerequisites.env_vars: [X_API_KEY, ...])
  2. Do NOT set X_API_KEY in ~/.hermes/.env
  3. Ask the agent a question unrelated to X/Twitter, e.g., "What are Honcho's competitors?"
  4. Observe that the agent loads honcho-self-hosting skill
  5. Before showing any search results, the agent prompts for X_API_KEY

Expected Behavior

The credential check should only occur when actually using a skill that requires that credential. Loading skill A (honcho-self-hosting) should not trigger credential prompts for skill B (xitter) which is completely unrelated to the current task.

Actual Behavior

Hermes appears to scan all installed skills' prerequisites.env_vars when loading any skill, and prompts for any missing credentials regardless of whether those skills are being used.

Root Cause Analysis (Observed)

The issue was discovered when:

  1. User asked about Honcho competitors
  2. Agent called skill_view(name='honcho-self-hosting')
  3. Hermes' secret capture mechanism scanned all skills' prerequisites (including xitter)
  4. Found X_API_KEY missing in credential pool
  5. Prompted user for X_API_KEY before any Honcho-related search results were shown

The honcho-self-hosting skill does not reference or depend on xitter in any way.

Proposed Fix

The credential/secret capture mechanism should be lazy and skill-specific:

  • Only check prerequisites for the skill being actively used
  • Do not perform a global scan of all installed skills' prerequisites.env_vars when loading a single skill
  • Alternatively, only prompt for missing credentials when a tool call within that skill actually requires the credential

Environment

  • Hermes Agent version: Latest (2026.4.29)
  • OS: Linux
  • Python version: 3.x

Additional Context

This creates a confusing UX where users are prompted for credentials that have nothing to do with their current task, making it appear as though the agent is confused or broken.

extent analysis

TL;DR

Modify the credential capture mechanism to only check prerequisites for the actively used skill, rather than scanning all installed skills.

Guidance

  • Review the skill_view function to ensure it only loads the required skill's prerequisites, rather than scanning all skills.
  • Consider implementing a lazy loading approach for credentials, where they are only checked when a tool call within the skill requires them.
  • Verify that the honcho-self-hosting skill does not have any hidden dependencies on the xitter skill or its credentials.
  • Test the modified credential capture mechanism with different skills and scenarios to ensure it behaves as expected.

Example

No code snippet is provided as the issue does not include specific code details.

Notes

The proposed fix assumes that the credential capture mechanism is the root cause of the issue. However, without access to the actual code, it's difficult to provide a definitive solution. Additionally, the fix may require significant changes to the Hermes Agent's architecture.

Recommendation

Apply a workaround by modifying the credential capture mechanism to only check prerequisites for the actively used skill, as this approach is likely to resolve the issue without introducing significant complexity.

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hermes - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: Loading skill A prompts for skill B's missing env_vars (global prerequisites scan) [1 comments, 1 participants]