hermes - 💡(How to fix) Fix Feature Proposal: Background multi-agent harness (Doer/Reviewer + Hindsight shared memory)

Problem

There is currently a gap between delegate_task (synchronous, blocks parent conversation) and kanban (persistent, durable, audit-trailed) for background multi-agent workflows that benefit from lightweight review automation but do not need a full persistent board.

Common scenario: spawn 2-3 agents to research/download/verify in parallel, automatically review their outputs, and get results pushed back asynchronously without blocking the main conversation.

What we built

Orchestrator v3 — a background multi-agent harness (~850 lines) that sits between delegate_task and kanban:

• Doer / Reviewer dual-role: Doers execute tasks in parallel; Reviewers automatically verify outputs. Strong role separation instead of homogeneous swarm workers.
• Async non-blocking: Agents run in background; main conversation continues uninterrupted.
• Hindsight real-time shared memory: Agents share findings via Hindsight semantic search (recall/retain), not static MEMORY snapshots or JSON blackboards.
• L1 flash → L2 pro automatic review escalation: Flash reviewer runs first (~40s, low cost). Only escalates to Pro reviewer on failure, controlling cost.
• Dynamic append: Add new tasks to a running session without restarting.
• Hard timeout: Pro reviewer runs as subprocess with true 120s kill timeout.

Comparison with existing capabilities

Why this may matter to Hermes

This is a complementary workflow shape, not a replacement. It fills the gap for users who need background parallel execution, automatic review without manual verifier config, shared agent memory across workers, and cost-controlled escalation.

Question to maintainers

If this belongs upstream, should it be positioned as:

1. A delegate_task profile/background enhancement?
2. A kanban lane/helper under the external worker lane contract?
3. An official optional-skill/plugin example?
4. Or best kept as community-maintained external tooling?

Current limitations (honest)

• Requires memory.provider: hindsight
• No crash recovery (intentionally lightweight)
• External script, not yet a Hermes plugin
• Solvable engineering issues if direction is approved (13 P0/P1/P2 reliability issues already fixed)

Related upstream discussions

• #4949 (background subagents)
• #9459 (delegate_task profile/harness)
• #19931 (kanban worker lanes)
• #20157 (persistent profile-agent orchestration)