hermes - 💡(How to fix) Fix Feature Request: Make hermes backup exclusions configurable [1 comments, 2 participants]

Problem

The hermes backup command uses a hardcoded exclusion list in hermes_cli/backup.py. This results in unnecessarily large backups when users have vendored virtual environments (venv/, .venv/), session data, logs, or other regeneratable files inside their skills directory.

There is currently no way to customize what gets excluded from backups.

Impact

• Backups can easily grow to several hundred MB even for relatively new Hermes installations.
• Makes regular backups and migrations less practical.
• No integration with existing .gitignore files.

Proposed Solution

Add support for a backup: section in config.yaml:

backup:
  exclude:
    - "venv/"
    - ".venv/"
    - "sessions/"
    - "logs/"
    - "**/__pycache__/"
  use_gitignore: true

This would allow users to define additional exclusion patterns and optionally respect .gitignore files.

Prompt for Coding Agents

Implement configurable exclusions for `hermes backup`.

Add a `backup:` section in config.yaml with:
- `exclude`: list of glob patterns
- `use_gitignore`: boolean

Modify `hermes_cli/backup.py` to read these settings and apply them in the backup exclusion logic. Keep backward compatibility and follow existing code patterns. Update the documentation in `cli-commands.md`.