hermes - 💡(How to fix) Fix Pamela: Chrome extension to detect and auto-join any Google Meet [1 participants]

Summary

Build a Chrome extension + local bridge so Pamela can detect and auto-join any Google Meet the user opens/joins, including Meet links that are not on Google Calendar.

This is needed because testing showed the current Pamela Google Meet auto-join path did not join the meeting. The current calendar-driven approach is insufficient for ad hoc/direct Meet links and did not recover when Pamela failed to join.

Problem

Pamela currently depends primarily on Google Calendar event detection for Meet auto-join. In testing, Pamela never joined the meeting. We need a browser-side detector because Google Calendar/Meet APIs do not reliably expose “the user is currently in this Meet” for arbitrary meetings.

Proposed solution

Create a Chrome extension that runs on https://meet.google.com/* and reports Meet state to a local Hermes/Pamela bridge.

Extension responsibilities:

• Detect Meet tab/page open.
• Extract canonical Meet URL/code.
• Distinguish states:
  • meet_page_opened
  • prejoin_detected
  • join_attempted
  • in_meeting_detected
  • left_meeting
• Use DOM heuristics for active-call UI, especially presence of leave-call/call-control elements.
• Optionally add WebRTC/media-state confirmation to reduce false positives.
• Deduplicate events so Pamela does not repeatedly join the same meeting.

Local bridge responsibilities:

• Receive extension events via native messaging or localhost HTTP/WebSocket.
• Sanitize payloads before forwarding.
• Trigger Pamela join flow when confidence is high enough:
  • hermes -p pamela ... <meet-url> or equivalent internal profile invocation.
• Log success/failure with timestamps and Meet URL/code hash.

Acceptance criteria

• When Melvin opens/joins any Google Meet in Chrome, Pamela receives the Meet URL within 5 seconds.
• Works for non-calendar Meet links shared via chat/email/manual entry.
• Does not require Workspace admin APIs.
• Does not read Gmail/browser history unless explicitly added later.
• Avoids duplicate join attempts for the same meeting within a configurable cooldown.
• Provides clear logs for:
  • extension detection event
  • bridge receipt
  • Pamela join attempt
  • join success/failure
• Includes a manual test page/procedure for reproducing with a throwaway Meet.

Privacy/security requirements

• Only request host permission for https://meet.google.com/* initially.
• Do not capture audio/video.
• Do not store full meeting URLs long-term; store hashed meeting code where possible.
• Keep all detection local unless forwarding a minimal event to Hermes/Pamela.
• Native messaging / localhost bridge must only accept local trusted clients.

Testing plan

1. Start local Hermes/Pamela bridge in debug mode.
2. Open Chrome and join a throwaway Meet link not present on Calendar.
3. Verify extension emits meet_page_opened, then prejoin_detected, then in_meeting_detected.
4. Verify Pamela receives the URL and attempts to join.
5. Verify duplicate suppression by refreshing/reopening the Meet tab.
6. Verify leaving the meeting emits left_meeting.
7. Regression: keep existing Calendar auto-join cron working.

Related bug observed

During live testing, Pamela never joined the meeting. This issue should also add enough instrumentation to determine whether failures are from:

• event/calendar detection
• Meet URL extraction
• browser launch/auth/profile
• Meet join automation
• Telegram/group-chat command routing