hermes - 💡(How to fix) Fix Spotify: gateway slash commands (/play, /pause, /skip, /nowplaying, /queue) [1 participants]

Expose Spotify control as slash commands in messaging platforms (Discord, Telegram, etc.) so users don't need a full agent turn for common actions.

Depends on

• Issue #15611 — spotify.default_device_name config knob. Without a reliable target device, slash commands hit 'no active device' too often to be worth shipping. See the end of that issue for the full rationale.
• Or (alternatively) issue #15182 — Web Playback dashboard widget. Once the dashboard is a Spotify Connect device, slash commands have a guaranteed target whenever the dashboard tab is open.

One of the two must ship first. Slash commands after.

Proposal

Add 5 gateway-only slash commands:

All five run in whichever gateway platform is active (Discord, Telegram, Slack, etc.) and respond with a terse formatted line rather than raw tool JSON:

/nowplaying
▶ Miles Davis — So What (Kind of Blue) · 3:42 / 9:22 · Kitchen Sonos

/play blackbird acoustic
▶ Now playing: Blackbird (Acoustic) — Beatles · Kitchen Sonos

/pause
⏸ Paused on Kitchen Sonos

/skip
⏭ Skipped · next: Freddie Freeloader — Miles Davis

Visibility gating

Current CommandDef supports gateway_config_gate: str (a single config dotpath). That's fine for simple flags but doesn't fit 'toolset enabled AND Spotify authenticated' which is two-factor runtime state.

Extension proposal: add gateway_availability_fn: Callable[[], bool] to CommandDef. _is_gateway_available() calls it if present. Falls back to gateway_config_gate then the cli_only default. ~20 LOC in hermes_cli/commands.py.

For Spotify the check is:

def _spotify_gateway_available() -> bool:
    # toolset enabled somewhere + Spotify authed
    from hermes_cli.auth import get_provider_auth_state
    state = get_provider_auth_state('spotify') or {}
    return bool(state.get('refresh_token'))

This way users without Spotify configured never see these commands in help, Telegram bot menus, Slack subcommand lists, or autocomplete — zero clutter. Dispatch still works if someone types them manually, returning a helpful 'Spotify isn't configured' error.

Where the handlers live

Don't add 5 individual handlers scattered across gateway/run.py. Instead:

• plugins/spotify/gateway_commands.py — module exposing 5 handler functions that each call the underlying Spotify tool and format the result
• gateway/run.py — one dispatch block that routes /play, /pause, /skip, /nowplaying, /queue to the handler module

Keeps the Spotify-specific logic in the plugin directory where it belongs, and the gateway just has a thin import + dispatch.

Acceptance

• Commands appear in Discord/Telegram help ONLY when Spotify is authenticated
• /nowplaying returns a single formatted line, not JSON
• /play miles davis from Discord plays on the user's default device (or the dashboard tab if #15182 is the route we took)
• /pause and /skip work on Free accounts only if we gate with a clear error ('Spotify Premium required')
• Commands dispatched while Spotify isn't authed return 'Spotify not configured — run hermes auth spotify'
• No regression on existing slash commands; gateway_availability_fn is additive

Non-goals

• Search pickers / interactive result selection. /play X just plays the top search result. More complex flows are the agent's job.
• Playlist management. Use the agent.
• Per-user device targeting in multi-user gateways. v1 uses the bot's configured default device.