# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Improving agent self-knowledge of its own runtime/docs

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These issues and PRs address the agent's lack of awareness about its own framework, capabilities, and documentation sources. Work involves adding skills, broadening guidance prompts, and surfacing canonical docs into the agent's context.

## TL;DR

- 6 member(s): 0 open issue(s), 2 closed issue(s), 0 open PR(s), 1 merged PR(s), 3 PR(s) closed without merging.
- A fix was merged to main in PR #38538. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #38538 (and any competing PRs below) before filing. Confirm the merged change covers your symptom.

## Maintainer resolution verdict

- Internal-tracker verdict over this cluster's issue members: `unresolved`. This is distinct from the fix status above. Weigh it yourself.

## How this cluster was grouped

- Link evidence (`STRUCTURAL_PARTIAL`): some members are connected by structural evidence (shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference); the rest are joined by an automated relevance judgement over their text.
- Members outside that structural core may belong to a different underlying problem.
- Pairwise link density `0.29`: the share of member pairs that carry a link, counting a structural link in full and a relevance-only link at 0.36. `1.00` means every pair is linked.

## Closed / duplicate issues

- #24154: Agent has no self-knowledge of its own runtime — canonical docs exist on disk but are never surfaced into context
- #26167: Agent lacks guidance to check own docs/source when uncertain about its capabilities

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#26168: feat(agent): widen self-knowledge guidance and add live documentation sources reference**. closed without merge · fix tier `suggested`
  - maintainer direction: category `implemented_elsewhere`; implication `superseded`; refs `f99665f99a83f6fc256ff3e8c6718741f73a60c7`, `#26167`
  - _suggested-tier fix detail withheld; re-request with `?tier=all` to include it._
- **#38538: feat(prompt): broaden Hermes self-knowledge pointer to docs + skill**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`; implication `superseded`
  - files: `agent/prompt_builder.py`
  - fix hunks:
  - `agent/prompt_builder.py`

    ```diff
    @@ -129,9 +129,14 @@ def _strip_yaml_frontmatter(content: str) -> str:
     )
     
     HERMES_AGENT_HELP_GUIDANCE = (
    -    "If the user asks about configuring, setting up, or using Hermes Agent "
    -    "itself, load the `hermes-agent` skill with skill_view(name='hermes-agent') "
    -    "before answering. Docs: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs"
    +    "You run on Hermes Agent (by Nous Research). When the user needs help with "
    +    "Hermes itself — configuring, setting up, using, extending, or troubleshooting "
    +    "it — or when you need to understand your own features, tools, or capabilities, "
    +    "the documentation at https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs is your "
    +    "authoritative reference and always holds the latest, most up-to-date "
    +    "information. Load the `hermes-agent` skill with skill_view(name='hermes-agent') "
    +    "for additional guidance and proven workflows, but treat the docs as the source "
    +    "of truth when the two differ."
     )
     
     MEMORY_GUIDANCE = (
    ```
- **#24163: Add bundled hermes-agent skill so the agent knows what framework it's running on (fixes #24154)**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `implemented_elsewhere`; implication `superseded`; refs `f99665f99a83f6fc256ff3e8c6718741f73a60c7`, `#38538`
- **#26171: fix(prompt): widen HERMES_AGENT_HELP_GUIDANCE for uncertainty triggers**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `duplicate_of`; implication `duplicate`; refs `#26168`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #38538 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-06-04`.
- Subsystem: `agent`