* docs(rfc): add Transparent Stream activity display mode RFC (#3820)
Proposes Transparent Stream as an opt-in, chronological activity display
mode alongside the default Compact Worklog (#3400/#3401). Captures the
display-mode split agreed in #3820: each tool call as a first-class
chronological event, interleaved with reasoning/progress, with compact
previews, consistent across live, settled, and reload/replay paths.
Documents the asymmetry in the existing `simplified_tool_calling` toggle
(live-only, no settled/reload branch) and the three concrete integration
points so the follow-up can be sliced safely. Doc-only; no behavior change.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
* docs(rfc): refine Transparent Stream rollout scope
---------
Co-authored-by: Frank Song <franksong2702@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Merging the RFC as the agreed product contract for long-running-session assistant replies. Thank you @franksong2702! 🙏
It's docs-only (no code), well-structured, and gives the project a shared vocabulary for the follow-up implementation slices — in particular the honest terminal-state set (completed / cancelled / interrupted / compression-exhausted / tool-limit-reached / no-response / error, specific-wins-over-generic) and the live → settled → recovery/replay lifecycle. Nathan blessed merging it as the north-star contract.
When merging PR #2105 (Hermes Run Adapter RFC) the standing concern was
that landing the RFC unconfirmed would invite the speculative-fragment
implementation pattern we just had to put on hold with PR #2071 — well-
written 651-LOC standalone scripts with no callers.
Add a single bullet to the conventions block so the contract is explicit:
an RFC is a design direction, not an invitation to PR fragments against
it. Implementation slices need maintainer confirmation first.
Applied during stage-341 build, not requested from @Michaelyklam — the
guardrail belongs in the conventions doc itself rather than as a one-off
ask on this PR.
Two follow-ups from Opus pre-release review of stage-336:
1. tests/conftest.py — autouse session fixture that removes
HERMES_WEBUI_SKIP_ONBOARDING from os.environ for the whole pytest run, and
restores it after. Hosting providers and isolated harnesses set this var
to short-circuit the onboarding wizard, but it leaked into pytest and
caused tests that exercise apply_onboarding_setup() to fail with cryptic
FileNotFoundError. Tests that specifically validate the short-circuit
behavior can opt back in with monkeypatch.setenv. Surgical per-test
delenv calls remain as defense-in-depth but are now redundant.
2. docs/rfcs/README.md — one-line note that first-time contributor RFCs
should be discussed in an issue before opening a PR. Gates drive-by
design-doc PRs without us having to decline them on contribution.
Verified: 96 onboarding-related tests pass with HERMES_WEBUI_SKIP_ONBOARDING=1
exported in the test runner env (would have failed before this fixture).
Moves docs/turn-journal-rfc.md → docs/rfcs/turn-journal.md, establishing
the convention for future design documents on hermes-webui's data-at-rest
and recovery surfaces. Adds docs/rfcs/README.md describing when an RFC
applies (large changes, durability/recovery semantics, new infrastructure
primitives) and the simple status header convention.
Polish on turn-journal.md:
- Added 3-line status header (Status / Author / Created) at top.
- Light tone edits on two flourishes that read fine in a PR description
but felt off in permanent repo documentation. Author's voice preserved
throughout the rest of the document.
Co-authored-by: ai-ag2026 <261867348+ai-ag2026@users.noreply.github.com>
Frank Song