pstack

The pstack agent method — go fast by going deep first — packaged for the Hermes Agent portable plugin path. Unofficial port of https://github.com/cursor/plugins/tree/main/pstack (MIT, © Lauren Tan); package keeps the upstream identity pstack v0.15.5.

Install

hermes plugins install iap/pstack-hermes --enable

The repository's default branch is dist - the built package CI produces from the pinned upstream. Root installs keep .git, so hermes plugins update pstack fast-forwards it. Pin a commit with --ref <40-character SHA> for an immutable install.

First run

1. hermes plugins doctor pstack --ci — manifest parses, all skills discover. Pick the target explicitly: pstack is ambiguous (repo root = local directory; elsewhere = installed package). Use the name as installed for the dist package, or a resolved local path for a branch tree.
2. Load the setup-pstack skill once - it writes pstack-models.json beside hermes' config.yaml, outside this package, so plugin updates do not discard it (the 18-role model panel the workflow skills read).
3. Load poteto-mode and give it a real task — it classifies the work and routes to the right playbook. You do not pick playbooks yourself.

Skills are opt-in on the portable path: load one with skill_view id agent-plugin-pstack-<digest>:<skill-name> (digest = first 8 hex of the sha256 of the plugin key, stable while the install dir is named pstack). For /<name> slash commands instead, add this package's skills dir to skills.external_dirs in the hermes config.yaml — trade-off: skills enter the prompt index with 60-char descriptions and lose the namespace.

Update

hermes plugins update pstack

Root installs keep .git: this pulls the latest published build and autostashes uncommitted local skill edits. A legacy subdir install (iap/pstack-hermes/pstack) strips .git - reinstall it with hermes plugins install iap/pstack-hermes/pstack --force.

Customizing skills

• Tweak a line or two — edit the installed SKILL.md, restart the gateway, keep the edit uncommitted (updates autostash it).
• Own several changed skills — fork iap/pstack-hermes, commit, install from your fork's subdir (hermes plugins install <you>/pstack-hermes/pstack --enable).
• Add your own new skills alongside — a skill tap: hermes skills tap add <you>/skills-repo, then hermes skills install <you>/skills-repo/<skill>.
• Keep the hermes vocabulary when editing (delegate_task, clarify, session_search, hermes cron); Cursor primitives will mislead the agent.

Problems: port behaviour → https://github.com/iap/pstack-hermes/issues; a hermes defect that reproduces with the plugin disabled → NousResearch/hermes-agent; an upstream pstack bug → cursor/plugins.

What hermes loads

• 47 skills (24 workflow/mode + 23 principle-*), single-level skills/<dir>/SKILL.md, discovered via the root plugin.json (agent-plugins-v1 manifest, 9 whitelisted fields).
• skills/hermesbot/ — hermes-native control-surface skill on the gateway webhook (X-Webhook-Signature-V2 HMAC) plus hermes send / hermes peer; fills the excluded make-bot-ui slot.
• Skill scripts (e.g. skills/poteto-mode/scripts/) ship verbatim; the loader never executes them, but skills instruct the agent to run them (bun, gh).

Not shipped: automations/benny/ and skills/make-bot-ui/ (install-scanner verdicts — persistence / privilege escalation; --force cannot override) and upstream's docs/guide/ (read it upstream for the guided tour). agents/ and .cursor-plugin/ are inert on hermes — kept so the tree still dual-loads as a Cursor plugin structurally; for real Cursor-side work install upstream pstack.

Differences from upstream

Pass	What changed
manifest	root plugin.json injected: exact agent-plugins-v1 $schema, 9-field whitelist
frontmatter	poteto-mode name fixed to kebab-case (loader requirement)
R1	poteto-mode principles index regenerated from the 23 leaves
F16	retired at c47b1284: upstream ships a slug-agnostic lane regex
F10–F12	worktree-audit.sh portable (GNU/BSD), space-safe
F-publish	benny + make-bot-ui excluded (scanner verdicts); hermesbot fills the slot; 3 localhost literals neutralized
T8/T9/T10	setup-pstack writes the model panel beside hermes' config.yaml (outside the package, so updates do not discard it); discovery via session_search; hermes tool names
Phase-2A	delegation vocabulary → delegate_task / clarify package-wide
T11	hardcoded Cursor paths → hermes equivalents
T12	/loop → hermes cron wake; /goal → goal.md in the agent store
T13	residual vendor coupling reworded (cursor-team-kit, cloud fleet, gt)
T14	stacker-role / topology re-pointed (issue #33)
T15	orch frontier set provider selection: auto / graphite / github
G1	delegation escape hatch: in-thread surgical edits with mandatory delegate review

Text is otherwise unchanged; the machine-generated fix register in .build-provenance.txt is the authoritative per-build record, and the full ledger with reviewer checks lives in the dev repo (iap/pstack-hermes, docs/ADAPTATIONS.md).

Known limitations (documented, not drift)

• deslop, control-ui, control-cli are named by playbooks but ship outside this package; a verdict without its demanded live lane is incomplete, not clean. (no-comments, unslop, technical-writing ship.)
• orch frontier set providers: auto (Graphite first, then GitHub-native PR base/head topology), graphite, github. GitLab reserved, not implemented.
• Stack topology needs Graphite (gt): restacks, stack surgery, and the stack-aware merge queue have no hermes equivalent. GitHub-native stacked PRs (gh stack) cover some stack operations; ordinary base changes go through the forge and need no stacker.
• No mcp.json shipped: research skills use whichever MCP servers the session configures; unreachable sources are recorded as null findings, never invented.

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Adapted for Hermes Agent plugin compatibility from github.com/cursor/plugins pstack.