actual-setup

# Actual Computer Setup Skill Sets up [actual.inc](https://actual.inc) (Actual Computer) as a Hermes inference provider. Actual turns the user's own hardware into a private inference cluster and exposes an OpenAI-compatible API two ways: a hosted end-to-end-encrypted relay at `https://api.actual.inc` (authenticated with an `ac_` key), and a local on-device daemon at `http://127.0.0.1:8080` (no auth on loopback). This skill does not install the Actual daemon for the user — device authorization requires a human in a browser. ## When to Use - User wants to add actual.inc as an inference provider (cloud relay or local). - User has an `ac_` key and wants Hermes routed through their Actual cluster. - User wants fully-local, on-device inference via the Actual daemon. - Troubleshooting: Actual requests failing with cryptic 400s or empty streams. ## Prerequisites - Hermes has **first-class `actual` provider support** (provider id `actual`, aliases `actual-computer`, `actualcomputer`, `aci`). Do NOT configure Actual as a `custom_providers` / `providers.actual.*` entry on current Hermes — the built-in provider owns the name and handles base-url normalization, the Responses transport, and local no-auth automatically. - Relay mode: an Actual account and an `ac_` inference key from https://actual.inc/user/keys. - Local mode: the user has installed the daemon (`curl -fsSL "https://actual.inc/install" | bash`) and completed device authorization by running `actual` once and opening the printed `https://actual.inc/device?code=...` URL in a browser. Relay that URL to the user and WAIT — never invent an email or authorize on their behalf. Codes expire in 5 minutes; re-run `actual` for a fresh one. ## How to Run ### Relay / API mode 1. Put the key in `.env` (secrets only — never config.yaml): append `ACTUAL_API_KEY=ac_...` to `~/.hermes/.env`. 2. Verify the key and discover models with `terminal`: ```bash curl -s https://api.actual.inc/v1/models -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACTUAL_API_KEY" ``` 3. Select provider + model: ```bash hermes config set model.provider actual hermes config set model.default "MODEL_ID_FROM_DISCOVERY" ``` 4. Verify end-to-end: ```bash hermes chat -Q -q "Reply with exactly: ACTUAL_OK" --provider actual -m MODEL_ID ``` ### Local mode 1. Human has installed + authorized the daemon (see Prerequisites). 2. Download and load a model (scriptable once authorized): ```bash actual models search "qwen2.5 0.5b instruct gguf" --limit 8 --no-prompt # Downloads REQUIRE an explicit quantization (409 ambiguous_model_download otherwise): actual models download "Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct-GGUF/Q4_K_M" actual models list # note the INSTALLED name (differs from download id) actual models load "qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct-q4_k_m" # load by installed name ``` 3. Point Hermes at the daemon. `ACTUAL_BASE_URL` with a loopback host flips the built-in provider into local no-auth mode automatically — no key needed: append `ACTUAL_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8080` to `~/.hermes/.env`, then: ```bash hermes config set model.provider actual hermes config set model.default "INSTALLED_MODEL_NAME" ``` 4. Verify (reduced toolset — see context-window pitfall below): ```bash hermes chat -Q -q "Reply with exactly: LOCAL_OK" --provider actual -m INSTALLED_NAME -t file,web ``` ## Quick Reference | Thing | Value | |---|---| | Hosted relay | `https://api.actual.inc/v1` (normalized from bare host automatically) | | Local daemon | `http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1` (no auth on loopback) | | Key env var | `ACTUAL_API_KEY` (`ac_...`) | | Base URL env var | `ACTUAL_BASE_URL` (loopback host ⇒ local no-auth mode) | | Provider id / aliases | `actual` / `actual-computer`, `actualcomputer`, `aci` | | Transport | Responses API (`codex_responses`) — built-in, do not override | | Cluster pinning | `X-Cluster-ID` header via `providers.actual.extra_headers` in config.yaml | | Model size guide | 0.5B Q4_K_M ~470MB (toy), 7-8B Q4_K_M ~4.5GB (daily driver), 32B ~20GB | ## Pitfalls 1. **reasoning_effort trap (handled by Hermes since the first-class provider).** Actual's SGLang/vLLM backends accept only `none/low/medium/high/max`; `xhigh`/`ultra` used to fail with a cryptic `Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)` (a wrapped HTTP 400). The built-in provider clamps `xhigh→high` and `ultra→max` on the wire. If a request still 400s this way on an old Hermes, set a per-model cap: `agent.reasoning_overrides.<model>: high` in config.yaml. 2. **Context-window overflow on small local models.** Hermes' default toolset is ~26k tokens of schemas plus a ~9k-token system prompt. A model loaded with a 32k context overflows before the first turn, and llama.cpp-family servers emit a bare `data: [DONE]` — Hermes reports `Provider returned an empty stream with no finish_reason`. This is NOT an SSE bug. Fixes: restrict tools (`-t file,web`), load the model with a larger `n_ctx`, or pick a >=64k-context model for the full toolset. Upstream tracking: #51448 (do not file new issues; add evidence there). Related but distinct: #65631 (HTTP-200 SSE carrying a 400), #56516 (reasoning-only streams). 3. **Download ids vs installed names.** `actual models download` takes `repo/QUANT` and 409s without an explicit quantization; `actual models load` takes the INSTALLED name from `actual models list`. 4. **Reasoning models returning empty content.** GLM/Qwen reasoning variants emit thinking in a separate `reasoning` field and can burn a small `max_tokens` entirely on reasoning. Give generous max_tokens before assuming failure. 5. **Do not create a custom provider named `actual`.** Older setup guides (pre first-class support) wrote `providers.actual.*` config blocks. On current Hermes the built-in provider wins the name; stale custom blocks are ignored or conflict. Remove them and use the env vars + model.provider flow above. ## Verification ```bash # Relay: hermes chat -Q -q "Reply with exactly: ACTUAL_OK" --provider actual -m MODEL # Local (small model — reduced toolset): hermes chat -Q -q "Reply with exactly: LOCAL_OK" --provider actual -m MODEL -t file,web # Provider status (local no-auth shows key_source=local-offline): hermes status ``` For other OpenAI-compatible clients (e.g. OpenCode), see `references/opencode.md`.