community-skills-installation

name	community-skills-installation
title	Install Community Skills & Plugins
category	automation
description	Install and verify community skills from GitHub repositories safely
version	1
author	hermes-agent
tags	["skills","plugins","installation","security"]

Install Community Skills & Plugins

Safely install and verify community skills/plugins from GitHub repositories for Hermes Agent.

⚠️ Security Checklist

Before installing ANY community skill:

1. Verify GitHub repo legitimacy

   • Check owner/organization (Nous Research, known contributors)
   • Star count (889+ is good)
   • Recent activity (updated recently)
   • README quality

2. Inspect repository contents

   • No suspicious files (.sh scripts, binary executables)
   • Proper licensing (MIT, Apache 2.0)
   • Clear documentation

3. Identify skill type

   • Hermes plugins: Have plugin.yaml → use hermes plugins install
   • Claude Code plugins: Use /plugin commands
   • Skill directories: Auto-loaded from ~/.hermes/skills/

Installation Process

Step 1: Fetch Repository Info

import requests

# Get repo contents
url = "https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/contents/"
response = requests.get(url)
data = response.json()

# Get repo description
repo_url = "https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO"
repo_response = requests.get(repo_url)
repo_data = repo_response.json()

# Verify: stars, created_at, updated_at, description

Step 2: Read README for Installation Instructions

# Read README
url = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OWNER/REPO/branch/README.md"
response = requests.get(url)
readme = response.text

# Extract skill list and installation requirements

Step 3: Verify Plugin Structure

import os
import subprocess

skill_path = "~/.hermes/skills/NAME"

# Check for plugin.yaml (Hermes plugin)
plugin_yaml = os.path.join(skill_path, "plugin.yaml")
if os.path.exists(plugin_yaml):
    print("✅ Hermes Plugin Detected")
    
# Check for skill.md
skill_md = os.path.join(skill_path, "skill.md")
if os.path.exists(skill_md):
    print("✅ Skill documentation found")

Step 4: Install via Hermes CLI (Preferred)

# Install Hermes plugin
hermes plugins install OWNER/REPO

# Verify installation
hermes plugins list

# Restart gateway for plugin to take effect
hermes gateway restart

Step 5: Verify Skills Loaded

# List all available skills
hermes skills list

# Filter by category
hermes skills list | grep -i CATEGORY

Common Pitfalls

❌ Don't use pip install - Most Hermes plugins are NOT Python packages ❌ Don't assume all repos are safe - Always inspect first ❌ Don't skip verification - Check plugin.yaml structure

✅ Use hermes plugins install for plugin repos ✅ Clone manually with git clone if needed ✅ Verify with hermes skills list after installation

Example: Installing from awesome-hermes-agent

# 1. Clone to inspect
git clone https://github.com/0xNyk/awesome-hermes-agent.git

# 2. Read README to identify skills
cat awesome-hermes-agent/README.md

# 3. Install individual plugins
hermes plugins install robbyczgw-cla/hermes-web-search-plus
hermes plugins install FahrenheitResearch/hermes-weather-plugin

# 4. Verify
hermes plugins list
hermes skills list

# 5. Restart gateway
hermes gateway restart

Verification Commands

# Check plugin status
hermes plugins list

# Check skill availability
hermes skills list

# Test plugin functionality
hermes chat

# Check gateway logs
hermes gateway logs

When to Reject

• ❌ Experimental/Beta with no production track record
• ❌ Requires suspicious API keys or permissions
• ❌ Poor documentation or no README
• ❌ Owner is unknown/anonymous with low stars
• ❌ Contains .sh scripts or suspicious executables

Integration with Morning Briefs

For weather plugins specifically (useful for Aosta forecasts):

• wx_conditions - Current weather
• wx_forecast - 7-day forecast
• wx_alerts - Severe weather warnings
• wx_radar - Radar imagery
• wx_model_imagery - Model visualizations

These work automatically once the plugin is installed and the gateway is restarted.