stephenschoettler/hermes-lcm

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<img src="docs/banner.png" alt="HERMES-LCM" width="800"> [![CI](https://github.com/stephenschoettler/hermes-lcm/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/stephenschoettler/hermes-lcm/actions/workflows/ci.yml) [![Release](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/stephenschoettler/hermes-lcm)](https://github.com/stephenschoettler/hermes-lcm/releases) [![Python 3.11-3.14](https://img.shields.io/badge/Python-3.11--3.14-3776AB?logo=python&logoColor=white)](https://github.com/stephenschoettler/hermes-lcm/actions/workflows/ci.yml) [![License: MIT](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-yellow.svg)](LICENSE) **Lossless Context Management plugin for [Hermes Agent](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent).** > Bounded context, unbounded memory. Nothing is ever lost. `hermes-lcm` replaces one-shot active-context compression with a SQLite-backed, DAG-based context engine. It keeps the live prompt bounded, preserves raw messages, and gives the agent tools to recover exact detail after compaction. Based on the [LCM paper](https://papers.voltropy.com/LCM) by Ehrlich & Blackman (Voltropy PBC, Feb 2026). Inspired by [lossless-claw](https://github.com/martian-engineering/lossless-claw) for OpenClaw. For an interactive visualization of the LCM idea, see [losslesscontext.ai](https://losslesscontext.ai/). ## Table of contents - [What it does](#what-it-does) - [LCM vs built-in compression](#lcm-vs-built-in-compression) - [Quick start](#quick-start) - [Commands and tools](#commands-and-tools) - [Recall skill and policy](#recall-skill-and-policy) - [Configuration](#configuration) - [Retrieval contract](#retrieval-contract) - [OpenClaw/lossless-claw import](#openclawlossless-claw-import) - [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting) - [Architecture](#architecture) - [How it works](#how-it-works) - [Documentation](#documentation) - [Development](#development) - [Contributing](#contributing) - [License](#license) ## What it does Hermes Agent's built-in compressor is a practical continuity layer: when the prompt crosses its configured threshold, it prunes older tool results, asks an auxiliary model to summarize the middle/older conversation, and rebuilds the active prompt from that summary plus a protected recent tail. The original session rows can still live in Hermes `state.db` and remain searchable through host tools such as `session_search`, but the model's active context no longer contains the compacted turns verbatim or a structured drill-down path back to them. `hermes-lcm` instead: 1. **Persists messages** in a plugin-local SQLite store with FTS metadata. 2. **Compacts older context** into depth-aware summary nodes. 3. **Condenses summaries** into a hierarchical DAG as they accumulate. 4. **Assembles active context** from system prompt, highest-value summaries, and the protected fresh tail. 5. **Provides recall tools** so agents can search, inspect, and expand compacted material without flooding the main prompt. Nothing is lost in normal operation. Raw messages stay recoverable in bounded pages, summaries retain source lineage, and oversized externalized payloads keep stable refs for later expansion. <img src="docs/standard_compression.png" alt="Standard compression" width="700"> <img src="docs/lcm_compression.png" alt="LCM compression" width="700"> Core capabilities: - **SQLite message store** - preserves raw messages before compaction - **Summary DAG** - builds depth-aware summary nodes over compacted history - **Bounded recovery** - pages raw messages, child summaries, and externalized payloads instead of dumping everything into the prompt - **Agent tools** - `lcm_grep`, `lcm_recall`, `lcm_query_state`, `lcm_compute`, `lcm_compile_evidence`, `lcm_evidence_pack`, `lcm_retrieve`, `lcm_recent`, `lcm_load_session`, `lcm_describe`, `lcm_expand`, `lcm_expand_query`, `lcm_status`, `lcm_inspect`, and `lcm_doctor` - **Source-aware retrieval** - filters raw rows and summaries by descendant source lineage - **Session controls** - ignore noisy sessions or keep sessions read-only with glob patterns - **Large payload controls** - externalize oversized tool/media/raw payloads and protect SQLite from inline media-ish base64 blobs - **Sensitive-pattern controls** - optional named redaction of API keys, bearer tokens, passwords, and private keys before LCM stores or summarizes them - **Diagnostics** - runtime health, database checks, optional `/lcm` slash commands, backup-first repair/rotate paths Beyond the core loop, three opt-in (default-off) feature families extend LCM from a compression layer into a memory system: **large-output externalization and context-budget controls** (giant tool results move to recoverable refs instead of crowding the prompt), **temporal memory** (day/week/month rollups plus natural-time recall through `lcm_recent`), and **semantic retrieval** (embedding-backed `lcm_grep` semantic/hybrid modes with free-tier cloud or fully-local providers). See the [Feature overview](docs/features-overview.md) for what each family does and why, and [Agent configuration profiles](docs/agent-config-profiles.md) for copy-paste setups per agent type. ## LCM vs built-in compression Hermes core may persist original conversation history in `state.db` before built-in compression rewrites the active prompt. Built-in compression can still be lossy in the active context, but previous content may be recoverable later through host-level history tools such as `session_search`. `hermes-lcm` is different because recall is part of the active context engine: - plugin-local store and DAG built specifically for drill-down - current-session retrieval through LCM tools, not an auxiliary cross-session search step - explicit source-lineage and session-boundary rules Position LCM around retrieval quality, autonomy, and drill-down behavior. Do not claim that Hermes core has no persisted record of pre-compression history. ## Quick start ### Prerequisites - Hermes Agent - Python 3.11+ - No required third-party runtime dependencies `tiktoken` is used if available; otherwise LCM falls back to character-based token estimates. `regex` is used if available to apply timeouts to message ignore patterns; without it, message-level regex filtering is disabled with a warning rather than running unbounded stdlib `re` matches. The versioned [host-owned dependency contract](docs/dependency-assurance.md) lists every shipped runtime import, supported host/Python versions, ownership, and the mechanical validation command. It is an assurance boundary, not a claim that the host's resolved environment is free of known vulnerabilities. ### Install the plugin Canonical install path: clone `hermes-lcm` as a general user plugin. ```bash git clone https://github.com/stephenschoettler/hermes-lcm \ ~/.hermes/plugins/hermes-lcm ``` For a profile-specific install: ```bash git clone https://github.com/stephenschoettler/hermes-lcm \ ~/.hermes/profiles/myprofile/plugins/hermes-lcm ``` From an existing checkout, install a symlink: ```bash ./scripts/install.sh # Optional profile-aware install: HERMES_PROFILE=myprofile ./scripts/install.sh ``` Run `scripts/install.sh` even when the checkout already lives at the canonical plugin path. It leaves that checkout in place and exposes the bundled `hermes-lcm` skill in the matching global/profile `skills/` directory. The installer preflights both paths and refuses conflicts before creating links. ### Activate it The plugin has two names: - plugin manifest name: `hermes-lcm` - runtime context engine name: `lcm` Both must be configured: ```yaml plugins: enabled: - hermes-lcm context: engine: lcm ``` Restart Hermes after changing plugin or context-engine config. ### Verify it loaded Run: ```bash hermes plugins ``` Expected signals: - plugin list includes `hermes-lcm` - selected context engine is `lcm` - tool list includes `lcm_grep`, `lcm_recall`, `lcm_recent`, `lcm_load_session`, `lcm_describe`, `lcm_expand`, `lcm_expand_query`, `lcm_status`, `lcm_inspect`, and `lcm_doctor` - the normal available-skills index includes `hermes-lcm`; current hosts can also resolve the explicit plugin-qualified skill `hermes-lcm:hermes-lcm` Typical output: ```text Plugins (1): ✓ hermes-lcm v1.0.0-rc.1 (15 tools) Provider Plugins: Context Engine: lcm ``` For source checkouts, `lcm_status`, `/lcm status`, `lcm_inspect`, `lcm_doctor`, and `/lcm doctor` also report the loaded plugin path and best-effort git identity: `plugin_git_commit`, `plugin_git_branch`, and `plugin_git_dirty`. If startup logs say LCM tools are available through `context-engine schemas` or mention the `Path B fallback`, that is expected on older Hermes hosts such as Hermes Agent v0.16. All 15 `lcm_*` tools remain available through the context-engine path; standalone plugin-registry registration is not required there. ### Update it If you cloned directly into the plugin directory: ```bash cd ~/.hermes/plugins/hermes-lcm && git pull --ff-only ``` For a profile-specific install: ```bash cd ~/.hermes/profiles/myprofile/plugins/hermes-lcm && git pull --ff-only ``` If you installed a symlink from a separate checkout: ```bash ./scripts/update.sh ``` Restart Hermes after updating. For the `v1.0.0-rc.1` line, take a normal backup of `lcm.db` before updating, then update the checkout and restart Hermes. No manual core migration or backfill is required: the core schema remains version 5. New assertion, query-view, and adaptive-retrieval state is additive, created only after the corresponding opt-in is enabled, and stored in the same profile database under named feature markers. The five new query/evidence tool schemas are visible in the tool list on stock installs, but automatic extraction, pre-answer evidence, assertion storage, query-view storage, and adaptive retrieval remain off. See [the operator upgrade and opt-in notes](docs/operator-guide.md#upgrade-from-v0200-or-v0210-rc2-to-v100-rc1) before enabling them. ## Commands and tools ### Agent tools Use these tools for current-session recall after compaction. Use Hermes `session_search` for earlier separate sessions or broad cross-session history outside the LCM database. | Tool | Use | |------|-----| | `lcm_grep` | Search current-session raw messages and summaries. Opt into `content_scope='externalized'|'both'` for bounded active-session payload search, or `session_scope='all'|'session'` for bounded raw-message archive recovery; broader scopes return raw-message hits only. | | `lcm_recall` | Search the entire memory across ALL conversations and all time by meaning. Fuses full-text, summary-vector, and chunk-vector arms with RRF, then applies a soft current-conversation (`scope_bias`) and recency prior. Returns bounded summary and verbatim-excerpt hits with `lcm_expand` handles; works FTS-only when embeddings are disabled. | | `lcm_query_state` | Query the opt-in V4 assertion sidecar for bounded current or historical facts, preferences, recommendations, commitments, actions, and status. Every result carries an exact message ref/span/quote; conflicts stay visible. | | `lcm_compute` | Execute supported dates, distinct counts, compatible-unit sums, directed/absolute differences, ordering, and latest-state operations over exact cited evidence. Planning, arithmetic, and trace verification are dependency-free and provider-neutral; ambiguous or incomplete inputs fail closed. | | `lcm_compile_evidence` | Validate one bounded provider-neutral semantic proposal against exact stored refs and return a compact evidence brief with explicit sufficiency state and an optional canonical computation. It never returns final prose or treats model claims as finite-coverage proof. | | `lcm_evidence_pack` | Hydrate and validate bounded baseline exact refs in the same `lcm.db`, repair only unique in-window quote spans, preserve occurrence/observation time separation, and optionally emit an immutable canonical computation trace without prose. | | `lcm_retrieve` | Opt-in bounded controller for one continuous answerer tool turn. It tracks typed evidence slots, permits at most three targeted calls to existing retrieval tools, accepts only exact observed refs, caps the evidence context, and can finish through `lcm_compute`. It persists evidence views and traces, never final prose. | | `lcm_recent` | Retrieve recent summaries by natural UTC period, preferring ready rollups and transparently falling back to time-bounded leaf summaries. | | `lcm_load_session` | Load one ordered raw-message transcript page for an explicit `session_id`. Continues with `after_store_id` from `next_cursor`; opt into exact slice refs with `include_exact_ref=true`. | | `lcm_describe` | Inspect the current-session DAG or preview an `externalized_ref` without loading full content. | | `lcm_expand` | Recover source messages, child summaries, or externalized payloads with pagination. Use `store_id` to fetch a single raw message from a cross-session `lcm_grep` result and `include_exact_ref=true` when its returned slice must be cited or computed. | | `lcm_expand_query` | Answer a question using expanded current-session LCM context while returning a bounded answer. | | `lcm_status` | Show runtime health, context pressure, config, source lineage, and lifecycle stats. | | `lcm_inspect` | Read-only operator inventory for current-session lineage, frontier/fresh-tail metadata, externalized refs/readability, compaction skip/no-op reasons, and matched ignore/stateless patterns. Returns metadata only; use retrieval tools for content. | | `lcm_doctor` | Run database, FTS, lifecycle, config, and context-pressure diagnostics. | ## Recall skill and policy Hermes-LCM ships `skills/hermes-lcm/SKILL.md` plus progressive-disclosure references for configuration, architecture, diagnostics, recall routing, and session lifecycle. The installer links that directory into the active Hermes profile so it appears in ordinary skill discovery. On hosts with plugin skill registration, it is also available explicitly as `hermes-lcm:hermes-lcm`. When LCM is the active context engine for a bound session, the plugin registers one deterministic `pre_llm_call` hook. Hermes injects the canonical policy into the current user-message context, not the system prompt, preserving the stable system-prompt cache prefix. The policy: - treats summaries as recall cues rather than exact proof; - prefers newer source-backed evidence and verifies contradictions; - teaches narrow FTS query construction and bounded scope selection; - routes current compacted, cross-conversation, and recent/time-bounded recall through the appropriate existing tools; - does not force a tool call when the current context is already sufficient. The canonical bytes live in `skills/hermes-lcm/references/recall-policy.md`. Merely loading the plugin does not inject them when another context engine is serving the session. Older hosts without skill or hook registration keep their existing schema-driven behavior. ### Slash commands Slash commands are disabled by default. Enable them only in trusted operator contexts: ```bash export LCM_ENABLE_SLASH_COMMAND=1 ``` Available commands: - `/lcm` or `/lcm status` - current runtime/session status - `/lcm doctor` - read-only health checks - `/lcm doctor clean` - read-only scan for obvious junk/noise session candidates - `/lcm doctor clean apply` - backup-first cleanup for safe pattern-matched candidates; requires `LCM_DOCTOR_CLEAN_APPLY_ENABLED=true` - `/lcm doctor repair` - read-only SQLite/FTS repair diagnostics - `/lcm doctor repair apply` - backup-first SQLite/FTS repair - `/lcm doctor source` - read-only scan for legacy blank-source rows - `/lcm doctor source apply` - backup-first normalization of legacy blank-source rows to `unknown` - `/lcm doctor retention` - read-only retention analysis - `/lcm backup` - timestamped SQLite backup - `/lcm rotate` - read-only preview of an in-place tail-preserving compact of the active session - `/lcm rotate apply` - backup-first rotate that advances the lifecycle frontier past pre-tail raw messages - `/lcm help` - command help Apply paths are intentionally narrow and backup-first. Start with diagnostics before cleanup or repair. ### Rotate: compact in place without changing session identity `/lcm rotate` compacts a long-running session in place without changing `session_id` or `conversation_id`. It is the in-session counterpart to Hermes-level `/new` and to `/lcm doctor clean`. What rotate does: - preserves the live tail (`LCM_FRESH_TAIL_COUNT` most-recent messages) - advances the lifecycle frontier marker past every raw message before the tail, so subsequent bootstrap stops replaying them into the active prompt - writes a rolling `*-rotate-latest.sqlite3` backup under the same backup directory as `/lcm backup`, overwriting the previous rotate slot atomically so disk usage stays bounded across repeated rotates What rotate does not do: - it does not delete raw messages; pre-tail rows remain recoverable through `lcm_load_session` and `lcm_expand` - it does not invoke the summarization model; trigger normal compaction first if you want pre-tail content covered by summary nodes before rotating - it does not change session or conversation identity, and it refuses ignored or stateless sessions with a clear reason `lcm_status` and `/lcm status` surface `last_rotate_at` and the rolling backup path. Re-running `/lcm rotate apply` after the frontier is already at or ahead of the target boundary reports `status: noop` and does not overwrite the previous known-good rolling backup. ## Configuration Most installs only need `plugins.enabled` and `context.engine: lcm`. ### Common settings | Variable | Default | Use | |----------|---------|-----| | `LCM_CONTEXT_THRESHOLD` | `0.35` | Fraction of the context window that triggers LCM compaction | | `LCM_FRESH_TAIL_COUNT` | `32` | Recent messages protected from compaction | | `LCM_FRESH_TAIL_MAX_TOKENS` | `0` | Optional token cap for the protected fresh tail (`0` disables it); always retains the newest message and complete assistant/tool-result groups | | `LCM_INCREMENTAL_MAX_DEPTH` | `3` | Max DAG condensation depth (`-1` = unlimited, `0` = leaf only); enables hierarchical summarization | | `LCM_LEAF_CHUNK_TOKENS` | `20000` | Raw-backlog floor before leaf compaction; with dynamic chunking enabled, the base chunk target | | `LCM_DYNAMIC_LEAF_CHUNK_ENABLED` | `false` | Enable chunk-sized leaf compaction passes instead of compacting the whole non-tail raw backlog per pass | | `LCM_DYNAMIC_LEAF_CHUNK_MAX` | `40000` | Upper bound for dynamic leaf chunk targets | | `LCM_THRESHOLD_FULL_SWEEP_ENABLED` | `false` | At threshold, opt into one synchronous bounded sweep that drains chunked raw history before publishing one new active context | | `LCM_SUMMARY_PREFIX_TARGET_TOKENS` | `0` | Sweep-only summary-frontier target; `0` derives one `LCM_LEAF_CHUNK_TOKENS` budget | | `LCM_NEW_SESSION_RETAIN_DEPTH` | `2` | DAG depth retained after manual `/new` (`-1` all, `0` none) | | `LCM_DATABASE_PATH` | auto | SQLite database path. Empty config resolves to `HERMES_HOME/lcm.db`; plugin installs or operators may set this env var to another profile-scoped path such as `~/.hermes/hermes-lcm.db`. | | `LCM_FTS_INTEGRITY_CHECK_INTERVAL_HOURS` | `24` | Minimum hours between startup FTS5 deep integrity-checks (O(index size)). `0` checks every startup; a negative value never checks on startup. Structural checks always run regardless. | | `LCM_ENABLE_SLASH_COMMAND` | `false` | Enable the optional `/lcm` operator command surface | When `LCM_FRESH_TAIL_MAX_TOKENS` is enabled, the protected suffix must satisfy both the message-count and token bounds. The newest message is never dropped, and a boundary that would begin inside an assistant tool-call/result group is moved back to that assistant even when doing so exceeds a configured bound. ### Filtering and storage settings | Variable | Default | Use | |----------|---------|-----| | `LCM_IGNORE_SESSION_PATTERNS` | empty | Comma-separated session globs excluded from LCM storage | | `LCM_STATELESS_SESSION_PATTERNS` | empty | Comma-separated session globs kept read-only | | `LCM_IGNORE_MESSAGE_PATTERNS` | empty | Comma-separated regex patterns; matching message content is excluded from LCM storage | | `LCM_SENSITIVE_PATTERNS_ENABLED` | `false` | Opt in to deterministic redaction before LCM storage, FTS indexing, summarization, active replay, and externalized ingest payloads | | `LCM_SENSITIVE_PATTERNS` | `api_key,bearer_token,password_assignment,private_key` | Comma-separated named sensitive pattern catalog entries to apply when redaction is enabled | | `LCM_LARGE_OUTPUT_EXTERNALIZATION_ENABLED` | `false` | Store oversized ingest payloads, including tool results, media blocks, and generic raw content, in plugin-managed JSON files | | `LCM_LARGE_OUTPUT_EXTERNALIZATION_THRESHOLD_CHARS` | `12000` | Externalization threshold for normalized payload text | | `LCM_LARGE_OUTPUT_ACTIVE_REPLAY_STUBBING_ENABLED` | `false` | Replace token-heavy textual tool results with recoverable externalized refs in active replay; current-turn ingest is immediate and historical assembly respects the protected fresh tail; requires large-output externalization | | `LCM_LARGE_OUTPUT_ACTIVE_REPLAY_STUB_THRESHOLD_TOKENS` | `25000` | Token-aware threshold for active-replay tool-result stubbing | | `LCM_LARGE_OUTPUT_TRANSCRIPT_GC_ENABLED` | `false` | Rewrite already-externalized summarized tool rows to compact placeholders | | `LCM_DOCTOR_CLEAN_APPLY_ENABLED` | `false` | Permit destructive `/lcm doctor clean apply` in trusted operator contexts | | `LCM_EMPTY_LIFECYCLE_GC_ENABLED` | `true` | Master toggle for automatic pruning of lifecycle rows for sessions that never ingested any messages or summary nodes | | `LCM_EMPTY_LIFECYCLE_GC_THRESHOLD` | `200` | Number of lifecycle rows at which the GC pass fires | | `LCM_EMPTY_LIFECYCLE_GC_MAX_AGE_HOURS` | `24` | Automatic GC only deletes empty lifecycle rows at least this old; set `0` only in trusted/test environments that intentionally want immediate empty-row pruning | ### Model and timeout settings | Variable | Default | Use | |----------|---------|-----| | `LCM_SUMMARY_MODEL` | auxiliary | Override summarization model | | `LCM_SUMMARY_FALLBACK_MODELS` | empty | Comma-separated summarization models tried after `LCM_SUMMARY_MODEL` or the auxiliary task default fails | | `LCM_SUMMARY_CIRCUIT_BREAKER_FAILURE_THRESHOLD` | `2` | Consecutive failed summarization calls before a route is skipped temporarily | | `LCM_SUMMARY_CIRCUIT_BREAKER_COOLDOWN_SECONDS` | `300` | Seconds to skip an open summary route before retrying it | | `LCM_EXPANSION_MODEL` | summary model / auxiliary | Override `lcm_expand_query` synthesis model | | `LCM_EXPANSION_CONTEXT_TOKENS` | `32000` | Context budget used by the auxiliary LLM for `lcm_expand_query` | | `LCM_SUMMARY_TIMEOUT_MS` | `60000` | Timeout for one summarization call | | `LCM_EXPANSION_TIMEOUT_MS` | `120000` | Timeout for one `lcm_expand_query` synthesis call | | `LCM_CRITICAL_BUDGET_PRESSURE_RATIO` | `0.0` | Disabled at `0.0`; when set, permits critical-pressure bypasses for bounded deferred catch-up and cache-friendly follow-on condensation only | Advanced compaction, assembly, and extraction knobs are defined in `config.py`. ### Sensitive-pattern redaction Sensitive-pattern handling is disabled by default so ordinary LCM storage and `lcm_expand` remain lossless. When `LCM_SENSITIVE_PATTERNS_ENABLED=true`, matched secret values are replaced with metadata-only placeholders before SQLite, FTS, summaries, active replay, and externalized payload JSON receive the content. This is intentionally not lossless for matching values: the raw matched secret is unrecoverable after redaction. Supported named catalog entries are: - `api_key`: `api_key`, `api_token`, `access_token`, `secret_key`, and `client_secret` assignments or JSON keys. - `bearer_token`: `Bearer ...` strings and token-like JSON keys. - `password_assignment`: `password`, `passwd`, `pwd`, and `passphrase` assignments or JSON keys, including quoted values with spaces. - `private_key`: PEM private-key blocks. Redaction is forward-only. Enabling it does not rewrite existing SQLite rows, FTS shadow tables, DAG summaries, or externalized payload JSON that were written before the setting was enabled. Non-password placeholders include a short truncated SHA-256 digest for correlation. `password_assignment` placeholders omit the digest to avoid making password-like values easier to dictionary-check. `lcm_status`, `lcm_inspect`, and `lcm_doctor` expose the enabled state, configured pattern names, unknown names, source, and placeholder format without exposing raw secret values. ### Threshold ownership When `context.engine: lcm` is active, `LCM_CONTEXT_THRESHOLD` is the compaction threshold LCM uses. Hermes core `compression.threshold` belongs to the built-in compressor. Hermes core `compression.enabled` is still the global gate that allows compaction, so leave it enabled when using LCM. If startup/status output shows a host-side compression percentage that disagrees with LCM, trust live LCM status after a normal message has initialized the session. ### Tuning for large context windows Long-context models change the tuning problem. A 1M-token model does not mean you always want to spend 750k prompt tokens before LCM starts compacting. Start with the active prompt budget you are willing to pay for, then tune the threshold around that budget. ```text compaction trigger = effective context window * LCM_CONTEXT_THRESHOLD LCM_CONTEXT_THRESHOLD = desired compaction trigger / effective context window ``` Examples, as math rather than universal recommendations: | Effective context window | Desired trigger | Threshold | |--------------------------|-----------------|-----------| | `128000` | `96000` | `0.75` | | `200000` | `140000` | `0.70` | | `400000` | `240000` | `0.60` | | `1000000` | `250000` | `0.25` | | `1000000` | `400000` | `0.40` | | `1000000` | `600000` | `0.60` | A reasonable first pass for a true 1M effective window is: | Goal | Desired trigger | Threshold | Notes | |------|-----------------|-----------|-------| | Lower spend / earlier DAG building | `200000` to `300000` | `0.20` to `0.30` | Good when cost and latency matter more than maximum live context | | Balanced large-context use | `350000` to `500000` | `0.35` to `0.50` | Good starting point for many long-running agents | | Keep more raw context active | `600000+` | `0.60+` | Higher token burn, later compaction | Tune against your effective `context_length` if Hermes caps the provider's advertised window. Start with `LCM_CONTEXT_THRESHOLD`, `LCM_FRESH_TAIL_COUNT`, and large output externalization. Only tune leaf chunking after checking `lcm_status` and understanding whether your workload is dominated by huge raw backlog passes. `LCM_THRESHOLD_FULL_SWEEP_ENABLED=true` is an opt-in cache-shape policy. Once threshold pressure triggers compaction, the invocation keeps summarizing the oldest raw chunks outside the protected fresh tail even after pressure falls below the trigger. It then condenses the provider-visible summary frontier only when that frontier exceeds `LCM_SUMMARY_PREFIX_TARGET_TOKENS` (or one leaf budget when the target is `0`). One invocation is bounded to 12 total leaf plus condensation calls and 120 seconds between calls, persists each completed DAG pass, and publishes one newly assembled active context at the end. It is synchronous and independent of deferred/background maintenance. ### Cache policy boundary LCM is **cache-friendly**, not fully cache-aware. It may avoid some follow-on condensation churn, but current cache usage counters are retrospective status data only; they do not tell the plugin whether the next prompt mutation will break a hot provider cache. `LCM_CRITICAL_BUDGET_PRESSURE_RATIO` is a narrow escape hatch. It is disabled by default (`0.0`). When set, LCM compares prompt pressure against the context window and only at or above that ratio may bypass existing polite gates for bounded deferred maintenance catch-up and cache-friendly follow-on condensation. Revisit full cache-aware deferred compaction only after Hermes core exposes reliable cache state / cache-break signals. ### Session pattern syntax Pattern matching checks multiple keys: raw `session_id`, `platform`, and `platform:session_id`. - `*` matches within one colon-delimited segment - `**` can span across colons Example: `cron:*` can match Hermes cron sessions, while exact raw session IDs still work. ### Noise suppression LCM offers two layers of noise filtering: - **Session-level filters** (`LCM_IGNORE_SESSION_PATTERNS`, `LCM_STATELESS_SESSION_PATTERNS`) catch noisy traffic that arrives as its own session or platform. - **Message-level patterns** (`LCM_IGNORE_MESSAGE_PATTERNS`) catch cron alerts or other noise injected into a normal Telegram or WhatsApp conversation as ordinary visible messages. Message-level patterns are comma-separated Python regex strings compiled once at engine start. They run against plain text first; structured multimodal payloads use concatenated text parts first, then normalized JSON fallback when there are no text parts. Matching messages are skipped before storage. Example operator config: ```bash LCM_IGNORE_MESSAGE_PATTERNS=^Cronjob Response:,^>>>Cronjob Response<<<: ``` Invalid regex entries are logged at warning level and dropped. Pattern matching uses a 50 ms per-pattern timeout when the optional `regex` package is installed. If `regex` is not installed, LCM logs a warning and disables message-level regex filtering rather than running unbounded stdlib `re` matches in the ingest path. Known limitation: the filter runs at ingest time. When a matching message is part of the chunk summarized in the same turn it arrived, the text may appear inside the resulting summary node. The filtered message is still not written to the message store, so DAG lineage stays clean; only serialized summary text can carry it. `lcm_status` surfaces the full filter contract under `session_filters`, including pattern sources, whether the current session is ignored/stateless, and a process-lifetime `ignored_message_count`. Ignored/stateless sessions are a storage ownership boundary, not a context-window opt-out. LCM does not ingest raw messages or create DAG nodes for sessions that match `LCM_IGNORE_SESSION_PATTERNS`, `LCM_STATELESS_SESSION_PATTERNS`, or the in-process auxiliary/thread stateless marker. If those sessions cross the normal context threshold, LCM delegates the compaction call to Hermes' native `ContextCompressor` so the active request is still bounded before model overflow. If the native compressor is unavailable, LCM falls back to a deterministic head/tail trim as a last-resort safety net, still without writing the bypassed session to `lcm.db`. ### Large tool-output handling Storage-boundary payload guard contract: LCM prevents media-ish inline payloads from being written into plugin-local SQLite rows at the storage boundary. Externalization for ordinary large tool output is opt-in. When enabled, oversized tool results are written to plugin-managed JSON files and referenced from summaries. They remain inspectable through `lcm_describe(externalized_ref=...)` and `lcm_expand(externalized_ref=...)`. Active-replay stubbing is a second, independently opt-in replay policy. When both externalization and active-replay stubbing are enabled, newly ingested textual tool results above the token threshold are durably externalized and replaced immediately in provider-visible replay, including results in the protected fresh tail. This lets a stub-only replay change converge even when no leaf is eligible for compaction. A historical assembly pass applies the same policy to older tool results before budgeting, while respecting the protected fresh tail. Tool-call ids and compatible structured text block types/keys are retained; raw SQLite rows and DAG lineage are not rewritten by the historical pass. Structured image/media results remain inline, preserving the provider replay contract established by Hermes-LCM PR #226. If durable externalization cannot be confirmed, replay keeps the original payload inline. Results from `lcm_describe` and `lcm_expand` also remain inline so recovery does not recursively produce another ref. The storage-boundary payload guard is separate from that opt-in. LCM always scans messages at the store boundary before writing `messages.content` or `messages.tool_calls` to SQLite. Inline `data:*;base64,...` payloads and conservative long base64-looking runs are replaced with compact placeholders and written to the same plugin-managed externalized-payload directory. This avoids duplicating media-ish payload bytes into `lcm.db`, FTS shadow tables, WAL files, or ordinary SQLite backups while preserving lossless recovery via the placeholder `ref` and `lcm_expand(externalized_ref=...)`. If externalization fails, LCM logs a warning and leaves the original text inline rather than dropping data. `lcm_doctor` reports SQLite `journal_mode`, `quick_check`, database/WAL sizes, largest content/tool-call rows, suspicious inline payload rows, and aggregate externalized-payload stats. Doctor output is metadata-only for these scans. This guard is scoped to LCM's own `lcm.db` write boundary. It does not prevent Hermes core, or any other host layer, from writing inline payloads to Hermes `state.db`, and it does not rewrite historical rows already present in `lcm.db`. If bytes already landed in Hermes `state.db`, that is upstream/outside LCM scope; use backup-first cleanup or migration procedures before mutating historical host rows. Transcript GC is separate and opt-in. It only rewrites already-externalized, already-summarized tool-role rows to compact placeholders. It keeps the same `store_id`, keeps payload files, skips pinned messages, and preserves lossless recovery through `externalized_ref`. ## Retrieval contract LCM retrieval tools default to current-session scope. `lcm_grep` accepts `session_scope='all'` or `session_scope='session'` as an explicit opt-in for bounded archive search over rows already present in `lcm.db` (raw-message hits only). Once a session id is known, `lcm_load_session` can enumerate that session's raw transcript in chronological `store_id` pages without a search query. Use Hermes `session_search` for broad cross-session history outside the LCM database. Within the current session, `source` filters raw rows directly and filters summary nodes by descendant raw-message source lineage. `unknown` is a real source value, not a wildcard. Legacy blank-source rows are treated as `unknown`. `role`, `time_from`, and `time_to` are raw-message filters applied in the message search query before result limiting. When a raw-message filter is active, `lcm_grep` returns raw rows only and reports `summary_results_omitted`. Tool responses are bounded so one retrieval call cannot flood the main context. ### Lossless raw recovery contract Lossless recovery means raw content is stored with stable source lineage and can be recovered in deterministic pages: - `lcm_expand(node_id=...)` pages immediate sources with `source_offset` and `source_limit` - `lcm_load_session(session_id=...)` pages ordered raw session rows with `after_store_id` and `next_cursor` - oversized raw messages continue with `content_offset` - `lcm_expand(externalized_ref=...)` pages payload content with `content_offset` - `lcm_expand_query` uses `context_max_tokens` for auxiliary context and reports truncation/pagination hints when needed Carried-over summary nodes can become current-session content after `/new`, but their source eligibility still comes from descendant raw messages. Expanding a carried-over current-session node recovers the original raw message sources even when those sources still belong to a previous session. ## OpenClaw/lossless-claw import `hermes-lcm` includes an opt-in operator script for backfilling OpenClaw history into the local hermes-lcm SQLite store. It supports two source shapes: 1. **SQLite LCM database** (`--source-db`) for migrations from an existing lossless-claw/OpenClaw `lcm.db`. 2. **JSONL session exports** (`--source-jsonl` / `--source-jsonl-dir`) for fresh installs, plugin-off catch-up, or migrations where no source SQLite database is available. SQLite source example: ```bash python scripts/import_lossless_claw.py \ --source-db ~/.openclaw/path/to/lcm.db \ --target-db ~/.hermes/lcm.db \ --agent sammy ``` JSONL source example: ```bash python scripts/import_lossless_claw.py \ --source-jsonl ~/.openclaw/agents/sammy/sessions/session-a.jsonl \ --target-db ~/.hermes/lcm.db \ --agent sammy \ --json ``` For a directory of session exports: ```bash python scripts/import_lossless_claw.py \ --source-jsonl-dir ~/.openclaw/agents/sammy/sessions \ --target-db ~/.hermes/lcm.db \ --agent sammy ``` The script is intentionally conservative: - dry-run is the default; pass `--apply` to write - run it against an explicit target DB path, preferably while Hermes is stopped for that profile - writes create a timestamped target DB backup first when the target already exists - SQLite imports can include OpenClaw summaries with `--include-summaries`; this migrates compatible summary rows into Hermes `summary_nodes` - JSONL imports migrate raw message rows only; JSONL does not carry a summary DAG - imported rows keep explicit provenance in `session_id` and `source`, for example `openclaw-lcm:agent:sammy:<source-session>` or `openclaw-jsonl:agent:sammy:<source-session>` - the SQLite default provenance identity is the source `conversations.session_id`, preserving source session boundaries even when many conversations share one `session_key` - pass `--session-identity session_key` only for SQLite imports when you intentionally want conversations with the same source session key grouped into one imported LCM session - reruns are idempotent for the same `--import-id`; the default `import_id` is source-path-derived, so pass a stable `--import-id` if you may import the same copied DB or JSONL export set from different paths - `--json` prints a reconciliation report with `scanned`, `eligible`, `would_import`, `imported`, `skipped_existing`, `skipped_empty`, `invalid_rows`, `warnings`, and summary counters - changing `--agent`, `--namespace`, or `--session-identity` under the same `--import-id` is treated as the same import and will skip already-tracked source messages; use a new `--import-id` for a different mapping - no OpenClaw config or separate secret tables are imported, but raw transcripts, summaries, and tool payloads may contain sensitive user data This is a local archive migration path. It does not make LCM a general memory provider, and it does not change the current-session retrieval contract for agent tools. For databases that already contain large historical tool rows, `scripts/backfill_externalized_tool_outputs.py` can pre-create native recovery sidecars without rewriting SQLite. It is dry-run by default, writes a scrubbed digest/count manifest, is idempotent on repeat apply, and supports guarded manifest-based rollback. See the [operator guide](docs/operator-guide.md#historical-tool-output-sidecars). ## Troubleshooting ### `hermes plugins` shows `lcm (not found)` but LCM tools exist If `plugins.enabled` contains `hermes-lcm`, `context.engine: lcm` is set, and the runtime exposes LCM tools, LCM is loaded. The `lcm (not found)` line is a Hermes host discovery/status mismatch, not an LCM storage or compaction failure. ### `/lcm status` looks unbound after restart Compatible Hermes gateway hosts expose task-local lane metadata while dispatching `/lcm`. Once that lane has constructed an agent, `/lcm status` resolves the same active LCM runtime as `lcm_status`, including its foreground view while an ignored or stateless side channel is bound. Before the first normal message constructs an agent, or in a genuinely sessionless process, `session_id: (unbound)` and `threshold_tokens: (uninitialized)` remain expected. ## Architecture The engine sits between Hermes context assembly and the backing conversation store. It records raw messages, compacts old material into a summary DAG, and exposes retrieval tools that can drill back into exact stored sources. <img src="docs/architecture.png" alt="hermes-lcm architecture" width="700"> ## How it works 1. **Ingest** - persist each message in SQLite with FTS metadata 2. **Compact** - summarize older messages outside the fresh tail into D0 leaf nodes 3. **Condense** - merge same-depth nodes into higher-depth summaries 4. **Escalate** - shrink oversize summaries from detailed to bullets to deterministic truncate 5. **Assemble** - combine system prompt, highest-depth summaries, and fresh tail 6. **Retrieve** - use LCM tools to drill into compacted history or synthesize from expanded context ## Documentation - [Feature overview](docs/features-overview.md) — every feature family, what it does, why it exists, and the switch that enables it - [Agent configuration profiles](docs/agent-config-profiles.md) — copy-paste env profiles: coding agent, long-horizon assistant, fully-local, cost-guarded - [Operator guide](docs/operator-guide.md) — install, activation, full configuration reference, diagnostics - [Retrieval tools reference](docs/retrieval-tools.md) — exact tool contracts - [Embeddings setup](docs/embeddings-setup.md) — free-tier and local embedding providers, warmup, backfill - [LCM paper](https://papers.voltropy.com/LCM) - [Architecture diagram](docs/architecture.png) - [Standard compression diagram](docs/standard_compression.png) - [LCM compression diagram](docs/lcm_compression.png) - [Contributing guide](CONTRIBUTING.md) - [Code of conduct](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md) - [Security policy](SECURITY.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/stephenschoettler/hermes-lcm/releases) ## Development Important files: ```text plugin.yaml manifest __init__.py plugin registration and optional slash-command registration engine.py LCMEngine main orchestrator store.py SQLite message store and FTS dag.py summary DAG and FTS config.py env var defaults and overrides command.py /lcm command handlers tools.py lcm_grep, lcm_load_session, lcm_describe, lcm_expand, lcm_expand_query schemas.py tool schemas shown to the model tests/ standalone pytest coverage ``` Run tests: ```bash pip install pytest python -m pytest tests/ -v ``` No Hermes Agent checkout is required for the test suite; tests include a lightweight ABC stub. ## Contributing Issues and PRs welcome. Bug fixes and correctness improvements are highest priority. New features should be scoped, backwards-compatible, and tested. See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for branch, validation, and PR guidance. See [CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md) for project conduct expectations and [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md) for vulnerability reporting. See the [releases page](https://github.com/stephenschoettler/hermes-lcm/releases) for changelogs. ## License [MIT](LICENSE) ## Star history <a href="https://www.star-history.com/?repos=stephenschoettler%2Fhermes-lcm&type=timeline&legend=top-left"> <picture> <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)" srcset="https://api.star-history.com/chart?repos=stephenschoettler/hermes-lcm&type=timeline&theme=dark&legend=top-left" /> <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: light)" srcset="https://api.star-history.com/chart?repos=stephenschoettler/hermes-lcm&type=timeline&legend=top-left" /> <img alt="Star History Chart" src="https://api.star-history.com/chart?repos=stephenschoettler/hermes-lcm&type=timeline&legend=top-left" /> </picture> </a>

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hermes-lcm

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Use, configure, diagnose, and retrieve exact evidence with the Hermes-LCM lossless context plugin.

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2026-07-20

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