Hermes merged 40 PRs on November 1 The ones worth knowing: - Lock a skill so the agent can't rewrite it, through skill_manage, write_file, patch or terminal - Plugins and shell hooks can now block a turn before it ever reaches the model - Approval prompts reveal hidden Unicode, control bytes and padding instead of hiding them - /model reset puts a pinned session back on your configured default across CLI, TUI, Desktop and gateway - Cron jobs now know when they fired: the run time is in every scheduled prompt - Desktop keeps every gateway connected, and picking one no longer blanks your session list - Desktop sessions waiting on subagents or background work stay highlighted and stop spinning when done - Claude subscription catalog installs use about 1.7x less of the 5-hour window - Telegram video notes now reach the agent instead of being dropped - Slack thread context shows emoji reactions, so reacted-to messages read as answered - New opt-in cap on how long a streaming response can live (agent. stream_max_lifetime) - hermes update stops stashing untracked folders it never touches, and asks before stashing Here is the full list: DESKTOP IMPROVEMENTS (14 PRs) - fix(desktop): every gateway stays connected, and picking one no longer asks to switch or blanks the session list - fix(desktop): a session stops spinning when its background work finishes off screen - Desktop status bar names the profile when another profile's messaging is down - fix(desktop): sidebar rows off screen and after reload/reconnect show running subagents and background work - fix(desktop): Pinned names the filter that hides every pin - fix(desktop): Korean and other pack languages: load installed packs on a cold gateway, sync them at boot, and only offer languages with Desktop strings - fix(desktop): sessions waiting on subagents or background processes stay highlighted in the sidebar - Desktop sidebar no longer shows the confusing "automatic continuation" notice on compressed sessions - fix(desktop-plugins): host reconcile treats Windows junctions as links; Desktop tested on a real case-insensitive volume - fix(desktop): restore session-tab close button spacing - perf(desktop): avoid theme updates for sidebar geometry changes - perf(desktop): skip unchanged terminal snapshots and hidden row paints - perf(desktop): keep streamed tokens out of navigation context - fix(desktop): a native plugin install never replaces a folder outside desktop-plugins VOICE & REAL-TIME (2 PRs) - feat(streaming): opt-in cap on a streaming response total lifetime (agent. stream_max_lifetime) - fix(gateway): background jobs that finish during a busy turn come back as one turn, not one each DEVELOPER TOOLS & PLUGINS (10 PRs) - feat(plugin-catalog): add simular-sai (Sai by Simular) - Plugins and shell hooks can block a turn before it reaches the model (pre_llm_call block directive) - fix(middleware): tool_request middleware sees the model's pre-Relay call as original_args - feat: /model reset returns a pinned session to the configured default (CLI, TUI, Desktop, gateway) - Cron jobs know what time they fired: run time in every scheduled prompt - feat(telemetry): see when people wait on a busy agent (busy arrivals + daily peak of busy chats) - fix(telemetry): Spotify and old browser_vault tool names from older releases export as recorded again - refactor(aux): the auxiliary client keeps the main runtime only per context - fix(kanban): kanban_task_blocked fires after commit for dependency waits - fix(background-review): memory review saves only grounded facts, not guesses SECURITY & SECRETS (3 PRs) - feat(skills): lock a skill so the agent can't change it (skill_manage, write_file, patch, terminal) - Approval prompts show hidden Unicode, control bytes and padding instead of hiding them (CLI, gateway, TUI/Desktop) - fix(profiles): hermes update never copies the default .env into a profile INTEGRATIONS & CHAT (6 PRs) - Telegram video notes reach the agent instead of being dropped - fix(mattermost): setup stops pointing at a profile dialog with no user ID - fix(photon): setup only reports success once your number can receive iMessages (opt-in wait) - Approval cards keep the command and reason after a decision or timeout on Telegram, Feishu and Teams - feat(slack): show emoji reactions in thread context so reacted-to messages read as answered - Claude subscription provider: catalog installs use ~1.7x less of the 5-hour window STABILITY & FIXES (5 PRs) - hermes update no longer stashes untracked folders it never touches, and asks before stashing - fix: two CI races, PTY drain test sleep and a process reaped mid-/proc-probe - test(cron): profile-timezone test no longer fails the day before a DST change - fix(update): update-lock tidy-ups from review feedback - fix(agent): name the phase and the setting in transport-timeout error summaries 40 new features and fixes