fix(curator): protect load-bearing built-in skills from archival/consolidation (#41817)

The curator's idle-archival path (apply_automatic_transitions under prune_builtins) could archive the bundled `plan` skill, killing the /plan slash command silently — typing /plan then returned 'Unknown command' with no signal that a skill had vanished. The archived skill's hash stays in .bundled_manifest, so 'hermes update' wouldn't re-seed it. Add PROTECTED_BUILTIN_SKILLS ({plan}) enforced at the master gate is_curation_eligible() (covers archive_skill + the transition walk) and in the candidate enumerator (so the LLM consolidation pass never sees them). Immune to prune_builtins, pin state, and LLM judgment.
2026-06-07 22:23:29 -07:00
parent 777dc9da62
commit 8e223b36ed
4 changed files with 87 additions and 1 deletions
@@ -192,6 +192,8 @@ The flag is stored as `"pinned": true` on the skill's entry in `~/.hermes/skills

 Only **agent-created** skills can be pinned — `hermes curator pin` refuses on bundled and hub-installed skills with an explanatory message if you try. Hub-installed skills are never subject to curator mutation. Bundled built-in skills are only touched when `curator.prune_builtins: true` (the default), and even then only archived after `archive_after_days` of non-use — never patched, consolidated, or deleted. Set `curator.prune_builtins: false` to exempt bundled skills entirely.

+A small set of **protected built-ins** is hardcoded as never-archivable and never-consolidatable, regardless of `curator.prune_builtins`, pin state, or LLM judgment. These back load-bearing UX — for example, `plan` powers the `/plan` slash-command flow — so silently archiving one would turn its slash command into an "Unknown command" error with no signal to you. Protected built-ins are filtered out of the curator's candidate list entirely, so the consolidation pass never sees them.
+
 If you want a stronger guarantee than "no deletion" — for instance, freezing a skill's content entirely while the agent still reads it — edit `~/.hermes/skills/<name>/SKILL.md` directly with your editor. The pin guards tool-driven deletion, not your own filesystem access.

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