Integration Guide

Hermes

Connect Hermes to DashClaw and get your first governed action into /decisions in under 20 minutes.

Instance URL detected: https://your-dashclaw-instance.example.com

Deploy DashClaw

Get a running instance. Click the Vercel deploy button or run locally.

Already have an instance? Skip to Step 2.

Install the Hermes plugin

One script symlinks the plugin into ~/.hermes/, appends the DashClaw hook entries to ~/.hermes/config.yaml (idempotent: sentinel markers prevent duplication on re-run), substitutes ${DASHCLAW_REPO} for the absolute repo path, and prints an env-var checklist. Re-run after every git pull to upgrade.

Terminal

# macOS / Linux
bash scripts/install-hermes-plugin.sh

# Windows
powershell -File scripts/install-hermes-plugin.ps1

# Sanity check
hermes dashclaw doctor

The doctor command checks env vars, configured hook scripts, plugin skills, and API reachability.

Set environment variables

The hooks read these from the shell or a .env file in the project root. DASHCLAW_GUARD_UNAVAILABLE_POLICY defaults to block (fail closed). Set it to warn for development if you want stderr warnings instead of blocks when the guard is down.

.env

DASHCLAW_BASE_URL=https://your-dashclaw-instance.example.com
DASHCLAW_API_KEY=oc_live_...
DASHCLAW_AGENT_ID=hermes
DASHCLAW_HOOK_MODE=enforce
DASHCLAW_GUARD_UNAVAILABLE_POLICY=block
DASHCLAW_GUARD_TIMEOUT=5
# Set after your server advertises execution-claim protocol 1:
DASHCLAW_REQUIRE_EXECUTION_CLAIMS=1

Accept the hooks

Hermes prompts on first invocation of each (event, command) pair so you can review configured commands before they fire. Accept once per hook, or set hooks_auto_accept: true in ~/.hermes/config.yaml after you have reviewed them. Trusted hooks persist across sessions.

In Hermes

# First Hermes session after install prompts once per configured hook command.
# Each prompt shows the absolute command + matcher.

# Or non-interactive — set in ~/.hermes/config.yaml:
hooks_auto_accept: true

One-time per hook. The acceptance is keyed on the command string, so re-running install with the same DASHCLAW_REPO path keeps consent state intact.

Verify the managed block

Skim the managed block the install script wrote to ~/.hermes/config.yaml. Anything outside the start/end markers is your own content and was preserved verbatim. A .dashclaw-bak sibling holds the pre-install state.

~/.hermes/config.yaml

# >>> dashclaw start — managed block, do not edit by hand
#
# Re-run scripts/install-hermes-plugin.sh to refresh this block.

hooks:
  pre_tool_call:
    - matcher: "^(Bash|Edit|Write|MultiEdit|terminal|str_replace_editor|create_file)$"
      command: "python ${DASHCLAW_REPO}/.hermes/hooks/dashclaw_pretool_hermes.py"
      timeout: 60

  post_tool_call:
    - matcher: "^(Bash|Edit|Write|MultiEdit|terminal|str_replace_editor|create_file)$"
      command: "python ${DASHCLAW_REPO}/.hermes/hooks/dashclaw_posttool_hermes.py"
      timeout: 30

  pre_llm_call:
    - command: "python ${DASHCLAW_REPO}/.hermes/hooks/dashclaw_pre_llm_hermes.py"
      timeout: 5

  on_session_start:
    - command: "python ${DASHCLAW_REPO}/.hermes/hooks/dashclaw_on_session_start_hermes.py"
      timeout: 10
    - command: "python ${DASHCLAW_REPO}/hooks/enforcement_liveness_probe.py --source session-start --runtime hermes"
      timeout: 10

  transform_tool_result:
    - command: "python ${DASHCLAW_REPO}/.hermes/hooks/dashclaw_transform_tool_result_hermes.py"
      timeout: 5

  subagent_stop:
    - command: "python ${DASHCLAW_REPO}/.hermes/hooks/dashclaw_subagent_stop_hermes.py"
      timeout: 10

hooks_auto_accept: false
# <<< dashclaw end

Connect Discord (2 minutes)

A Discord bot turns your phone into a one-tap approval surface for risky tool calls. The built-in Discord adapter posts a DM with Approve / Deny buttons when a policy requires human judgment. Same setup as the Claude Code and Codex paths; ENV-only.

.env.local (or Vercel env vars)

DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN=<token>
DISCORD_PUBLIC_KEY=<64-char-hex>
DISCORD_APPROVER_USER_ID=<numeric-user-id>
DISCORD_APPROVER_ORG_ID=<your-org-id>
# Kill switch — leave unset or set to true to enable DMs
# DASHCLAW_ALERTS_DISCORD=false

Step-by-step Discord Developer Portal walkthrough is printed below.

Run Hermes and trigger a tool call

Ask Hermes to do anything that uses Bash, terminal, str_replace_editor, Edit, Write, or MultiEdit. The pre_tool_call hook evaluates current policy, records one action, waits when approval is required, then claims the exact action and principal before releasing the host tool. Approval is consumed at the claim.

Example prompt

Create a file called hello.txt with the contents "Hello from a governed agent"

Watch the terminal: you should see [DashClaw] messages as each hook evaluates the action. During a server-first upgrade, an absent claim advertisement keeps the legacy flow; a partial or invalid advertisement blocks. The strict flag rejects servers that omit protocol 1. The pre_llm_call hook also injects pending approvals and active policies into every turn.

See the result in DashClaw

Open your DashClaw dashboard to confirm the action was recorded under the hermes agent id.

Go to /decisions: you should see your tool call with agent_id 'hermes'.

What success looks like

Go to /decisions: you should see your Hermes tool call with agent_id 'hermes'.

Navigate to /decisions in your DashClaw instance. Your action should appear in the ledger within seconds of the agent run.

Governance as Code

guardrails.yml is a policy-as-code template. Import it into your instance — POST the YAML to /api/policies/import or call the Python SDK's import_policies — and DashClaw evaluates these rules at the guard step before any action executes.

guardrails.yml

version: 1
project: my-hermes-project
description: >
  Governance policy for Hermes Agent tool calls.
  Blocks destructive shell commands. Warns on deployment.

policies:
  - id: block_destructive_shell
    description: Block rm -rf and database drops
    applies_to:
      tools:
        - Bash
        - terminal
        - str_replace_editor
    rule:
      block: true
    when:
      command_contains:
        - "rm -rf"
        - "drop table"

  - id: warn_on_deploy
    description: Require approval for deployment commands
    applies_to:
      tools:
        - Bash
        - terminal
    rule:
      require: approval
    when:
      command_contains:
        - "git push"
        - "vercel deploy"

Hermes-specific notes

Hook surface (6 events)

Hermes exposes a richer lifecycle than Claude Code or Codex. Beyond pre/post_tool_call, DashClaw also wires:

pre_llm_call: every turn injects active policies + pending approvals + today's action count via Hermes's context-injection contract (5-minute cached)
on_session_start: pre-fetches policy state; the liveness probe verifies the pre_tool_call seam without delaying session start
transform_tool_result: redacts 10 secret-pattern families (Anthropic / OpenAI / AWS / GitHub / Slack / Stripe / JWT / PEM / DashClaw keys) before the model sees tool output
subagent_stop: records every delegate_task child exit as a DashClaw action with action_type=subagent for the subagent-ROI dashboard

Secret redaction

transform_tool_result runs every tool output through the same redaction patterns DashClaw uses in incident reports: Anthropic / OpenAI / AWS / GitHub / Slack / Stripe API keys, JWTs, PEM private-key blocks, and DashClaw keys themselves. Never blocks; just substitutes. CodeQL flags the sys.stdout.write here as clear-text logging because it does not model the redactor as a sanitizer; confirmed false positive.

Backing out

Delete the managed block between the # >>> dashclaw start / # <<< dashclaw end markers in ~/.hermes/config.yaml. A .dashclaw-bak file is left next to the config on first install for full restore.

Discord setup

Discord Developer Portal walkthrough

Create the bot

Open https://discord.com/developers/applications -> New Application
Name the app; skip the Installation tab
Open the "Bot" tab -> Reset Token -> copy as DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN
Open "General Information" -> copy the Public Key as DISCORD_PUBLIC_KEY
Under "Privileged Gateway Intents" leave ALL off (button-only bot)

Invite the bot to a mutual server (so DMs work)

Open "OAuth2" -> URL Generator -> scopes: "bot" -> permissions: "Send Messages"
Paste the URL in a browser, invite the bot to a personal test server
In Discord client, enable Developer Mode (Settings -> Advanced)
Right-click your own user in the member list -> Copy User ID
Paste as DISCORD_APPROVER_USER_ID

Register the interactions endpoint

In "General Information" set: Interactions Endpoint URL: https://<your-deployment>/api/discord/interactions
Discord sends a PING; DashClaw responds {type:1} and the URL saves.

Verify

Trigger a Hermes tool call that hits an approval-required policy
Your phone's Discord app lights up; tap Approve or Deny
The DM edits in place to show APPROVED or DENIED with timestamp