Hermes skill source classification

Use this when hermes skills list shows source=builtin for skills that also exist in local skill directories.

Key finding

Hermes source labeling is name-manifest based:

• if a skill name appears in ~/.hermes/skills/.bundled_manifest, the CLI may label it as builtin
• this can happen even when a local copy exists at ~/.hermes/skills/<category>/<name>/

So builtin does not always mean “no local copy”.

Verification workflow

1. Check label:

hermes skills list --source all | grep -E '<skill-name>'

2. Check bundled manifest hit:

grep -nE '^<skill-name>:' ~/.hermes/skills/.bundled_manifest

3. Check both physical paths:

test -f ~/.hermes/hermes-agent/skills/<category>/<skill-name>/SKILL.md && echo bundled_exists
test -f ~/.hermes/skills/<category>/<skill-name>/SKILL.md && echo local_exists

Sync decision rule

For repo/local sync scripts, do not use only --source local as truth. Use a combined rule:

• source label
• local path existence
• repo path existence

Pitfall

A skill may be misclassified as repo-only if your script trusts source label alone. This can trigger unnecessary sync prompts.