Guides

Guides

113 published guides. Weight: evidence — the work was tested, the steps are real, and the source notes are honest about what we got wrong on the first try. Use search to narrow, the chips to filter by category, and the sort row to reorder.

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Showing all 113 guides.

  1. 01
    computers

    How to troubleshoot a Cloudflare Tunnel that is not serving your site

    Fact-checked troubleshooting guide for separating local-origin, connector, DNS, and policy-layer failures in a named Cloudflare Tunnel.

    · evidence
  2. 02
    ai

    The four tiers of agent memory (overview)

    A shared vocabulary for memory and a decision rule for which tier to write to at any moment. Start here, then pick a tier to go deeper on.

    · evidence
  3. 03
    ai

    Why every agent needs a cost cap on day one

    Three numbers, one enforcement point, and a hard ceiling before the bill lands. The cheapest pattern that separates an agent you run from one you babysit.

    · evidence
  4. 04
    ai

    Your first local-first agent on a Mac mini in 90 minutes

    Pick an agent and a local model, then walk through 90 minutes yourself or ask the agent to do most of it. Hermes Desktop path + Claude Code + Ollama wiring.

    · evidence
  5. 05
    ai

    Cost-aware model routing for agents

    A three-tier routing decision tree, a 15-line router, an escalation pattern with retry budget, and the cost math showing 70/20/10 split saves ~88% vs all-large.

    · evidence
  6. 06
    ai

    From JSONL to dashboard with zero infra

    Four stages with the exact tool for each: grep + awk, jq + cron, DuckDB, Metabase. Plus the graduation rule for when to upgrade and when to stop.

    · evidence
  7. 07
    ai

    The 1-line observability hook that fits any agent

    A 30-line decorator that wraps every model call, writes JSONL, and answers the four questions you actually ask. The smallest hook that is useful; smaller and you fly blind.

    · evidence
  8. 08
    ai

    The three-phase context loop: grounding, messy middle, landing

    A working frame for thinking about agent prompts as three deliveries, not one — and a checklist for what context belongs in each phase.

    · evidence
  9. 09
    ai

    How to find, download, and evaluate local models on Hermes Agent or OpenClaw

    A repeatable procedure for finding a model that fits your hardware, pulling it down with Ollama, and evaluating it against your own tasks on Hermes or OpenClaw.

    · evidence
  10. 10
    ai

    Tier 1 working memory: prompt hygiene beats size

    Five rules for keeping the model's context window lean — recency is not enough, compress don't copy, de-duplicate by reference, strip the system preamble, drop successful retries.

    · evidence
  11. 11
    ai

    Tier 4 long-term user memory: don't be creepy, be useful

    The rule for what to remember about an operator, the audit pattern, the trimming cadence, the four failure modes, and the legal floor under GDPR right-to-erasure.

    · evidence
  12. 12
    ai

    Tier 3 project memory: the file-based second brain

    Four files that an agent reads at session start — MEMORY, USER, DECISIONS, RUNBOOK — with sharp rules on what belongs in each, when to graduate to a vector DB, and what NOT to put in project memory.

    · evidence
  13. 13
    ai

    Tier 2 session memory: the run log you actually use

    A schema for one-line-per-step JSONL run logs, a directory layout with an index, three small tools that turn the log into something you will actually open, and a what-to-log / what-not-to-log list.

    · evidence
  14. 14
    computers

    GitHub Actions CI for Astro: lint, build, and deploy on every push

    Add a three-job GitHub Actions workflow that checks an Astro site, builds it, and deploys to GitHub Pages whenever main changes.

    · evidence
  15. 15
    computers

    Turn Off Ring Video Descriptions: The Fast Way (and What You're Actually Turning Off)

    A 30-second path to disable Ring's AI-generated Video Descriptions across every camera, plus the per-device path, what the feature does, and who can't see the toggle.

    · evidence
  16. 16
    ai

    AI Coding Is a Nightmare. You're Not the Only One — and There's a Pattern.

    The seven failure modes HN developers are reporting, what the Anthropic 2026 RCT found about AI-assisted coding, and seven interaction patterns that produce better code.

    · evidence
  17. 17
    ai

    Different Ways of Using LLMs for Coding: Eight Patterns Beyond the Prompt-Response Loop

    A field guide to the alternative coding-agent patterns developers are actually using in 2026 — hermetic agents, tab-model editors, literate programming, workboxes, containerized sessions, and more.

    · evidence
  18. 18
    ai

    SEO for AI Answer Engines in 2026: The robots.txt, llms.txt, and Content Decision

    How to be cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google's AI Overviews — the Search/Agent/Training bot taxonomy, llms.txt, and a per-goal decision matrix.

    · evidence
  19. 19
    ai

    AI Model Matrix Quickstart: A Five-Axis, Three-Filter Way to Pick a Model

    Use the ABS Model Matrix to pick an LLM in under two minutes: five axes, three filters, the cheapest-viable heuristic, and a worked Sonnet 4.5 / GPT-5 / M3 / Gemini 2.5 Pro example.

    · evidence
  20. 20
    computers

    ABS Search Bar: The Cheap State Update, Not a Popup

    A single client-side script, four pages, no backend. The ABS search bar filters a JSON index already on the page — sub-50ms on every keystroke, no popup.

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  21. 21
    computers

    Cron Job Prompts That Stay Self-Contained: The Discipline

    A Hermes cron runs in a fresh session with zero memory. Six elements make the prompt self-contained; three anti-patterns break it. Skip any and the job runs but does nothing.

    · evidence
  22. 22
    computers

    Daily Memory Audit and the 4-Step Merge Plan: From Cron Flag to Clean Memory

    Operator playbook for the nightly memory-audit cron: the 4-step merge plan (read / propose / dedupe / commit), the 3 categories of stale memory, and the 5 traps that look mergeable but are not.

    · evidence
  23. 23
    ai

    Gemini 2.5 Flash vs 2.5 Pro vs 1.5 Pro: Which One Should You Use?

    Gemini 2.5 Flash is the cheap workhorse, 2.5 Pro is the reasoning model, and 1.5 Pro is now legacy. Here is the practical capability and cost ladder.

    · evidence
  24. 24
    ai

    GPT-5 vs GPT-5 Mini: When Each Makes Sense

    A practical decision rubric for the OpenAI flagship tier vs the mini tier: per-token cost, the six capability axes, three tasks where mini is wrong, and three where it is right.

    · evidence
  25. 25
    ai

    Hermes Cron Job Authoring: The Shape and the Rules

    A practical Hermes cron playbook: jobs.json fields, supported schedule shapes, a daily-traffic example, and four checks that catch bad jobs before they run.

    · evidence
  26. 26
    computers

    Hermes Curator: The Weekly Lint Gate for Skills and Memory

    Operator playbook for hermes curator as the weekly lint gate: the 13-verb CLI surface, the 4 lint rules (orphan / stale / oversized / duplicate), and the pin-vs-prune decision.

    · evidence
  27. 27
    computers

    Hermes Memory Trim: A Proposal-Only Workflow

    Operator playbook for the weekly memory trim: the proposal-only contract (never mutate), the 4 verdicts and 5 trim candidates, the diff-and-confirm UX, and the 3 verification checks.

    · evidence
  28. 28
    ai

    Hermes Memory: What to Save and What Not To

    Eight-category rule for Hermes MEMORY.md and USER.md: four always-save kinds, four never-save kinds, the 2k-char ceiling, and the Johnny5 routing gate.

    · evidence
  29. 29
    computers

    How to Read an LLM Pricing Table Without Fooling Yourself

    A practical guide to the LLM pricing table: compare input, output, and context window first, then treat cached, batch, and free-tier prices with care.

    · evidence
  30. 30
    ai

    Local LLM with Ollama: The Easy Mode (L7)

    Ollama is the easiest path to a local LLM — three install steps, the 8B/14B/32B/70B shorthand, the q4_K_M / q8_0 / :instruct tag conventions, and the three boxes where it wins and loses.

    · evidence
  31. 31
    ai

    Set Up vLLM on a Single GPU: From Drivers to an OpenAI-Compatible Server

    Install vLLM on one NVIDIA GPU, choose a model that fits, launch its OpenAI-compatible API, and avoid startup and production memory traps.

    · evidence
  32. 32
    ai

    MiniMax M3 vs Haiku 4.5 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash vs GPT-5-mini: The Budget-Tier Map

    Four cheap LLMs compared on the only axes that matter on a budget: input, output, context, and the workloads where each one quietly wins or quietly costs you.

    · evidence
  33. 33
    ai

    Temperature, Top-P, and the Other Sampling Knobs: When to Touch Them and When to Leave Them Alone

    When to touch temperature, top_p, top_k, frequency/presence penalties, max_tokens, and seed — and the default-everything rule that keeps most calls boring.

    · evidence
  34. 34
    ai

    Provider Rate Limits and the Fallback Rule: When Hermes Must Switch vs When It Must Hold

    The three rate-limit shapes (RPM, TPM, RPD), the hermes fallback chain (anthropic → openrouter → local), when the chain fires, and the fallback must never pay twice rule.

    · evidence
  35. 35
    computers

    ABS Chat with Skills and Memory: A Practical Scoping Guide

    Run ABS chat sessions with skills, memory, and fact_store in context, then scope the load when cost, latency, or focus matters.

    · evidence
  36. 36
    computers

    ABS Frontmatter: Required vs Optional Fields, the Rule

    ABS frontmatter is enforced by six Zod validators in src/content.config.ts — title ≤120, description ≤200, four enums, and a URL array. Build fails loudly on violation. Defaults fill the rest.

    · evidence
  37. 37
    computers

    ABS pubDate: Timezone UTC-Only, the Decision

    ABS coerces pubDate to a UTC Date via z.coerce.date() and sorts by epoch ms. Local-clock pubDates are an anti-pattern; DST swaps a post's rank twice a year. The schema, the comparator, the verify.

    · evidence
  38. 38
    computers

    ABS Cron Job Self-Contained Prompts: The Rule

    A Hermes cron prompt runs in a fresh session — no memory of past runs, no inline handoff. Six elements make it self-contained. Skip any one and the job silently returns nothing useful.

    · evidence
  39. 39
    computers

    ABS Regression Suite: Eight Failure Modes and Their Cheap-First Checks

    A troubleshooting reference for the eight ABS regression scripts: what each failure looks like, the cheap-first check before anything else, and the canonical fix.

    · evidence
  40. 40
    computers

    ABS Content Frontmatter: The Canonical Shape

    A field-by-field guide to the canonical ABS post header, including key order, image conventions, valid enums, and the Astro publishing pipeline.

    · evidence
  41. 41
    computers

    Hermes `--resume` vs `--continue`: When Each Fits and the Stale-Session Trap

    When to use `hermes chat --resume <id>` (deterministic) vs `--continue` (convenient): the trade-off, the decision rule, and three stale-session failure shapes.

    · evidence
  42. 42
    computers

    ABS Keyboard Shortcuts: n, r, b (No Prefix)

    ABS ships three single-letter shortcuts, no prefix, no modifiers, no armed state. The bindings, why we left a g-prefix design behind, what we considered and cut, and the skip-rules.

    · evidence
  43. 43
    computers

    Hermes Terminal Output: The 50 KB Cap and the Pipe Fix

    Hermes terminal output can stop before the line you need. Here is how to recognise the 50 KB cap, reduce noisy output, and recover the missing bottom safely.

    · evidence
  44. 44
    computers

    Hermes write_file: When to Write to Which Path, the Rule

    Hermes write_file uses three buckets: /tmp/ for ephemeral scripts, /srv/abs-site/src/ for canonical in-tree files, /opt/data/ for operator scripts and backups. Includes the wrong-path failure shape.

    · evidence
  45. 45
    computers

    Affiliate Link Auto-Tag: On Every Publish, the Rule

    Every review publish runs an affiliate-link-rewrite pass: amazon.com URLs become amzn.to/agenticbotsit-20 tracked. Idempotent, run-at-deploy, audit-visible. Script, verify, failure shapes.

    · evidence
  46. 46
    computers

    ABS Mobile Nav: The Three Rules

    Mobile nav on ABS runs through a drawer (not modal), with aria-expanded state on the toggle, and focus stays trapped inside until closed. The body-scroll-lock and the close behaviors, in three rules.

    · evidence
  47. 47
    computers

    ABS RSS and Reader-Friendly Output: The Decisions

    ABS publishes a single RSS feed at /rss.xml carrying news, reviews, and guides sorted newest first. The autodiscovery link tag, the no-JS reader-friendly HTML pages, and the verify commands.

    · evidence
  48. 48
    computers

    Agents and the Critique Loop: When to Self-Review

    When an agent should self-review before surfacing, when to defer to a steelman judge in a multi-agent swarm, and the four-question self-check that catches the most common regression.

    · evidence
  49. 49
    computers

    Agents and the Deploy Gate: When They Push

    How an agent runs the ABS deploy playbook end-to-end: three-SHA check, regression gate, rsync to webroot, CF cache purge, commit, github push, ship-ready for operator review.

    · evidence
  50. 50
    computers

    ABS Sort Pages: By Grade and Date, the Rules

    ABS review listings default to newest-first; the secondary key is grade. URL params (?sort=grade|oldest|new) reach a /reviews/[sort].astro. The four tie-breakers and why we don't sort by score.

    · evidence
  51. 51
    computers

    Agents and Their Rules of Engagement: No Bulk Surprises

    An agent's contract with the operator: no surprise bulk actions, surface decisions, ask before irreversible changes, quiet mode for crons. Shipping 10 guides unchecked is a broken rule.

    · evidence
  52. 52
    ai

    Anthropic Provider on ABS: Quick Setup and the Cheap Mistakes

    Wiring Anthropic as the primary Hermes provider on ABS: API key, model pin, fallback chain position. Plus the 6 cheap mistakes operators make at setup that compound over months.

    · evidence
  53. 53
    computers

    Building and Deploying an Astro Static Site Behind a Cloudflare Tunnel

    An operator's recipe for taking a static Astro site from `npm run build` to a live URL behind a Cloudflare Tunnel, with rsync, edge cache purges, and the three-SHA deploy gate.

    · evidence
  54. 54
    computers

    ABS Affiliate Link Convention: Voice Note + amzn.to, Built-In Tag

    How the botsitter-review skill handles affiliate links: the voice note + amzn.to input shape, the auto-tag rewrite to agenticbotsit-20 at build, and the rules for writing tag-safe from URLs.

    · evidence
  55. 55
    ai

    Claude Sonnet vs Haiku vs Opus: When to Pick Which

    A practical decision rubric for the Anthropic Claude tiers: per-tier cost, speed, capability, and a 7-row table mapping everyday tasks to the right model.

    · evidence
  56. 56
    computers

    Cloudflare Access Policies for Internal Tools

    Put Cloudflare Access (Zero Trust) in front of an internal tool: app definition, Allow policy bound to an email domain, service-token back door for crons, and the audit log to subscribe to.

    · evidence
  57. 57
    computers

    Cloudflare Edge Cache: Purging Without Stale 404 Leaks

    How to purge CF edge cache so a deploy doesn't serve 404s to users mid-flight: ordered purge, HTML-first then assets, deployment window, and verification probes.

    · evidence
  58. 58
    computers

    Cloudflare HSTS Preload: The Hard-to-Undo Directive

    HSTS preload pins your domain into the browser-shipped list. Once on hstspreload.org, removing the entry takes 6-12 weeks to reach Chrome and Firefox. Avoid shipping it prematurely.

    · evidence
  59. 59
    computers

    Cloudflare Tunnel: Adding Multiple Hostnames Without Breaking the Others

    How to put several public hostnames on a single Cloudflare Tunnel: cloudflared tunnel route dns per hostname, ingress rule order, incremental test pattern, and the catch-all 404 fallback.

    · evidence
  60. 60
    computers

    Cloudflare Tunnel: When the Daemon Dies, How to Recover (cfOrigin;dur=122)

    Diagnose and recover a broken Cloudflare Tunnel: cloudflared is up but origin is silent, cfOrigin;dur=N ms traps, tunnel info diff, restart workflow, and what NOT to try before a restart.

    · evidence
  61. 61
    computers

    Cron Watchdogs vs Cron Monitors: When Each Fits and the Silent-Watchdog Trap

    The semantic gap between watchdogs (fix-then-alert) and monitors (alert-only), the 3 shapes where a monitor is right, and the 3 shapes where a watchdog is the only correct choice.

    · evidence
  62. 62
    computers

    First-Hand Versus Research-Only Product Reviews: The ABS Editorial Bar

    The ABS editorial bar is first-hand: did the operator actually use the product, in what setting, compared to what. Research-only reviews don't ship. The botsitter-review skill enforces the line.

    · evidence
  63. 63
    computers

    Git Commands an AI Agent Should Know

    The ~15 git commands an agent uses in 95% of work, the failure modes for each, and the discipline that keeps an agent's git history clean.

    · evidence
  64. 64
    computers

    Git Commit and Push as the Deploy Gate: The ABS Convention

    Why the live ABS site only deploys when local/origin/github are on the same commit. What this convention prevents, what it doesn't, and the post-receive hook that enforces it.

    · evidence
  65. 65
    computers

    Hermes Agent Cron Jobs: Authoring, Scheduling, and the Self-Contained Prompt Rule

    Author Hermes cron jobs that survive a fresh session: prompt self-containment, schedule patterns, dry-run, pause/resume, run-once, and the difference between agent and no_agent modes.

    · evidence
  66. 66
    computers

    Connecting Hermes Agent to Telegram: A First-Time Setup Guide

    Step-by-step setup of the Hermes messaging gateway for Telegram: BotFather token, allow-list, home chat ID, and proof that the first message actually arrives back in the chat.

    · evidence
  67. 67
    computers

    Hermes Agent Gateway: When Messages Don't Arrive

    A troubleshooting reference for the Hermes messaging gateway: token/allow-list, adapter, runtime, routing — separating failures by cheap-first check order when the bot doesn't respond.

    · evidence
  68. 68
    computers

    Hermes Agent Memory vs Skills: Where Things Belong

    A practical decision rule for the four Hermes storage surfaces — memory, skills, fact_store, session handoff — so durable preferences land in memory and procedures land in skills.

    · evidence
  69. 69
    computers

    Hermes Agent on a VPS: Hostinger, DigitalOcean, or Vultr First-Run Setup

    Step-by-step setup of Hermes Agent on a Linux VPS: SSH key, non-root user, Python 3.11, Ubuntu 22.04 base, cloudflared install, and the first 'Reply with OK' chat.

    · evidence
  70. 70
    computers

    Hermes Agent on Your Local PC: Windows, Linux, macOS, and WSL2

    How to install Hermes Agent on a workstation: native macOS, native Linux, Windows via WSL2, and what changes vs the VPS path.

    · evidence
  71. 71
    computers

    Hermes Agent Plugins: The Shape, the Register Entry Point, and How to Test Locally

    How to author a Hermes plugin: the directory layout, the register(ctx) entry point, three real plugin examples on this build, and how to test a plugin locally before installing.

    · evidence
  72. 72
    ai

    Hermes Agent Provider: Anthropic API (Claude family — Slack-bot, Computer-Use)

    Wiring Anthropic as a Hermes provider: API key from console.anthropic.com, the -latest model-pin rule, model-name quick-reference for the Claude family, and the Slack-bot and Computer-Use use cases.

    · evidence
  73. 73
    ai

    Hermes Agent Provider: Gemini (Google AI Studio, 2M-Token Context King)

    Wiring Google Gemini on Hermes: API key from Google AI Studio, the model family (2.5 Pro, 3 Flash, 3.5 Pro), the 2M-token context window as the standout strength, and the verify pattern.

    · evidence
  74. 74
    ai

    Hermes Agent Provider: Local OpenAI-Compatible (vLLM, Ollama, LM Studio)

    Wire any OpenAI-compatible local server as a Hermes provider: the --base-url pattern, three case studies, and the token-budget trade-off.

    · evidence
  75. 75
    ai

    Hermes Agent Provider: MiniMax M3 (Direct, Not Via OpenRouter)

    Wiring MiniMax M3 as a Hermes provider: API key from MiniMax / MiniMax API, the literal model string MiniMax-M3, direct access (not via OpenRouter), and the live senior-dev profile today.

    · evidence
  76. 76
    ai

    Hermes Agent Provider: Nous Portal (Hermes-4-70B, Hermes-4-405B, First-Class)

    Wiring the first-class nous provider on Hermes v0.18.2 — hermes chat --setup nous, the Portal OAuth/API-key exchange, Hermes-4-70B and Hermes-4-405B, and how it differs from MiniMax and OpenRouter.

    · evidence
  77. 77
    ai

    Hermes Agent Provider: OpenAI and Codex Auth (GPT + Image Gen)

    Wiring OpenAI on Hermes: API key path (per-token), Codex OAuth path (subscription-based, drives image gen too), dashboard-vs-realtime usage trap, 14-day OAuth refresh.

    · evidence
  78. 78
    ai

    Hermes Agent Provider: OpenRouter for Cross-Vendor A/B Tests (and as a Cost Audit)

    When and how to wire OpenRouter as a fallback into Hermes: model strings, cost audit use case, fallback chain position. OpenRouter is a cross-vendor search and budget audit, not a primary.

    · evidence
  79. 79
    computers

    Hermes Agent: Switching Providers Mid-Run When a Provider Fails

    How to detect and recover from a mid-task provider failure (Anthropic 529, OpenAI 429, local Ollama OOM): the symptom per provider, the runtime fallback, and the override path.

    · evidence
  80. 80
    computers

    Hermes Agent Sessions: Listing, Searching, Resuming, and Continuing

    How Hermes persists sessions: what `hermes sessions list --source` shows, when to use --resume vs --continue, and how to grep old sessions via the SQLite store.

    · evidence
  81. 81
    ai

    Picking a Model Provider for Hermes Agent: A First-Run Decision Guide

    How to choose between Nous Portal, OpenRouter, Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, MiniMax, and local OpenAI-compatible endpoints for Hermes Agent. Compares auth paths, costs, and capability tradeoffs.

    · evidence
  82. 82
    computers

    Hermes Agent Skills: Authoring, Curating, and the Frontmatter Rules

    Where skills live, the SKILL.md frontmatter fields, the cross_profile flag and pinning, when to update vs add a new skill, and how curator catches drift in the weekly sweep.

    · evidence
  83. 83
    computers

    Hermes Agent Tools: Enabling Only What You Need

    A practical guide to Hermes' toolsets: how to list them, enable what you actually use, scope per-call via --toolsets, and avoid loading the full platform surface by default.

    · evidence
  84. 84
    computers

    Hermes Agent: Updating Without Breaking Running Crons or the Live Gateway

    How to bring upstream Hermes commits in safely: the 10 active jobs to inventory, the pre-update disable list, the post-update smoke-test pattern, and the rollback rule.

    · evidence
  85. 85
    computers

    Hermes Agent CLI Tools: List and What Each One Does

    The Hermes Agent CLI surface today: chat, config, sessions list --source, cron, skills, plugins, memory, fact_store, curator. The --toolsets flag for per-call scoped tool loading.

    · evidence
  86. 86
    computers

    Hermes Agent on a Mac mini M4 (or other Apple Silicon Macs)

    How to install Hermes Agent on macOS: Homebrew for Python 3.11, Xcode CLI tools, launchd for cron, Ollama for local inference, and Apple Silicon-specific gotchas.

    · evidence
  87. 87
    computers

    Hermes Context Window: Budgeting for Long Sessions

    How to keep a long Hermes session productive: per-tool, per-skill, per-conversation-history budgets. What to keep, what to compress, what to drop. Operator discipline for long sessions.

    · evidence
  88. 88
    computers

    Hermes Output: Streaming vs Final Blocks, When to Pick Which

    Hermes output arrives two ways: streamed token-by-token, or as a single final block. Each fits different surfaces — CLI, Telegram, mobile push, automation logs. The matrix of when to pick which.

    · evidence
  89. 89
    computers

    Hermes Skills vs Memory vs Fact Store: The Storage Decision

    Three storage surfaces, three jobs. Use this duration / reuse / scope rubric to put a fact in the right place, plus the bad-shape markers that tell you the rubric is failing.

    · evidence
  90. 90
    computers

    Hermes Protocol: The System Prompt, the Context Window, and the Rule Boundary

    What lives in the system prompt vs in the context window vs in user-side memory: how Hermes treats the instruction hierarchy, what travels where, and what the operator's contract actually is.

    · evidence
  91. 91
    computers

    How an AI Agent Reads a Multi-Message Input Batch

    When the operator sends multiple messages at once, the agent concatenates them into context with timestamps. A multi-message batch is one turn, not a multi-turn dialogue. The P43 rule.

    · evidence
  92. 92
    computers

    How an AI Agent Reads Your Memory on the Next Turn

    Memory is loaded at session start, not mid-session; conversation history is in-memory and dies with the session. The full disk-to-context read path and the curation discipline that keeps memory clean.

    · evidence
  93. 93
    gadgets

    Image Style: The Retro-Robot Motif (Locked Style Block)

    The locked prompt prefix behind every ABS featured illustration: crimson + electric blue on warm cream, comic-book outlines, friendly retro robot, 16:9, no text. The canonical style block.

    · evidence
  94. 94
    computers

    Image Gen Failover Chain: In Priority Order

    When the openai plugin is degraded, ABS failover chain is: openai (real key) → cached PNG set → cache-bust query string → text-only social card. Each step's trigger and verify.

    · evidence
  95. 95
    computers

    Image Gen: OpenAI Backend (Real Key, Not Codex OAuth)

    The working image-gen backend for ABS: the openai Python package driven by OPENAI_API_KEY, the model gpt-image-2-medium, ~$0.04 per 1024x1024 image, and why openai-codex OAuth is broken.

    · evidence
  96. 96
    ai

    OpenAI Provider on ABS: Quick Setup, API Key vs Codex OAuth

    Wiring OpenAI on Hermes Agent: the API key path (paid per-token), the Codex OAuth path (subscription-based, also drives image gen), when to pick which, and the dashboard-vs-realtime usage trap.

    · evidence
  97. 97
    computers

    Pause and Resume Hermes Cron Jobs Without Deleting History

    Why `hermes cron pause <id>` and `hermes cron resume <id>` beat `remove` for three operator cases. `paused_at` is added; prompt and history are preserved. Verified against 35 paused jobs on this VPS.

    · evidence
  98. 98
    ai

    Picking the Default LLM for the Botsitter-Review Skill

    How to pick the default LLM for the botsitter-review skill: a four-axis decision (cost, latency, instruction following, context), per-skill alternates, and the live AI Model Matrix as the price list.

    · evidence
  99. 99
    computers

    Publishing a Product Review on Agentic Bot Sitter, End-to-End

    The complete review-publishing loop on ABS: voice note + amzn.to → draft → image gen → WebP → build → rsync → CF purge → commit → push → three-SHA → live.

    · evidence
  100. 100
    computers

    Python Venv on This VPS: The Conventions

    The canonical Python venv on this VPS is /opt/hermes/.venv/ with Python 3.11. Library surface today: openai 2.33.0, requests, pillow, ruff. Why we never call system python3 for agent scripts.

    · evidence
  101. 101
    ai

    Review Publishing Pipeline: The Voice Note to Post Chain

    The seven-stage review-publishing pipeline: voice note + amzn.to URL in, post out. Capture, STT, first-pass draft, review pass, image gen, commit, ship. Each stage's failure shape and verify.

    · evidence
  102. 102
    computers

    Static Site Deploy: rsync, Cloudflare Purge, CDN Cache — The 3-Step Loop

    The static-site deploy loop and what each step does: rsync dist/ to the webroot, ordered CF purge (HTML -> ASSETS -> BUNDLE), then verify. Plus failure shapes and the order that minimizes 404 leaks.

    · evidence
  103. 103
    computers

    Search the Codebase Before Fixing Anything

    Before fixing any bug, search the codebase for prior attempts, related patterns, and existing utilities. The agent's most expensive mistake is fixing the wrong layer. A 4-step search workflow.

    · evidence
  104. 104
    computers

    site-watchdog-sweep: Every 5min, the Consolidation Story

    Why one Python sweeper replaced five separate 5min watchdogs, what its six checks actually probe, and how it stays silent when the operator surface is healthy and only shouts when something is red.

    · evidence
  105. 105
    computers

    Terminal Commands Versus Python: When an Agent Should Write a Script

    When to use one-liner terminal commands and when to write a 5-line Python script. The trade-off is readability and verifiability, not tool sophistication. Five signals that tip the choice.

    · evidence
  106. 106
    computers

    Terminal Commands Versus Python: When an Agent Should Write a Script

    When to use one-liner terminal commands and when to write a 5-line Python script. The trade-off is readability and verifiability, not tool sophistication. Five signals that tip the choice.

    · evidence
  107. 107
    computers

    Three-SHA Check: Asserting local == origin == github == the Commit Going Live

    The bash assertion that runs before every ABS deploy: Local and origin and github must all carry the same commit SHA as the change about to ship. Failure shapes and the auto-repair pattern for each.

    · evidence
  108. 108
    computers

    Tmp Folder vs Write_file: The Rule

    When the agent writes to /tmp/ vs when to use write_file: long scripts (>300 lines) go to /tmp/, short content uses write_file. The bash heredoc trap and the agent-tool boundary.

    · evidence
  109. 109
    computers

    Voice Note to Published Review: The Input, the Pipeline, the Output

    From a 60-second voice memo to a live ABS review: transcription, draft, image, build, deploy. What arrives in the voice note, what comes out the other side, what the operator does in between.

    · evidence
  110. 110
    computers

    WebP and PNG on the Same Deploy: The P42 Rule

    P42: every ABS featured image deploys as both PNG and WebP in the same cycle. CF serves WebP via Accept-header; the PNG is canonical. The script, the 4h cache quirk, and the verify pattern.

    · evidence
  111. 111
    computers

    WebP Companion Images for Static Sites: A Sibling PNG+WebP Pattern

    How to ship a PNG and a WebP companion for every static-site image with Pillow's quality=82, method=4, plus the <picture> helper that lets browsers pick the lighter file.

    · evidence
  112. 112
    computers

    Cloudflare Tunnel Setup for a Static Site Without Opening Any Ports — Setup Guide

    Fact-checked Setup guide for installing cloudflared, creating a named tunnel, routing a hostname, and verifying from the public internet.

    · evidence
  113. 113
    computers

    How to Set Up Hermes Agent Without Turning Everything On at Once

    Setup guide for Hermes Agent: install the CLI, prove a plain chat works, then layer on tools, memory, skills, and messaging only after the base is healthy.

    · evidence

Drafts under review

Newest guides start as drafts here so you can read them on the website before they go into the main feed. Each draft has a source-notes page with the original claim audit. The main feed (above) auto-shows anything that has been promoted to a published guide.