hermes-session-maintenance

Inspect, back up, prune, and diagnose Hermes Agent session history stored in SQLite.

115|9|Updated Aug 5, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/AtlasOmnia/donna-starter --skill hermes-session-maintenance-atlasomnia
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent▼
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: hermes-session-maintenance
Source: https://github.com/AtlasOmnia/donna-starter/tree/main/skills/autonomous-ai-agents/hermes-session-maintenance
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/AtlasOmnia/donna-starter --skill hermes-session-maintenance-atlasomnia

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

💡 This Skill includes references (resource) components.

What problem does it solve? Hermes Agent session history grows unbounded in the local SQLite database, consuming gigabytes of disk space, and users lack a safe, verified procedure for pruning old sessions, configuring retention, or diagnosing sessions that burned excessive tokens. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Session Pruning & Retention: Inspect database size with hermes sessions stats, export JSONL backups, and configure sessions.auto_prune with a chosen retention_days window. - Source-Specific Cleanup: Prune CLI and Telegram sessions on different schedules using a cron-driven script, or perform a one-time destructive CLI-only clear directly against state.db. - Session Forensics: Diagnose suspected loops and token burn by querying the sessions and messages tables and correlating with gateway.log delivery patterns. - Use Case: Your Hermes session database has grown to 6.7 GB across 35,000 sessions. Use this Skill to export a backup, enable 30-day auto-prune, run a manual prune, and verify the reclaimed space. ## Quick Start Ask the assistant to check my Hermes session database size and recommend a safe retention and pruning plan.

Frequently Asked Questions about hermes-session-maintenance

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I prune old Hermes Agent sessions?▼

Run `hermes sessions stats` to check volume, export a backup with `hermes sessions export`, then run `hermes sessions prune --older-than 30`. Add `--source cli` to prune only one channel and `--yes` to skip confirmation.

How do I enable automatic session retention in Hermes?▼

Set `hermes config set sessions.auto_prune true` and `hermes config set sessions.retention_days 30`. Note that setting retention_days alone does nothing; auto_prune must be true for automatic deletion to occur.

Can I keep Telegram sessions longer than CLI sessions?▼

Global auto_prune supports only one retention window, so disable it and schedule a cron script that runs `hermes sessions prune --older-than 15 --source cli` and `--older-than 45 --source telegram` separately with no_agent=true.

Why does hermes sessions prune not delete all CLI sessions?▼

The pruner only removes ended sessions; CLI sessions with `ended_at IS NULL` are treated as active and skipped. A one-time full clear requires deleting rows directly in `~/.hermes/state.db` while preserving the newest session, then running VACUUM.

Why did my Hermes session burn so many tokens?▼

Query the sessions and messages tables in state.db for token totals and per-message payload sizes, then check gateway.log for duplicate-send suppression. High input tokens with one inbound message usually indicate an internal tool-call cascade, not a delivery loop.

Does pruning sessions delete my memory, skills, or cron jobs?▼

No. Session pruning only removes session transcripts and state from the database. Memory, skills, cron jobs, notes, and project files are stored separately and remain unaffected.