witcheer's Wingtips #78: approvals.smart_policy, your own rules for the command reviewer

Republished in his own words, with credit.

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#78 · approvals.smart_policy, your own rules for the command reviewer

· Security & approvals · CLI / Desktop / Gateway

when Hermes Agent wants to run a terminal command that looks risky, a second model reviews it first. it reads the command and answers with one word: approve, deny, or escalate, which means ask you.

this key lets you add your own rules to that reviewer's instructions.

"always escalate anything that modifies /etc." "approve docker compose restarts in ~/deploys, they are routine here."

your rules are read as instructions from you, never as part of the command it is judging.

approvals:
  smart_policy: |
    Always ESCALATE commands that modify anything under /etc.

empty by default. the reviewer itself is on by default (approvals.mode: smart).

docs: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/configuration#smart-approvals

All tips are written by witcheer and collected here with credit. Card images stay on his X posts.

witcheer says each tip ran on a real Hermes box before it shipped. Hermes changes fast, so check your version and the linked doc.