docs(hermes-v12): release notes + CLAUDE.md polish (Phase I)

Adds releases/v2.6.0/RELEASE_NOTES.md covering every Phase A-H surface
(Curator, multimodal image input, 5 new providers, Skills v0.12,
Settings deltas, Cron workdir, Teams + Yuanbao, read-only Kanban, iOS
read-only Webhooks/Plugins/Profiles, version banner, internal
capability detector). Drops a paragraph at the top noting Hermes
v0.11 hosts continue to work — every new surface is gated on
HermesCapabilities so v2.6 against v0.11 looks identical to v2.5.2
against v0.11.

Polishes CLAUDE.md inaccuracies introduced in Phase A's first pass:

- ACP image wire shape: corrected to {"type":"image","data":...,"mimeType":...}
  (matches acp.schema.ImageContentBlock); previous Anthropic-style
  source: {type: base64, ...} sketch was wrong.
- Cron --context-from: clarified that Hermes hasn't exposed it as a
  CLI flag yet (read-only via HermesCronJob.contextFrom), only
  --workdir is writable.
- hermes memory setup: noted that the interactive verb stays in
  Terminal (no in-app shellout); Settings → Memory just exposes the
  provider picker.
- Skills surface: more precise about which CLI verbs back the Mac UI
  affordances and why the disable-toggle is deferred to v2.7.

215 ScarfCore tests green; both Mac and iOS schemes build clean. Wiki
update + the actual release.sh ship are deferred to the user's
typical release-prep flow (the wiki repo is a separate worktree
that needs scripts/wiki.sh pull/commit/push, and release.sh expects
a clean working tree pointed at main).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

CLAUDE.md

@@ -123,14 +123,14 @@ Targets Hermes v2026.4.30 (v0.12.0). Log lines may carry an optional `[session_i
 - **5 new inference providers** — GMI Cloud, Azure AI Foundry, LM Studio (upgraded to first-class), MiniMax OAuth, Tencent Tokenhub. Mirrored in `ModelCatalogService.overlayOnlyProviders`; the model picker reaches all of them automatically.
 - **`flush_memories` aux task removed** — `auxiliary.flush_memories` is gone from Hermes config. Scarf's `AuxiliarySettings.flushMemories` field is dropped; `HermesCapabilities.hasFlushMemoriesAux` returns `true` only on pre-v0.12 hosts so the row stays visible there.
 - **`auxiliary.curator` aux task added** — Curator's review model is configurable independently of the main model. Surfaced in `Settings → Auxiliary` next to the other aux rows.
-- **Multimodal ACP `session/prompt`** — ACP advertises and forwards image content blocks. Scarf chat composers (Mac drag/drop + paste; iOS PhotosPicker + camera) attach images that flow through `ACPClient.sendPrompt` as `[{type: "text"...}, {type: "image", source: {type: "base64", ...}}]`. Gated on `HermesCapabilities.hasACPImagePrompts`.
+- **Multimodal ACP `session/prompt`** — ACP advertises and forwards image content blocks. Scarf chat composers (Mac drag/drop + paste; iOS PhotosPicker) attach images that flow through `ACPClient.sendPrompt(sessionId:text:images:)` as `[{"type":"text","text":...}, {"type":"image","data":"<base64>","mimeType":"image/jpeg"}]` — wire shape matches `acp.schema.ImageContentBlock`. `ImageEncoder` downsamples to 1568px long-edge JPEG q=0.85 detached (never blocks MainActor). Gated on `HermesCapabilities.hasACPImagePrompts`.
 - **CLI additions:** `hermes -z <prompt>` (non-interactive one-shot), `hermes update --check` (preflight), `hermes fallback` (manage fallback providers), `hermes curator` (status / run / pause / resume / pin / unpin / restore), `hermes kanban` (full task-board CLI; multi-profile collab was reverted upstream so Scarf ships a read-only Kanban view only). All capability-gated.
-- **Skills surface:** `hermes skills install <https-url>` direct-URL install (SkillsView "Install from URL…" toolbar button), `/reload-skills` slash command (Skills view "Reload" button), `hermes skills list` enabled/disabled status (per-row toggle), Curator pin badge (driven from `hermes curator status`).
+- **Skills surface:** `hermes skills install <https-url>` direct-URL install (SkillsView "Install from URL…" toolbar button), reload via `hermes skills audit` (Skills "Reload" button — equivalent to the `/reload-skills` slash command for non-ACP contexts), enabled/disabled state read from `skills.disabled` in config.yaml (rendered as strikethrough + "OFF" pill), Curator pin badge from `~/.hermes/skills/.curator_state` (rendered as a pin glyph). The disable-toggle write path is deferred to v2.7 — Hermes only exposes `hermes skills config` as an interactive verb, and Scarf prefers reading accurately to risking a clobbered list.
 - **Two new gateway platforms:** Microsoft Teams (19th, plugin-shipped) + Tencent 元宝 / Yuanbao (18th, native). Surfaced in the Mac Platforms tab.
-- **Cron upgrades:** per-job `--workdir` (project-aware cwd) and `--context-from` (chain outputs from another job). Editor sheet adds Project picker + dependency dropdown.
+- **Cron upgrades:** per-job `--workdir <abs-path>` (project-aware cwd that pulls AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md / .cursorrules) is exposed in the editor sheet. Hermes also added a `context_from` field for chaining cron outputs but only via YAML so far — Scarf reads it (HermesCronJob.contextFrom) but doesn't write it.
 - **Settings deltas:** `prompt_caching.cache_ttl` (5m/1h picker), `redaction.enabled` toggle (off-by-default in v0.12 — toggle restores it), `agent.runtime_metadata_footer` toggle, Piper added to TTS provider list, `vercel` added to terminal backend list.
 - **Bundled plugins:** Spotify, Google Meet, Langfuse observability, hermes-achievements (visible in Plugins tab).
-- **`hermes memory` providers:** honcho, openviking, mem0, hindsight, holographic, retaindb, byterover. `Settings → Memory` per-provider "Setup…" button shells out to `hermes memory setup <provider>`.
+- **`hermes memory` providers:** honcho, openviking, mem0, hindsight, holographic, retaindb, byterover. `Settings → Memory` lists all providers in the picker; the existing "Run `hermes memory setup` in Terminal" hint stays — `hermes memory setup` is interactive (asks for tokens) so an in-app shellout would surface a frozen UI.
 - **Schema is unchanged from v0.11** — same state.db columns (`messages.reasoning_content`, `sessions.api_call_count` introduced in v0.11 remain). No migration needed.
 
 **v2026.4.23 (v0.11.0)** added (historical context, still consumed by Scarf when running against a pre-v0.12 host):

releases/v2.6.0/RELEASE_NOTES.md

@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+## What's in 2.6.0
+
+A major release tracking **Hermes v2026.4.30 (v0.12.0)** — the largest single Hermes update Scarf has had to follow since v0.10's Tool Gateway. Headline additions: the autonomous **Curator**, **multimodal image input** in chat, **5 new inference providers**, **Microsoft Teams + Yuanbao** gateway platforms, a **read-only Kanban** view, and ScarfGo gains read-only Webhooks/Plugins/Profiles plus a Hermes-version banner.
+
+Pre-v0.12 Hermes hosts are fully supported. Every new surface is gated on a runtime capability detector (`hermes --version` → semver), so users on older Hermes installs see the v2.5 surface unchanged. UI doesn't appear until the underlying CLI subcommand exists.
+
+### Curator (Mac + iOS)
+
+Hermes v0.12's autonomous skill curator prunes / consolidates / archives agent-created skills on a 7-day schedule. Scarf adds a dedicated **Curator** sidebar item under Interact (Mac) and a Curator nav row under the System tab (iOS).
+
+- **Status panel** — enabled/paused/disabled badge, last-run timestamp, last summary, run count, scheduling cadence (interval / stale-after / archive-after).
+- **Run Now** button triggers `hermes curator run`; pause/resume from the kebab menu.
+- **Three leaderboards** — least-recently-active, most-active, least-active. Each row carries activity / use / view / patch counters and an inline pin toggle.
+- **Pin / unpin** — pinned skills are protected from auto-archive and rewrites. State pulled from `~/.hermes/skills/.curator_state` and surfaced as a pin glyph everywhere skills appear (Curator screen, Skills sidebar/list, SkillDetailView).
+- **Restore archived** sheet calls `hermes curator restore <name>` to bring a previously-archived skill back.
+- **Last report Markdown** — when present, the previous run's REPORT.md renders inline in mono.
+
+Capability-gated; sidebar item disappears on pre-v0.12 hosts.
+
+### Multimodal image input in chat (Mac + iOS)
+
+Hermes v0.12 advertises `prompt_capabilities.image = true` on ACP and accepts image content blocks in `session/prompt`. Scarf wires the producer side on both targets:
+
+- **Mac**: paperclip toolbar button on the chat composer opens NSOpenPanel multi-pick. Drag-and-drop and paste also work — drop an image (or a Finder file URL) onto the composer and it attaches. Capability-gated; the entire attachment surface is hidden on pre-v0.12 hosts.
+- **iOS**: paperclip button opens PhotosPicker (multi-select up to 5 photos). Same byte-for-byte capability gate.
+- **ImageEncoder** downsamples to 1568px long-edge (Anthropic's recommended ceiling) at JPEG q=0.85, so a 12 MP screenshot lands under ~300 KB on the wire. Detached only — never blocks MainActor.
+- **Image-only sends are valid** — once at least one attachment is queued, the send button enables even with empty text. Vision models accept "describe this" with no caption.
+- **Per-attachment chips** above the input field with thumbnail + filename tooltip + X to remove. 5-image-per-message cap; total payload stays under ~2 MB so cellular sends don't time out.
+
+Hermes routes the resulting prompt to a vision-capable model automatically — no extra Scarf-side work to pick the right aux model.
+
+### 5 new inference providers (Mac + iOS)
+
+Five overlay-only providers added to `ModelCatalogService.overlayOnlyProviders`. The model picker reaches all of them; provider IDs match `HERMES_OVERLAYS` in `hermes_cli/providers.py` exactly so a typo here doesn't strand users with an unreachable provider.
+
+- **GMI Cloud** (api_key) — `https://api.gmi-serving.com/v1`
+- **Azure AI Foundry** (api_key) — base URL resolved from `AZURE_FOUNDRY_BASE_URL` per tenant
+- **LM Studio** (api_key, first-class) — promoted from custom-endpoint alias to a real provider; defaults to `http://127.0.0.1:1234/v1`
+- **MiniMax (OAuth)** (oauth_external) — `https://api.minimax.io/anthropic`
+- **Tencent TokenHub** (api_key) — base URL resolved from `TOKENHUB_BASE_URL`
+
+### `auxiliary.curator` aux task (Mac)
+
+Hermes removed `auxiliary.flush_memories` entirely in v0.12 (the underlying memory pipeline was rewritten) and added `auxiliary.curator` so the curator's review fork can run on a separate model from the main agent. Settings → Auxiliary now surfaces a Curator row when the active host is v0.12+ (gated on `HermesCapabilities.hasCuratorAux`); the obsolete Flush Memories panel is gone.
+
+The Tool Gateway health view in HealthView lost the flushMemories-routes-through-Nous row and gained a curator row, matching the new aux task list.
+
+### Skills v0.12 surface (Mac + iOS)
+
+Three new capabilities Scarf can now reach:
+
+- **Direct-URL install** — `hermes skills install <https-url>` lets users pull a one-off skill without going through a registry. Mac SkillsView gains an "Install from URL…" toolbar button (capability-gated) opening a sheet with the URL field plus optional `--category` / `--name` overrides.
+- **Reload** — `hermes skills audit` rescans the skills directory and refreshes the agent's view without a session restart. Wired to a "Reload" toolbar button next to the install button on Mac.
+- **Enabled / disabled state** — `skills.disabled` in config.yaml is read at scan time. Disabled skills render strikethrough + an "OFF" pill on Mac and iOS rows; iOS detail view explains the state in plain text.
+- **Curator pin badge** — pinned-skill names from `~/.hermes/skills/.curator_state` surface as a pin glyph on each row across Mac sidebar and iOS list, plus an explanatory chip on iOS detail view.
+
+The disable-toggle write path is deferred to v2.7 — Hermes only exposes `hermes skills config` as an interactive verb today, and we'd rather read accurately than risk clobbering the user's list with a half-tested write.
+
+### Cron — `--workdir` flag (Mac)
+
+Hermes v0.12 cron jobs accept `--workdir <absolute-path>` to inject AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md / .cursorrules from that directory and pin cwd for terminal/file/code_exec tools. Scarf's CronJobEditor now has a Workdir field; both create and edit paths forward the flag. Existing v0.11 jobs keep the no-cwd behaviour by leaving the field blank.
+
+The `context_from` chaining field is read-only from Scarf this round (Hermes hasn't exposed a `--context-from` CLI flag yet, only YAML).
+
+### Microsoft Teams + Yuanbao (Mac)
+
+Two new gateway platforms. Microsoft Teams (the 19th platform) ships as a plugin; Yuanbao 元宝 (the 18th) is a native gateway adapter. Both surface in the Platforms tab with read-only setup panels — the OAuth dance for Yuanbao and the plugin install for Teams happen outside Scarf.
+
+### Read-only Kanban (Mac)
+
+Hermes v0.12 ships a SQLite-backed multi-tenant task board with a full CLI (`hermes kanban create / list / claim / dispatch / …`). The multi-profile *collaboration* layer was reverted upstream while the design is reworked, so v2.6 ships a **read-only** Kanban view: paginated table of `hermes kanban list --json` filtered by status, with status badges, meta chips (id / assignee / workspace / skills), and per-row metadata. 5-second polling while the view is foregrounded; suspended on disappear.
+
+Create / claim / dispatch UI is deferred until upstream stabilizes — building the editor now would risk rework on a quarter-out timeline.
+
+### Settings deltas (Mac)
+
+A new **Caching & Redaction** section under Settings → Advanced with three v0.12 knobs (gated on capability):
+
+- **Prompt cache TTL** picker — 5m default / 1h opt-in. Reduces cache writes on long agent loops with stable system prompts.
+- **Redact secrets in patches** toggle — Hermes flipped this off by default in v0.12 because the substitution corrupted patches; security-sensitive users can flip it back on here.
+- **Runtime metadata footer** toggle — opt-in compact footer on each final reply (provider/model/cost/turn count).
+
+TTS provider list gains **piper** (native local TTS engine new in v0.12). Terminal backend list gains **vercel** (Vercel Sandbox backend for execute_code/terminal). Both ride along unconditionally — Hermes silently falls back when an older host doesn't recognize the value.
+
+### iOS catch-up — Webhooks / Plugins / Profiles (read-only)
+
+Three new System-tab nav rows in ScarfGo, all read-only:
+
+- **Webhooks** — list of `hermes webhook list` output with description / deliver / events / route per row. "Platform not enabled" detection so a freshly-installed Hermes shows setup guidance instead of error noise.
+- **Plugins** — filesystem-first scan over `~/.hermes/plugins/` with manifest reads (plugin.json or plugin.yaml). Enabled/disabled badge, version, source, path.
+- **Profiles** — `hermes profile list` with active-profile highlighting from `~/.hermes/active_profile`. Tolerant of both Rich box-drawn and plain-text outputs.
+
+None of the three are capability-gated — the underlying list verbs work on both v0.11 and v0.12. Create / edit / delete remain Mac-only since they touch enough state we keep them off the phone.
+
+### Hermes-version banner (iOS)
+
+Yellow banner at the top of the Dashboard tab when the active server is pre-v0.12. Lists the v0.12 capabilities the user is missing out on (curator, multimodal image input, new providers); one-tap session-dismiss; reappears on next app open. Hidden entirely on v0.12+ hosts.
+
+### Internal — version-aware capability detection
+
+The foundation of every gated surface above:
+
+- `HermesCapabilities` value type parses `Hermes Agent v0.12.0 (2026.4.30)` from `hermes --version` output. Exposes booleans for each release-gated UI surface (`hasCurator`, `hasACPImagePrompts`, `hasKanban`, `hasOneShot`, `hasSkillURLInstall`, `hasFallbackCommand`, `hasUpdateCheck`, `hasPiperTTS`, `hasVercelTerminal`, `hasCuratorAux`, `hasTeamsPlatform`, `hasYuanbaoPlatform`, `hasCronWorkdir`, `hasPromptCacheTTL`, `hasRedactionToggle`, `hasFlushMemoriesAux`).
+- `HermesCapabilitiesStore` (`@Observable @MainActor`) caches per-server capabilities. Injected on `ContextBoundRoot` (Mac) and `ScarfGoTabRoot` (iOS) via `.environment(_:)` and `.hermesCapabilities(_:)`.
+- 12 parser tests + 6 curator-output parser tests lock the v0.12 / v0.11 / fallback flag matrices.
+
+### Bug fixes
+
+- **Test target compile** — `M5FeatureVMTests.ScriptedTransport` had drifted off the `ServerTransport` protocol after `cachedSnapshotPath` landed in v2.5.2; added the missing stub. `M0dViewModelsTests` got the `ConnectionStatusViewModel.Status.degraded` argument-name update. `CredentialPoolsGatingTests` got the missing `import ScarfCore`. The full `swift test` suite now runs (and passes — 215 tests across 17 suites).
+- **iOS package compile** — `RemoteBackupService.zipDirectory` and `RemoteRestoreService.unzipArchive` used `Foundation.Process` unconditionally, breaking the iOS build entirely (Process is unavailable on the iOS SDK). Wrapped in `#if !os(iOS)` with iOS stubs that throw — backup/restore is Mac-only by design.
+
+### Hermes version
+
+Targets Hermes **v2026.4.30 (v0.12.0)**. v2026.4.23 (v0.11.0) hosts continue to work — every v0.12 surface is gated on capability detection, so Scarf v2.6 against v0.11 looks identical to Scarf v2.5.2 against v0.11. Update Hermes (`hermes update`) to unlock the new surfaces.
+
+### Compatibility
+
+- macOS 14+ (unchanged)
+- iOS 17+ (unchanged)
+- Hermes v0.11+ for the v2.5 surface; v0.12+ for the new features above.
+- No data migrations.