hermes-skills/software-development/adapting-external-skills/references/tool-mapping-table.md

External-to-Hermes Tool Mapping Table

Complete reference for translating tool calls, file paths, and concepts from other agent ecosystems into Hermes-native equivalents.

Tool Name Mappings

Claude Code → Hermes

Claude Code Tool	Hermes Equivalent	Notes
Skill (invoke skill)	skill_view(name=...)	Hermes loads skill content into context
Agent / sub-agent dispatch	delegate_task(goal=..., context=...)	Batch mode: tasks=[...] for parallel
Read / file read	read_file(path=...)	Line-numbered, paginated
Write / file write	write_file(path=..., content=...)	Overwrites entire file
Edit / file edit	patch(mode='replace', path=..., old_string=..., new_string=...)	Fuzzy-matched find-and-replace
Grep / rg	search_files(pattern=..., path=...)	Ripgrep-backed, prefer over shell grep
Glob / find	search_files(pattern=..., target='files')	File discovery by glob
Bash / shell	terminal(command=...)	Persistent cwd, env vars persist
WebSearch	web_search / web_extract	Hermes web tools
Browser / Puppeteer	browser_navigate, browser_click, browser_snapshot	Hermes browser tool suite
TodoWrite	todo(todos=[...])	Task list management
execute_code (Python)	execute_code(code=...)	Same — but delegate_task NOT callable from inside
Vision / image analysis	vision_analyze(image_url=..., question=...)	Load image into conversation
Memory / Remember	memory(action='add', target='memory')	Persistent cross-session memory

Cursor → Hermes

Cursor Concept	Hermes Equivalent	Notes
@codebase context	search_files + read_file	Explicit search, not implicit
@file references	read_file(path=...)	Direct file reads
@web search	web_search
Cursor Rules (.cursorrules)	AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md / skill files	Hermes reads project instruction files
Composer (multi-file edit)	Multiple patch or write_file calls	No single multi-file edit tool

Copilot CLI → Hermes

Copilot Concept	Hermes Equivalent	Notes
@workspace	search_files + read_file
#file references	read_file(path=...)
GitHub Actions integration	terminal with gh CLI	Use github-* skills
Copilot Chat participants	delegate_task subagents	Role-based dispatch

Windsurf → Hermes

Windsurf Concept	Hermes Equivalent	Notes
Cascade (agentic mode)	Main agent loop	Hermes is always agentic
@codebase	search_files + read_file
.windsurfrules	AGENTS.md / skill files

File Path Conversions

External Path	Hermes Equivalent	Notes
docs/plans/	.hermes/plans/	Hermes plan directory (used by plan skill)
docs/solutions/	docs/solutions/	Keep as-is — used by compound-learning skill
docs/specs/	docs/superpowers/specs/	Used by brainstorming skill
STRATEGY.md	STRATEGY.md	Project-level, keep as-is
CONCEPTS.md	CONCEPTS.md	Project-level, keep as-is
CLAUDE.md	AGENTS.md	Hermes reads AGENTS.md (also reads CLAUDE.md for compat)
.cursorrules	AGENTS.md	Convert to Hermes convention
~/.claude/skills/	~/.hermes/skills/	Local skill directory
<repo>/skills/	<repo>/skills/	In-repo skills (same pattern)

Dispatch Mechanism Conversion

External sub-agent patterns → delegate_task

Claude Code pattern:

Dispatch a sub-agent to: [task description]

Hermes equivalent:

delegate_task(
    goal="[task description]",
    context="[background info the subagent needs]",
    toolsets=["terminal", "file"]
)

Parallel dispatch (multiple sub-agents):

delegate_task(tasks=[
    {"goal": "Task A description", "context": "...", "toolsets": ["terminal"]},
    {"goal": "Task B description", "context": "...", "toolsets": ["file"]},
    {"goal": "Task C description", "context": "...", "toolsets": ["web"]},
])

Key differences:

• Hermes delegate_task runs in background — results return as a new message
• Max 3 concurrent children (configurable via delegation.max_concurrent_children)
• Nested delegation is OFF by default (max_spawn_depth=1)
• Subagents CANNOT use: clarify, memory, send_message, execute_code (leaf role)
• Pass ALL context via context field — subagents have NO conversation history

Rendering Conversions

External Pattern	Hermes Equivalent	Notes
HTML artifacts	Markdown tables, code blocks	Remove all HTML
Mermaid diagrams	ASCII art or browser_vision	No native mermaid rendering
React components	Plain markdown	No JSX rendering
Visual mockups	browser_vision screenshots	Take screenshot, attach to context
Syntax highlighting	```language code blocks	Native in markdown

Skill Structure Differences

Element	Claude Code	Hermes
Frontmatter start	--- (same)	--- (same)
Required fields	name, description	name, description
Recommended fields	varies	version, author, license, metadata.hermes.tags, metadata.hermes.related_skills
Description max	varies	1024 chars
File max	varies	100,000 chars
Support files	references/, scripts/	references/, templates/, scripts/, assets/
Skill loading	Skill tool	skill_view(name=...)
Cross-references	implicit	metadata.hermes.related_skills (explicit)

Common Adaptation Pitfalls

1. Forgetting delegate_task is not in execute_code — orchestration of sub-agents must happen from the main conversation, not from Python scripts.
2. Leaving docs/plans/ references — Hermes uses .hermes/plans/. Update all path references.
3. Keeping Skill tool references — replace with skill_view(name=...) throughout.
4. Not updating related_skills — when merging, the existing skill may need new cross-references to newly created skills.
5. Porting bulk instead of concepts — a 60k external skill often has 5k of unique value. Extract the concept, write a concise Hermes-native skill, put detail in references/.
6. HTML/JSX leftovers — remove all non-markdown rendering. Use browser_vision for visual content.
7. Missing verification step — always skill_view after creating/modifying. Broken frontmatter = silent load failure.