The Clearinghouse Log

How to see which project file loaded before you edit AGENTS.md

Type /context in the project directory and read the Context files block. A check on .hermes.md is the filename, not the folder you launched from.

William

How to see which project file loaded before you edit AGENTS.md

Type /context in the project directory before you edit an AGENTS.md you hope the next session will follow. Or type /ctx. Then read the Context files block at the end. A check mark is not a path. If the checked line says .hermes.md and nothing else, that file may not be in the folder you launched from.

I did not type that command in a live chat. The handler at lines 684-693 of hermes_cli/cli_info_mixin.py appends render_context_file_lines. I called that renderer on throwaway trees, then deleted them. Four pages I curled tonight do not agree with each other, and they do not all agree with what that renderer printed.

Read the last block

The slash-commands page lists /ctx as an alias of /context.[4] On the CLI, on messaging platforms, and on TUI/Desktop sessions on a compute host, the output ends with a per-file Context files listing.[4]

That listing names .hermes.md, an AGENTS.md chain, CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules, and SOUL.md.[4] The page calls the block the answer to why a CLAUDE.md is ignored.[4] I counted AGENTS.override.md in that page's HTML. Zero.

I skipped SOUL.md in the fixture so this profile's file would not land in the printout. Your /context will show it. Leave it alone. The context-files page says SOUL.md loads independently, as the agent identity, and that it is now global and comes from HERMES_HOME only.[1] The which-file page says it is not part of the project priority chain.[3] That is the whole note. This is not a personality post.

The rendered line is a glyph, a label, a token estimate, and sometimes a note in parentheses. It does not print the path. I read that at lines 121-124 of agent/context_file_sources.py. Read the glyph and the note. Skip the token estimate. The ~3 tokens figures below are tiny fixture files, not your project.

The pages do not agree

I curled four pages because one sentence on this is not enough.

The context-files page says only one project context type loads, first match wins: .hermes.md, then AGENTS.override.md, then AGENTS.md, then CLAUDE.md, then .cursorrules.[1] If an override sits next to an AGENTS.md, the override loads instead of the committed file.[1]

Inside a git repo, it loads a merged chain. The git root AGENTS.md comes first, then every intermediate file down to the working directory.[1] Each file gets its own provenance header. The page's example is ## ../../AGENTS.md.[1] Outside a git repo, only the working directory is checked. Parents are never consulted.[1]

Same page, different list. The startup scan is .hermes.md, then AGENTS.md, then CLAUDE.md, then .cursorrules, first match wins.[1] No override in that list. The progressive-discovery opener says that at session start Hermes loads the AGENTS.md from the working directory.[1] That sentence does not mention a parent.

The table on that page is a third reading. .hermes.md walks to the git root.[1] The override row calls the file a personal per-directory override, and its discovery cell is the working directory at startup, plus subdirectories, progressively.[1] That is downward. It is not a parent chain. I did not walk an agent into a subdirectory during a session. Don't treat this run as a test of that cell.

Prompt assembly is simpler, and it does not match the in-repo case I measured. The simplified comment is # 2. AGENTS.md (cwd only).[2] The discovery table puts CWD only on the AGENTS.md row.[2] The string AGENTS.override.md is not in that HTML.

The which-file page's priority line is .hermes.md, then AGENTS.md, then CLAUDE.md, then .cursorrules.[3] No override. Its AGENTS.md cell says the file loads at startup from the working directory, and nested copies are discovered as the agent navigates subdirectories.[3] Downward again, not a parent chain. Same count there. Zero.

Read the block you got. If you stitch those sentences into one rule, you will edit the wrong file.

What this checkout loaded

Commit eefdfe069220. Throwaway trees. I passed an explicit working directory and skipped soul.

Chain. Git repo. Working directory packages/webapp. AGENTS.md at the root, in packages/, and in webapp/. Also webapp/AGENTS.override.md and webapp/CLAUDE.md. The prompt was 194 characters. It contained ROOT-AGENTS, MID-AGENTS, and SUB-OVERRIDE. Headers were ## ../../AGENTS.md, ## ../AGENTS.md, and ## AGENTS.override.md. SUB-AGENTS was not in the prompt. The sibling AGENTS.md was not a line in the listing at all.

Context files
✓ ../../AGENTS.md    ~        3 tokens
✓ ../AGENTS.md       ~        3 tokens
✓ AGENTS.override.md ~        3 tokens
○ CLAUDE.md          ~        5 tokens  (not loaded — higher-priority context type wins)

A check on AGENTS.override.md means that folder's committed AGENTS.md is not the prompt text. You may not even see an open circle next to it. The finder stops at the first non-empty name in that directory. I read that break at lines 1740-1741 of agent/prompt_builder.py.

Parent files still had checks. The priority line that lists the override as its own type, before AGENTS.md, can be read as "any override drops every AGENTS.md." This checkout did not do that. The override wins in its own directory. The chain above it still loaded.

Parent .hermes.md. Same tree, file at the git root. Discover labeled it .hermes.md. The path was the root file. It was not under the working directory. The prompt was 123 characters and contained only HERMES-WINS.

Context files
✓ .hermes.md         ~        3 tokens
○ ../../AGENTS.md    ~        3 tokens  (not loaded — higher-priority context type wins)
○ ../AGENTS.md       ~        3 tokens  (not loaded — higher-priority context type wins)
○ AGENTS.override.md ~        3 tokens  (not loaded — higher-priority context type wins)
○ CLAUDE.md          ~        5 tokens  (not loaded — higher-priority context type wins)

The checked line does not show ../../. The open-circle lines under it do. If you only read the check, you will edit the wrong folder. The label logic at lines 1713-1714 of agent/prompt_builder.py uses the filename when the file is not under the working directory.

Zero-byte override. Different tree. The override's size was 0. Status was empty. The note was "not loaded — empty file". The parent ../AGENTS.md and the sibling AGENTS.md both loaded. The prompt was 151 characters and contained ROOT-AGENTS and SUB-AGENTS.

Whitespace. I wrote three spaces and a newline. Size was 4. After the strip, content length was 0. Status was unreadable. The note was "not loaded — could not be read". The sibling AGENTS.md still loaded. That cross is not "this directory failed." _read_context_file strips, at line 1696 of agent/prompt_builder.py. A file that strips to nothing and still has size is classified unreadable, not empty. I read that at lines 44-49 of agent/context_file_sources.py.

Outside git. A parent AGENTS.md was not discovered. The prompt was 121 characters and contained only the child's SUB-AGENTS. That matches the outside-git sentence on the context-files page.[1] The prompt-assembly "cwd only" comment matches this case.[2] It does not match the in-repo chain above.

How I read the block

This is a reading of those rows. It is not a fifth doc.

What you see What I would edit
Check on .hermes.md, and the label is only the filename Find that file before you touch the AGENTS.md in the launch folder. It may be a parent.
Check on AGENTS.override.md Edit the override. That folder's committed AGENTS.md is not the prompt text, and it may not be listed. Parent lines can still have checks.
Open circle on the override, "empty file", and a check on the sibling AGENTS.md The override did not win. Edit the checked sibling, and any checked parents.
Cross on the override, "could not be read", and the file is only spaces Same fall-through. The cross is not a failed directory.
No parent line, and you are outside a git repo A parent file will not appear.

If the check and the file you were about to edit are different names, edit the checked one. If the label is only .hermes.md, find that file before you save.

The commit I read

The fixture is this checkout. agent/prompt_builder.py is 114424 bytes, sha256 f3009ff298079d2e9819f4fd18e2ee552abc2e03a2c52fb54f422b6db77e7896. git hash-object matches HEAD:agent/prompt_builder.py. agent/context_file_sources.py is 6495 bytes, sha256 b0ab049f4a17a1e04fc5675ca70b123d472ad9d554580a505901231b758b1933, same match. HEAD is eefdfe0692207a7520b3a8c764fe510024f552a1, committed 2026-10-12 18:35:29 +0530.

I curled the four pages this run. All HTTP 200. Some sentences I quoted are contiguous in the text strip of that HTML, not as one string in the raw file, because filenames are wrapped in tags. The quotes are from those strips.

The context-files page was 64543 bytes, sha256 786ee7bd68b78e3ce03959d9829d46b541706e5fde4287344882b19b4304d8b8. Header date Tue, 13 Oct 2026 02:31:55 GMT. last-modified Tue, 13 Oct 2026 01:47:04 GMT. etag W/"6acd8d98-fc1f". age 1843. x-vercel-cache HIT. The strip is 12949 bytes, sha256 f1d0dbf509d7b896f1425d10370060b9e7603e6a529d829193f9829784b7108a.

Prompt assembly was 80684 bytes, sha256 a339d006585889f216105fa9063fee4c537982089751e73a513fef1eb0fee703, last-modified Mon, 12 Oct 2026 23:33:16 GMT. Which-file was 26822 bytes, sha256 d1736ccaa7f7aa521fb70b98711313b870f39d6e26286413789fecb57b03597b, same last-modified. Slash commands was 100813 bytes, sha256 72d68be1e7f5e63bb444e91f954c90c57c836c87abeb4ba3c830a1dd69c5708c, last-modified Mon, 12 Oct 2026 21:16:29 GMT.

hermes --version printed Hermes Agent v0.21.7+152.geefdfe0 (2026.9.24), named local eefdfe069220, and printed "Up to date". git rev-list --count HEAD..@{u} did not print 0. I'm not picking a behind count. I did not fetch.

Sources

[1] https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/context-files — Context Files | Hermes Agent [2] https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/developer-guide/prompt-assembly — Prompt Assembly | Hermes Agent [3] https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/which-file-does-what — Which File Does What? | Hermes Agent [4] https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/reference/slash-commands — Slash Commands | Hermes Agent