cafitac-hermit-agent 0.3.45

Hermit keeps Claude Code or Codex as the orchestrator while a local MCP executor handles cost-aware coding work.

HermitAgent

Run Claude Code or Codex cheaper — Hermit is an MCP executor that handles the high-token mechanical work while your orchestrator stays in charge.

┌──────────────┐
│  Claude Code │──┐
│  (planner)   │  │    ┌──────────────┐   any OpenAI-compatible   ┌───────┐
└──────────────┘  ├───▶│  HermitAgent │ ────────────────────────▶ │  LLM  │
                  │    │  (executor)  │                           └───────┘
┌──────────────┐  │    └──────────────┘
│    Codex     │──┘         ~$0 / flat-rate
│  (planner)   │
└──────────────┘

Claude Code or Codex stays the orchestrator — planning, interviewing, code review. Hermit takes the rest: file edits, test runs, commits, refactors, on a cheap local or flat-rate model via MCP. The switch is one word in a slash command: /foo → /foo-hermit.

Install

npm install -g @cafitac/hermit-agent
hermit

Requires Node.js 20+ and Python 3.11+. The npm package bootstraps a managed Python runtime under ~/.hermit/ on first run — no repo checkout needed. If Claude Code or Codex integration is still missing, hermit will offer guided setup automatically. You can still run hermit install directly when you want to force the full setup/repair flow.

To upgrade: hermit update

Quick start

hermit-mcp-server   # starts the gateway + MCP stdio server

Then in Claude Code:

/feature-develop-hermit <task>

Claude interviews, writes the plan, and delegates implementation to Hermit over MCP. Executor tokens never hit your orchestrator bill.

Reference skills

Four example skills ship under .claude/commands/. Fork these into your own workflow:

Command	Claude does	Hermit does
/feature-develop-hermit	interview + plan	implement + test
/code-apply-hermit	read PR review	apply every change
/code-polish-hermit	pick what to polish	lint/test loop
/code-push-hermit	write PR description	commit + push

See docs/hermit-variants.md to add your own.

Executor LLM

ollama (local, free):

brew install ollama && ollama pull qwen3-coder:30b

z.ai (flat-rate subscription) — add to ~/.hermit/settings.json:

{
  "providers": {
    "z.ai": {
      "base_url": "https://api.z.ai/api/coding/paas/v4",
      "api_key": "<your key>",
      "anthropic_base_url": "https://api.z.ai/api/anthropic"
    }
  }
}

Configuration

~/.hermit/settings.json (created by hermit install):

{
  "gateway_url": "http://localhost:8765",
  "gateway_api_key": "hermit-mcp-…",
  "model": "__auto__",
  "routing": {
    "priority_models": [
      {"model": "glm-5.1"},
      {"model": "qwen3-coder:30b"}
    ]
  }
}

model controls the default model for plain hermit. Set it to __auto__ if you want plain hermit to follow the routing.priority_models order. routing.priority_models is the ordered fallback chain for auto-routing in gateway / interactive flows, and providers that are not configured or installed are skipped automatically. If model is a concrete name like gpt-5.4, plain hermit stays pinned to that model even if you reorder priority_models.

By default, hermit install now keeps Codex out of routing.priority_models and treats it as an explicit opt-in executor path instead of an automatic fallback. This is intentional: local / flat-rate executor models stay the safe default, while Codex remains available when a user explicitly pins it or adds it back to routing. That separation makes billing behavior more predictable, keeps executor defaults aligned with Hermit's "cheap mechanical work" role, and avoids surprising auto-routing onto a paid hosted model.

Architecture

• AgentLoop — LLM turn → tool call → result → compact on context fill
• Gateway — FastAPI relay in front of the executor (routing, 429 failover, dashboard at :8765)
• MCP server — run_task / reply_task / check_task / cancel_task
• TUI — optional React+Ink terminal UI for standalone interactive sessions (hermit)

Tests

.venv/bin/pytest tests/

Status

Early, working, MIT. No release cadence guarantees.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

See also

• docs/cc-setup.md — Claude Code MCP registration details
• docs/hermit-variants.md — the -hermit skill family
• docs/measure-savings.md — cost-savings measurement protocol
• CHANGELOG.md — notable release and policy changes
• benchmarks/ — reproducible task specs and community datapoints