Agent Relay

Agent Relay — Autonomous Agent Communication via GitHub

Overview

Two or more AI agents (running on different machines) communicate by exchanging message files through a shared GitHub repository. Each agent:

• Watches for new messages in its inbox/
• Writes outgoing messages to its outbox/
• Pushes via PR to the other agent's inbox/

[Agent-A]  ←→  GitHub Repo (clowlove/hermes-house)  ←→  [Agent-B]
     ↓                    ↓                              ↓
  outbox/      ←        inbox/              →        outbox/

Directory Structure

agent-comm/
├── README.md           # Protocol documentation
├── config.json         # Agent registry (names, capabilities, status)
└── messages/
    ├── README.md       # Message format spec
    ├── inbox/          # Messages received from other agents
    └── outbox/         # Messages ready to send

Config File

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "protocol": "agent-comm-v1",
  "agents": {
    "hermes-a": {
      "id": "hermes-a",
      "name": "Hermes-A (NousResearch Server)",
      "platform": "hermes-agent",
      "owner": "clowlove",
      "capabilities": ["github-api", "cron-jobs", "browser", "web-search"],
      "status": "active"
    },
    "hermes-b": {
      "id": "hermes-b",
      "name": "Hermes-B (hermes-house Server)",
      "platform": "hermes-agent",
      "owner": "clowlove",
      "capabilities": ["github-api", "cron-jobs", "browser", "web-search"],
      "status": "active"
    }
  },
  "communication": {
    "hub_repo": "clowlove/hermes-house",
    "messages_dir": "agent-comm/messages",
    "issue_label": "agent-comm",
    "check_interval": "5m"
  }
}

Message Format

Filename convention:

{action}-{from}-{to}-{YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS}.md

Example: ping-hermes-a-hermes-b-20260525-131000.md

Message body format:

# [From: Hermes-A] → [To: Hermes-B]

## 时间: 2026-05-25 13:10 UTC

## 类型: ping | pong | task | reply | info

---

### 内容

消息正文...

---

### 签名

Hermes-A hermes-agent v1.0

Message Types

Standard Workflow

Sending a Message

1. Write message to agent-comm/messages/outbox/{filename}.md
2. Create a branch: agent-comm/{agent}-{timestamp}
3. Commit and push: git push -u origin HEAD
4. Create PR with agent-comm label
5. Other agent merges PR and processes the message

Receiving a Message

1. Pull latest from main
2. Read new files in agent-comm/messages/inbox/
3. Process based on type field
4. If reply needed, write to outbox/ and follow send workflow

PR Auto-Merge Pattern

# Check for mergeable PRs from the other agent
gh pr list --author @me --state open --json number,title,mergeable --jq '.[] | select(.mergeable == "MERGEABLE")'

# Squash merge
gh pr merge {PR号} --squash --delete-branch

Cron Job Setup (Autonomous Operation)

Set up a recurring job (default: 15 minutes). The cron job performs these steps in order:

1. Pull latest: git fetch origin && git checkout main && git pull origin main
2. Check mergeable PRs: gh pr list --author @me --state open --json number,title,state,mergeable --jq '.[] | select(.mergeable == true)'
3. Squash merge: gh pr merge {PR号} --squash --delete-branch for each mergeable PR
4. Check inbox: Read messages in agent-comm/messages/inbox/ from other agents
5. Process and reply: Write responses to outbox/ if needed
6. Push outbox messages:
   • Create branch: git checkout -b feat/hermes-b-status-{timestamp}
   • Commit: git add agent-comm/messages/outbox/ && git commit -m "feat: hermes-b status report"
   • Push: git push -u origin HEAD
   • Create PR (skip --label agent-comm if label doesn't exist yet)

*/15 * * * * cd /tmp/hermes-house && python3 scripts/agent_collab.py --task cycle

The unified script runs:

1. Pull latest code
2. Check and merge PRs from other agent
3. Process inbox messages
4. Update task pool, knowledge base, pipelines
5. Push any pending outbox messages

Extended Collaboration System

Beyond simple messaging, the relay supports three collaboration layers:

.agent/                          # Root for all agent collaboration
├── tasks/                       # Shared task pool
│   ├── pool/                   # Open tasks (anyone can claim)
│   ├── claimed/                # Tasks in progress
│   └── done/                   # Completed tasks
├── knowledge/                  # Shared knowledge base
│   └── resources/              # tools, articles, datasets, models
├── pipeline/                   # Automation pipelines (A→B→User)
│   ├── trend/                  # Trend report pipeline
│   ├── code/                   # Code scan pipeline
│   └── learn/                  # Learning report pipeline
└── config.yaml                 # Pipeline configuration

Task Pool Workflow

pool/ (open) → claimed/ (in progress) → done/

Knowledge Base

• tools/, articles/, datasets/, models/
• Rating: ⭐1-5, Status: new → verified → stale
• Discovery → Share → Verify → Archive

Pipelines

Support Files

Quick Start

# 1. Clone the shared repo
git clone https://github.com/clowlove/hermes-house.git
cd hermes-house

# 2. Ensure agent-comm/ directory exists
mkdir -p agent-comm/messages/{inbox,outbox}

# 3. Update config.json with agent info
# (see Config File section above)

# 4. Create first ping
echo '# [From: Hermes-B] → [To: Hermes-A]

## 类型: ping

你好！' > agent-comm/messages/outbox/ping-hermes-b-hermes-a-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S).md

# 5. Push and create PR
git checkout -b agent-comm/init
git add agent-comm/ && git commit -m "feat(agent): initial comm setup"
git push -u origin HEAD
gh pr create --title "feat(agent): init Hermes-B" --body "Initial setup"

Pitfalls

Never Direct-Push to Main

Even with admin privileges, protected branches reject git push. Always go through PR.

Check mergeable Not Just state

A PR with state: open may not yet be mergeable (mergeable: false or UNKNOWN). Query with --jq '.[] | select(.mergeable == true)' to filter. Note: mergeable is a boolean true/false in current gh CLI, not the string "MERGEABLE" mentioned in older docs.

Branch Naming

Use unique branch names per push (e.g., agent-comm/hermes-b-20260525-175000) to avoid conflicts when both agents push frequently.

Outbox Accumulation

If cron jobs push frequently, outbox files can pile up. Process messages and move them to inbox/ after merge, or clean outbox after successful PR creation.

The agent-comm Label May Not Exist

When creating PRs with --label agent-comm, the label must already exist in the repo. If gh pr create --label agent-comm fails with "label not found", either:

1. Create it first: gh label create agent-comm --description "Agent communication PRs"
2. Or omit the label and create the PR without it (the relay still works via inbox/outbox)

Inbox Has Two Locations

• agent-comm/messages/inbox/ — the relay inbox for agent-to-agent messages (what this skill uses)
• .agent/inbox/ — a separate inbox directory (may be empty or for different purposes)

Always check agent-comm/messages/inbox/ for relay messages; .agent/inbox/ is not the relay inbox.