# Atlas Capability Upgrade Program

Created: 2026-05-14T16:39:28-07:00
Owner: Will / Atlas
Board: `atlas-capability-upgrades`
Status: implementation program queued in Hermes Kanban

## Goal

Implement the ten capability upgrades Wrack requested so Atlas becomes a persistent operations layer for Will's swarm rather than only a chat assistant with tools.

## Operating principles

- Keep the default Hermes profile as the stable production gateway profile.
- Use Kanban and specialist profiles for durable work.
- Prefer low-risk, review-gated changes over large unreviewed rewrites.
- Keep secrets out of chat, notes, commits, and task bodies.
- Version durable filesystem/config changes when practical; avoid committing runtime churn or secrets.
- Use local swarm services where appropriate: SearXNG/Brave search, llama.cpp, Ollama embeddings, n8n, Kokoro, Whisper, Obsidian Local REST API.

## Ten workstreams

### 1. Shared project/context memory

Spec: [[Atlas Shared Project Context Memory Spec]]

Implemented context system artifacts:
- [[Swarm Operating Manual]]
- [[Project Context Index]]
- [[Context Pack]]
- [[Promote Session Output to Notes]]

Deliverables:
- Swarm operating manual / front door.
- Project context index with active repos, goals, commands, and runbooks.
- Session-to-note promotion conventions.
- Specialist-ready project context packs.

Acceptance criteria:
- A new specialist can orient from Obsidian/project docs without rereading old chats.
- Atlas knows where to write/find durable project state.

### 2. Discord/Telegram workflow design

Guide: [[Atlas Discord Telegram Workflow]]

Deliverables:
- Channel/thread conventions for brainstorming, dev, ops alerts, reviews, and background jobs.
- Command vocabulary for plan/execute/review/schedule modes.
- Gateway limitations documented clearly.

Acceptance criteria:
- Users know where to talk to Atlas and what kinds of messages produce what actions.

### 3. Custom tools around Will's infrastructure

Deliverables:
- Candidate tool inventory for n8n, Obsidian, local LLM, Ollama embeddings, Kokoro, Whisper, infra health.
- Prioritized implementation plan.
- First safe wrappers/tests for the highest-value tools.

Artifacts:
- Spec: `/home/will/.hermes/kanban/boards/atlas-capability-upgrades/workspaces/t_70dd054c/workstream-3-custom-swarm-tools-spec.md`
- Hermes swarm toolset code: `/home/will/.hermes/hermes-agent/tools/swarm_tools.py`
- Hermes swarm toolset tests: `/home/will/.hermes/hermes-agent/tests/tools/test_swarm_tools.py`
- Toolset registration: `/home/will/.hermes/hermes-agent/toolsets.py`

Acceptance criteria:
- Repeated shell/API sequences become structured, testable Hermes tools or scripts.

### 4. Stronger Kanban-driven multi-agent work

Deliverables:
- Default workflow for durable projects: plan → task graph → specialist execution → reviewer gate → Atlas synthesis.
- Board templates and runbook.
- Recovery procedure for blocked/crashed workers.

Artifacts:
- Runbook: [[Runbooks/Atlas Kanban Durable Project Workflow|Atlas Kanban Durable Project Workflow]]
- Task graph templates: [[Templates/Kanban Task Graph Templates|Kanban Task Graph Templates]]

Acceptance criteria:
- Durable projects are tracked on boards and do not disappear into a single chat thread.

### 5. Local/private model routing

Deliverables:
- Routing policy for local vs cloud models.
- Smoke tests for llama.cpp, Ollama embeddings, and cheap/simple profile usage.
- Guidance for sensitive/repetitive tasks.

Artifacts:
- Routing runbook: `/home/will/.hermes/hermes-agent/docs/local-private-model-routing.md`
- Router tool: `/home/will/.hermes/hermes-agent/tools/local_model_router.py`
- Smoke script: `/home/will/.hermes/hermes-agent/scripts/local_model_router_smoke.py`
- Tests: `/home/will/.hermes/hermes-agent/tests/tools/test_local_model_router.py`

Acceptance criteria:
- Atlas can choose local/small models for appropriate tasks without compromising hard-reasoning quality.

### 6. Event-driven automation

Runbook: [[Runbooks/Atlas Event-Driven Automation|Atlas Event-Driven Automation]]

Deliverables:
- Webhook/cron candidate list: GitHub PR review, n8n failures, system thresholds, feed summaries, transcript ingestion, blocked Kanban escalation.
- Initial safe event routes.
- Notification policy.

Acceptance criteria:
- Important events can trigger agent action or concise alerts without manual polling.

### 7. Safer autonomy and permission tiers

Policy: [[Atlas/Safer Autonomy and Permission Tiers]]
Runbook: [[Atlas/Gateway Approval Runbook]]

Deliverables:
- Risk tier policy: read-only, low-risk write, medium-risk ops, high-risk/destructive.
- Approval guidelines by platform and task type.
- Documentation for what Atlas may do without asking.
- Reviewer checklist for future automation/tool changes.

Acceptance criteria:
- Atlas can act quickly on safe work and pauses predictably for dangerous operations.

### 8. Better artifact generation

Deliverables:
- Artifact templates for plans, decision logs, runbooks, diagrams, test reports, status reports, postmortems.
- Output destination conventions.
- Reviewer checklist for artifacts.

Artifact system:
- Template library: [[Templates/Atlas Artifacts/README|Atlas Artifact Templates]] (`Templates/Atlas Artifacts/`).
- Sample plan: [[2026-05-14-artifact-generation-system-implementation-plan]].
- Sample status report: [[2026-05-14-status-report]].

Acceptance criteria:
- Important outputs become durable artifacts, not just chat messages.

### 9. Evaluation loops for agent quality

Deliverables:
- Evaluation scenarios for Atlas and specialist profiles.
- Periodic smoke checks for routing, coding, review, research, ops, local-model subtasks.
- Results log and improvement backlog.

Artifacts:
- Scenario catalog and commands: [[Atlas Quality Evaluations]]
- Human-readable results log: [[Atlas Quality Eval Results]]
- Eval harness: `/home/will/lab/swarm/swarm-common/agent-evals/atlas_quality/run_eval_suite.py`
- Scenario fixtures: `/home/will/lab/swarm/swarm-common/agent-evals/atlas_quality/scenarios.yaml`
- Machine-readable results: `/home/will/lab/swarm/swarm-common/agent-evals/atlas_quality/results/`

Acceptance criteria:
- Agent quality is measured with repeatable checks rather than vibes.

### 10. Skill tightening and lifecycle

Deliverables:
- Skill audit for Hermes/Discord/Telegram/Kanban/Obsidian/local services.
- Missing-skill backlog.
- Update procedure when a workflow changes.

Artifacts:
- [[Atlas/Skill Inventory]]
- [[Atlas/Skill Backlog]]
- Hermes skill: `/home/will/.hermes/profiles/ops/skills/devops/skill-tightening-lifecycle/SKILL.md`

Acceptance criteria:
- Tricky solved procedures get encoded in skills and remain current.

## Initial task graph

- Phase A: discovery/spec tasks for each workstream, in parallel where safe.
- Phase B: implementation tasks gated on discovery outputs.
- Phase C: reviewer pass across docs, tools, policies, and automations.
- Phase D: Atlas synthesis and status report back to the Discord thread.

## Notes

The Hermes source checkout currently has unrelated dirty files, so code-changing tasks must inspect git status first and avoid overwriting or committing unrelated work. Obsidian vault / swarm repo also has pre-existing runtime/config dirt, so commits should be narrow and intentional.
