Summary

Implements named agent profile presets for delegate_task(), resolving Issue #9459.

Profiles are defined in config.yaml under agent_profiles: and can be referenced per-delegation or per-task. Each profile supports:

• model — override the child agent model
• toolsets — restrict the child agent's available tools (MCP scoping)
• max_iterations — cap the child agent's turn depth
• system_prompt / system_prompt_file — replace the child's default prompt (leaf workers)

Usage

# config.yaml
agent_profiles:
  email_checker:
    model: openai/gpt-4o-mini
    toolsets: ["mcp-gmail"]
    max_iterations: 5
  web_researcher:
    model: anthropic/claude-3-5-sonnet
    toolsets: ["mcp-search", "mcp-exa"]

# In a tool call or agent config
delegate_task(goal="check my inbox", profile="email_checker", parent_agent=agent)

Implementation Notes

• _load_profiles() reads from load_config() — no new config file, just a new root key
• _resolve_profile() handles system_prompt_file expansion, max_iterations int coercion, and deep-copies the profile dict to prevent mutation
• Profile max_iterations is applied at both top-level and per-task call sites (top-level was a dead assignment in the naive implementation — fixed)
• system_prompt in a profile replaces the entire child prompt (including orchestrator delegation instructions); documented in schema with WARNING; intended for leaf workers only
• setattr(child, "ephemeral_system_prompt", ...) used consistently with the existing pattern at line ~1265

Tests

152 tests passing (147 original + 5 regression tests for the Code Critic findings).

New test class: TestAgentProfiles with 17 tests covering:

• Profile resolution (model, toolsets, max_iterations, system_prompt, system_prompt_file)
• Error paths (unknown profile, missing file, invalid max_iterations type)
• Integration (profile drives child; explicit params override profile; unknown profile returns error JSON)
• Regression guards (top-level max_iterations applied; per-task beats top-level; deepcopy isolation; int coercion)

Checklist

• ruff: All checks passed!
• 152/152 tests passing
• 0 net-new Pyright errors (baseline had 38 pre-existing errors in delegate_tool.py)
• Schema updated with profile parameter documentation and system_prompt replacement warning

Closes #9459

Packaging Note

During production testing on 0.14.0 (installed via PyPI), hermes_cli/secret_prompt.py was found to be absent from the installed package. This caused an ImportError when the tools → config import chain was triggered after deploying the modified config.py. The file exists in the repository but was not included in the PyPI distribution.

If a related issue exists, this PR's testing surfaced the same root cause. If not, it may be worth filing separately against the 0.14.0 release packaging.