feat: env var passthrough for skills and user config (#2807)

* feat: env var passthrough for skills and user config

Skills that declare required_environment_variables now have those vars
passed through to sandboxed execution environments (execute_code and
terminal).  Previously, execute_code stripped all vars containing KEY,
TOKEN, SECRET, etc. and the terminal blocklist removed Hermes
infrastructure vars — both blocked skill-declared env vars.

Two passthrough sources:

1. Skill-scoped (automatic): when a skill is loaded via skill_view and
   declares required_environment_variables, vars that are present in
   the environment are registered in a session-scoped passthrough set.

2. Config-based (manual): terminal.env_passthrough in config.yaml lets
   users explicitly allowlist vars for non-skill use cases.

Changes:
- New module: tools/env_passthrough.py — shared passthrough registry
- hermes_cli/config.py: add terminal.env_passthrough to DEFAULT_CONFIG
- tools/skills_tool.py: register available skill env vars on load
- tools/code_execution_tool.py: check passthrough before filtering
- tools/environments/local.py: check passthrough in _sanitize_subprocess_env
  and _make_run_env
- 19 new tests covering all layers

* docs: add environment variable passthrough documentation

Document the env var passthrough feature across four docs pages:

- security.md: new 'Environment Variable Passthrough' section with
  full explanation, comparison table, and security considerations
- code-execution.md: update security section, add passthrough subsection,
  fix comparison table
- creating-skills.md: add tip about automatic sandbox passthrough
- skills.md: add note about passthrough after secure setup docs

Live-tested: launched interactive CLI, loaded a skill with
required_environment_variables, verified TEST_SKILL_SECRET_KEY was
accessible inside execute_code sandbox (value: passthrough-test-value-42).
This commit is contained in:
Teknium 2026-03-24 08:19:34 -07:00 committed by GitHub
parent ad1bf16f28
commit 745859babb
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11 changed files with 527 additions and 6 deletions

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@ -135,21 +135,28 @@ def _sanitize_subprocess_env(base_env: dict | None, extra_env: dict | None = Non
"""Filter Hermes-managed secrets from a subprocess environment.
`_HERMES_FORCE_<VAR>` entries in ``extra_env`` opt a blocked variable back in
intentionally for callers that truly need it.
intentionally for callers that truly need it. Vars registered via
:mod:`tools.env_passthrough` (skill-declared or user-configured) also
bypass the blocklist.
"""
try:
from tools.env_passthrough import is_env_passthrough as _is_passthrough
except Exception:
_is_passthrough = lambda _: False # noqa: E731
sanitized: dict[str, str] = {}
for key, value in (base_env or {}).items():
if key.startswith(_HERMES_PROVIDER_ENV_FORCE_PREFIX):
continue
if key not in _HERMES_PROVIDER_ENV_BLOCKLIST:
if key not in _HERMES_PROVIDER_ENV_BLOCKLIST or _is_passthrough(key):
sanitized[key] = value
for key, value in (extra_env or {}).items():
if key.startswith(_HERMES_PROVIDER_ENV_FORCE_PREFIX):
real_key = key[len(_HERMES_PROVIDER_ENV_FORCE_PREFIX):]
sanitized[real_key] = value
elif key not in _HERMES_PROVIDER_ENV_BLOCKLIST:
elif key not in _HERMES_PROVIDER_ENV_BLOCKLIST or _is_passthrough(key):
sanitized[key] = value
return sanitized
@ -264,13 +271,18 @@ _SANE_PATH = (
def _make_run_env(env: dict) -> dict:
"""Build a run environment with a sane PATH and provider-var stripping."""
try:
from tools.env_passthrough import is_env_passthrough as _is_passthrough
except Exception:
_is_passthrough = lambda _: False # noqa: E731
merged = dict(os.environ | env)
run_env = {}
for k, v in merged.items():
if k.startswith(_HERMES_PROVIDER_ENV_FORCE_PREFIX):
real_key = k[len(_HERMES_PROVIDER_ENV_FORCE_PREFIX):]
run_env[real_key] = v
elif k not in _HERMES_PROVIDER_ENV_BLOCKLIST:
elif k not in _HERMES_PROVIDER_ENV_BLOCKLIST or _is_passthrough(k):
run_env[k] = v
existing_path = run_env.get("PATH", "")
if "/usr/bin" not in existing_path.split(":"):