Use for "how does X work", code walkthroughs before changing something, and placement / ownership / layering questions ("where should this live", "which package owns this", "is this the right layer"). Explains subsystem architecture, runtime flow, onboarding mental models. Use why for motivation.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# How
Explore the codebase to answer "how does X work?" questions. Produce architectural explanations at the level of a senior engineer onboarding onto a subsystem, enough to build a working mental model, not so much that it reads like annotated source code.
Each spawn below names a role line in the pstack model panel (`pstack-models.json` in the hermes config dir next to `config.yaml`) and a default. Set `model` to that line's value, or to the default if the rule or the line is missing. Leave `model` unset when the value is `inherit-parent`. If delegate_task rejects a slug, use the default and say so. If it rejects the default, use the closest valid slug of the same family from its error message.
## Step 1. Assess Complexity
If the scope is ambiguous, state your interpretation and explore. The user can redirect.
- **Simple** (a single module, a small utility, a narrow question such as "how does function X work"): no explorers. One explainer explores and explains in a single pass. Go to Step 2b.
…
The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261006.f7c5841, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
A 17 of 17 checks passed. Fixed automatic checks with no AI involved, so the same checks give the same answer every run.
pass: Frontmatter block present
pass: Frontmatter declares a name
pass: Frontmatter declares a description
pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (3240 bytes)
pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
pass: No credential-shaped string
pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
pass: No text hidden with inline styles
pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
pass: No link to a raw IP address
pass: No script tag
Source
GitHub
iap/pstack-hermes · 30 stars · license a license file GitHub does not identify · pushed 2026-10-31 · branch dist
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_4gj3pm34q6vozh6r
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=iap/pstack-hermes/how
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/1c569ffa60757429fd2c6903757d46c206f86d431aa9260bf1efc11aa9227f72
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
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