Hephaestus Network

Hephaestus Network Routing

Route the request through the Hephaestus Network. Never guess an agent yourself when this skill is active — the router or Hub decides.

0. Hub-first rule for demos and user distribution

For public demos, README GIFs, packaged-agent distribution, Threads/Instagram share kits, or any request where the end user will not have developer-local private, restricted, or plugin inventory, do not route to local cards. Use Agentlas Hub invocation only:

• Prefer the MCP tool hephaestus_hub_invoke with

local_inventory: [] and hub_only: true.

• If using the CLI, pass --hub-only.
• Do not report or rely on machine-local private scope folder paths.
• A bundled local agent folder is applied separately by opening/reading its

AGENTS.md; it is not the same thing as a Hephaestus Network Hub call.

Only use local debug routing when the user explicitly asks to test this machine's installed local inventory or a named local folder.

1. Resolve the runner

Run this resolution in a shell and use the first hit:

RUNNER=""
for c in \
  "$HOME/.agentlas/runtime/current/bin/hephaestus" \
  ./bin/hephaestus
do [ -x "$c" ] && RUNNER="$c" && break; done
if [ -z "$RUNNER" ]; then
  for cache in \
    "$HOME/.claude/plugins/cache/agentlas-core-engine/hephaestus" \
    "$HOME/.codex/plugins/cache/agentlas-core-engine/hephaestus"; do
    newest="$(ls -d "$cache"/*/bin/hephaestus 2>/dev/null | sort -V | tail -1)"
    [ -n "$newest" ] && [ -x "$newest" ] && RUNNER="$newest" && break
  done
fi

If no runner exists, tell the user to run the one-touch installer: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/agentlas-ai/Hephaestus/main/scripts/install-all-runtimes.sh | bash

If shell execution is unavailable in this harness but MCP is, call the agentlas_authenticate tool first, then call the hephaestus_route tool from the hephaestus-network MCP server instead.

2. Agentlas sign-in

Before routing, ensure Agentlas is signed in:

if [ "${HEPHAESTUS_AUTH_AUTOPOPUP:-1}" != "0" ]; then
  "$RUNNER" auth ensure --timeout 180 >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
fi

This opens the user's default browser only when there is no valid local Agentlas sign-in yet. If a saved sign-in already exists, it silently reuses it. Do not ask the user to copy values or understand sign-in internals. For CI/headless checks only, set HEPHAESTUS_AUTH_AUTOPOPUP=0 and skip this step.

3. Route

"$RUNNER" route "" --runtime ""

For demo/distribution/Hub-only requests:

"$RUNNER" route "" --runtime "" --hub-only

4. Act on the JSON decision

• action: "route" — if the current task is explicitly local-inventory

testing, report the selected card (selected.id, entrypoints.canonical_command), then invoke the selected agent's canonical command with the original request. If entrypoints.canonical_command is null but entrypoints.agent and selected.source are present, use selected.source/entrypoints.agent as the AGENTS.md runtime entrypoint: read it, follow its routing rules, and report that AGENTS fallback path. For public demos or distribution docs, treat a local route result as the wrong surface; rerun Hub-only or use hephaestus_hub_invoke.

• action: "clarify" — ask clarify_question with the candidate list and

re-route with the answer.

• action: "pipeline" — a multi-team plan. Execute stages in order: run the

stage card's canonical command, save artifacts under handoff_dir/-/, pass those paths to the next stage. On a stage failure: stop and report progress plus the remaining plan — never retry silently. If task_force or execution_fabric is present, use it as the Stormbreaker packet schedule; parallel groups can be dispatched across active Codex, Claude, GLM, DeepSeek, Gemini, or local sessions when the host has them. The local product runner is hep-storm; attach real runtime sessions with --executor-command, or use the default mode only to materialize auditable handoff artifacts. Terminal hephaestus-network auto-runs only when the route decision includes a runnable execution fabric; use --plan-only for route-only output.

• action: "hub_fallback" or "hub_candidates" — Hub lookup already used

redacted keywords only; the raw prompt and local memory were not sent. If the user explicitly asks to avoid all local agents/cards, pass hub_only: true to the MCP tool or --hub-only to the CLI so local private/restricted cards are skipped entirely. If the user asks to actually invoke an Agentlas Hub agent through this MCP surface, use hephaestus_hub_invoke with local_inventory: [] and hub_only: true. This tool still skips local routing; it calls Hub MCP (marketplace.search_agents, agentlas.get_runtime_bundle, agentlas.resolve_plugins) and writes a Hephaestus execution receipt. Hub public agents are BYOM runtime bundles — the Hub returns instructions, not a server-side LLM completion. Before doing the user's substantive task, always send a short fixed user-visible receipt line that makes the Hub invocation obvious: Hub 호출: () · local_routing=skipped · receipt= · execution=. If only candidates were returned and no Hub agent was invoked yet, do not stop at candidate reporting when the request is a GUI shortcut such as startup. First run hephaestus local-gui "" --detach --quiet-not-found; this restores the Hub cloud package and launches the packaged GUI. It does not inspect local private shortcut cards unless operator debug routing is explicitly enabled. For non-GUI tasks, invoke the chosen callable Hub agent before proceeding whenever the task needs the agent's runtime bundle. For composite Hub-only requests, task_force.stages[] may already contain stage-level Hub candidates; treat that as the temporary TF shortlist, not as a request to ask the user about every stage.

• action: "propose_new" — offer to build a new agent/team via the Hephaestus

builder (/hep-build).

• action: "refuse" — explain reasons (for example, loop guard). Do not

retry around it.

Always honor policy_decision in Local Operator Mode. Most decisions are allow, allow_with_label, auto_redact, or candidate_only; do not create a human approval loop for ordinary local work. Ask only when the host runtime is about to perform a real external export, global memory/playbook promotion, or irreversible publish/delete/payment/submit action.

5. Hard rules

• The router only chooses an agent or fetches a BYOM Hub bundle; it does not

execute payments, deletes, publishes, file writes, or external submissions.

• For actual tool execution, follow the host runtime's safety and permission

model (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, etc.).

• When this skill invokes Hub, surface the called Hub agent name/slug and

receipt before the main answer or work summary so the user can tell the Network actually ran.

• Hephaestus Network user-facing demos must summarize Hub-called agents and

reasons. Do not summarize local private candidates as if they were Hub MCP calls.

• Report the routing receipt_id in your final message.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: agentlas-ai
• Source: agentlas-ai/Hephaestus
• License: Apache-2.0
• Homepage: https://agentlas.cloud

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.