zulip-platform-plugins/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md

Zulip Multi-Platform Agent Communication — Architecture (v2)

Overview

A production-ready system enabling 6 AI agents across 3 platforms (Hermes Python, Agent Zero, pi TypeScript) to communicate through Zulip via dedicated per-agent bot users.

Architecture (Hermes Native Plugin — Current)

As of v1.0.0, Hermes agents (Tanko, Mumuni, Koonimo, Koby) use the Hermes native platform plugin at ~/.hermes/plugins/platforms/zulip/. This replaces the old standalone systemd service.

Benefits of the native plugin:

• Extends BasePlatformAdapter — zero changes to Hermes core
• Auto-registers via register(ctx) at Gateway startup
• Direct session injection (no subprocess overhead)
• Leverages Gateway's built-in health checks, config, and error handling
• Unified logging with all other Hermes platform adapters

Architecture Diagram

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Zulip Server (CT 117)                    │
│                    chat.sysloggh.net:443                    │
│                                                             │
│  ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌─── │
│  │tanko-bot │ │mumuni-bot│ │koonimo   │ │koby-bot  │ │... │
│  │          │ │          │ │-bot      │ │          │ │    │
│  └────┬─────┘ └────┬─────┘ └────┬─────┘ └────┬─────┘ └─── │
└───────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼──────────────┘
        │            │            │            │
   ┌────▼────┐  ┌────▼────┐  ┌────▼────┐  ┌────▼────┐
   │ Hermes  │  │ Hermes  │  │ Hermes  │  │ Hermes  │
   │ Plugin  │  │ Plugin  │  │ Plugin  │  │ Plugin  │
   │ (Python)│  │ (Python)│  │ (Python)│  │ (Python)│
   │         │  │         │  │         │  │         │
   │ Tanko   │  │ Mumuni  │  │ Koonimo │  │ Koby    │
   │ CT 112  │  │ CT 114  │  │ CT 113  │  │ CT 111  │
   └─────────┘  └─────────┘  └─────────┘  └─────────┘

   ┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐
   │ Agent Zero   │     │ pi           │
   │ Plugin       │     │ Extension    │
   │ (Python)     │     │ (TypeScript) │
   │              │     │              │
   │ kagentz      │     │ abiba        │
   │ CT 105       │     │ CT 100       │
   └──────────────┘     └──────────────┘

Message Flow (Normal)

User creates topic "project-x" in #agent-hub
  └── User types: @tanko-bot analyze this data
      └── Zulip fires event to tanko-bot's event queue
          └── Hermes Zulip Plugin on CT 112
              ├── Detects: tanko-bot in mentioned_users
              ├── Strips @mention from message
              ├── Constructs MessageEvent
              └── Routes to Tanko agent via BasePlatformAdapter
                  └── Tanko agent processes, returns response
                      └── Plugin posts to #agent-hub > project-x

Message Flow (@all-bots)

User types: @all-bots status report
  └── Zulip fires event to ALL 6 bots (same narrow)
      └── Each plugin independently:
          ├── Detects: All Bots in mentioned_users
          ├── Forwards to its agent
          └── Posts response to same topic
      └── 6 independent responses appear in the topic

Plugin Communication Logic

• Isolation: Each agent (Tanko, Mumuni, etc.) runs as an independent process on its own Compute Target (CT).
• State: Agents are stateless; all "memory" is handled via the RA-H OS Knowledge Graph and the Hermes persistent memory tool.
• Communication: Agents communicate via Zulip. There is no direct A2A (Agent-to-Agent) messaging layer. Instead, each agent listens to the #agent-hub and responds to specific mentions or @all-bots pings.
• Swarm Development: The "Swarm" refers to our collaborative development methodology where multiple agents/developers work on different components of the plugin simultaneously.

Hermes (Python) — BasePlatformAdapter (CURRENT)

• Path: plugins/platforms/zulip/
• Deploy: ~/.hermes/plugins/platforms/zulip/
• Implements: BasePlatformAdapter (Hermes Gateway)
• Config: Hermes config.yaml under platforms.zulip.extra or env vars
• Entry point: plugin.yaml + register(ctx) (Hermes manifest)
• Versions: Gen 3 (v1.0.0) — 1,169 lines, 14/14 Success Criteria met
• Features: DM-first, placeholder→edit streaming, dedup, self-test, health stats, @all-bots resolution

Agent Zero — A0 Plugin System (LEGACY — to migrate)

• Path: agent-zero-plugin/src/
• Implements: Agent Zero plugin API
• Config: config.yaml per-agent

pi (TypeScript) — pi Extension API (CURRENT)

• Path: pi-zulip-extension/
• Deploy: PM2-managed process
• Runs under pi --mode rpc --session-id zulip-service
• Active: abiba-bot only (ZULIP_EXTENSION_ACTIVE=true guard)

Legacy Hermes Plugin (DEPRECATED)

• OLD path: hermes-zulip-plugin/src/hermes_zulip/
• OLD deploy: /opt/hermes-zulip-plugin/ + systemd service
• Status: Replaced by plugins/platforms/zulip/ native plugin as of v1.0.0
• Migration: See hermes-zulip-plugin/DEPRECATED.md
• Path: pi-zulip-extension/src/
• Implements: pi extension (TypeScript module in ~/.pi/agent/extensions/)
• Config: config.yaml per-agent
• Reference: pi extension docs at /usr/lib/node_modules/@earendil-works/pi-coding-agent/docs/extensions.md

Reliability

• Reconnection: Zulip SDK handles backoff/reconnect natively
• Retry: 3 attempts with 5s backoff on agent timeout
• Error Response: User-visible message on failure
• Monitoring: Health endpoint (/health) on each plugin (port 9200)
• Logging: Per-plugin log files

Config Template

# config.yaml — Per-agent Zulip plugin configuration
agent:
  name: "tanko"
  display_name: "Tanko"
  zulip_bot_name: "tanko-bot"
  owner_email: "jerome@sysloggh.net"
  private_topic: "tanko-private"

zulip:
  server_url: "https://chat.sysloggh.net"
  email: "tanko-bot@chat.sysloggh.net"
  api_key: "${ZULIP_API_KEY}"  # From env var
  all_bots_user_id: 1234

error_handling:
  timeout_seconds: 30
  retry_count: 3
  retry_delay_seconds: 5

monitoring:
  health_endpoint_enabled: true
  health_port: 9200

Prerequisites

1. Zulip server running on CT 117
2. Zulip bot users created for all 6 agents + All Bots
3. #agent-hub stream created with all bots subscribed
4. SSH key access to all 6 agent CTs
5. Gitea repo initialized at git@git.sysloggh.net:SyslogSolution/zulip-platform-plugins.git