Designing a Rocky Automation Safely Before It Runs

The safest Rocky automations are designed before they are scheduled, delegated, or connected to outside services. This page describes the public-safe planning loop: define the source of truth, constrain the action surface, verify the output, and keep a human approval point when the consequence is high.

Start with the source of truth

• Name the system Rocky should inspect first: a file, website, API, repository, inbox, dashboard, or public document.
• Decide whether the source is public, private, or mixed. Public wiki material should never depend on private customer/order data.
• Prefer read-only inspection before any write.
• Link the official Hermes documentation when explaining Hermes features: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs

Bound the action surface

• Write down exactly what Rocky may edit or call.
• Separate safe public assets from private operational stores.
• Avoid wildcard file copies, broad data exports, and recursive scheduler changes.
• For commands that deploy, delete, bill, message customers, or publish content, keep an explicit verification step and a rollback plan.

Pre-flight checklist

• Inputs are named and retrievable.
• Secrets are supplied by environment/config, not pasted into the prompt.
• Allowed paths or APIs are narrow.
• The expected artifact is testable.
• Failure mode is known: stop, retry, report, or ask for approval.
• A final live check proves the result users will actually see.

Common pitfalls

• Letting a vague goal become a broad filesystem or browser action.
• Treating a successful command as proof that the public page or customer-facing workflow is good.
• Publishing generated copy without checking for unsupported promises.
• Forgetting that a scheduled job has no human present and must make conservative decisions.

Verification steps

• Run the smallest local test first.
• Inspect changed files or returned API records.
• If the result is public, open the live URL and check desktop/mobile.
• Record what changed, what was verified, and any remaining manual step.