website/docs/reference/cli-symbols.md
The Hermes terminal interfaces speak a compact visual language: dots, chevrons, braille spinners, and status glyphs. This page is the decoder ring. It covers the TUI (where most of these render) and notes the pieces shared with the Classic CLI.
:::note Skins can restyle some of these
Glyphs marked themeable below are brand defaults — a skin can override them (for example tool_prefix and the prompt symbol). Everything else is fixed in the renderer.
:::
What you see in the conversation flow while the agent works.
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
❯ | Input prompt — where you type. Themeable (skins set their own prompt symbol). |
● | A tool call. The bullet precedes the tool name and its arguments. |
┊ | Tool-activity rail shown with tool lines. Themeable (tool_prefix). |
✓ / ✗ | Tool result: succeeded / failed. Appended to the end of a completed tool line. |
▸ / ▾ | Collapsed / expanded section chevron (thinking, tools, subagents, banner sections). Click to toggle. |
▍ | Streaming cursor — blinks while the model is still emitting text. |
│ ├─ └─ | Tree rails — connect a parent (a delegation, a journey) to its child entries; └─ marks the last child. |
◈ | Display-only timeline event (session notices rendered inline, not user messages). |
◇ | An injected reference block, e.g. ◇ Reference 1/2 — <label>. |
↳ | The sticky prompt — echoes the user message the agent is currently working on. |
☐ / ☑ / • | Markdown task-list items (open / done) and plain list bullets. |
▶ | Collapsed <details> summary inside rendered markdown. |
The single line at the bottom of the TUI. Segments appear only when relevant and drop off first on narrow terminals.
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
⠋⠙⠹… (braille patterns) | Busy spinner. Thinking and tool phases use different braille animation sets. |
⚕ 🌀 🤔 ✨ 🍵 🔮 | Frames of the emoji busy-indicator style (/indicator emoji). The default style rotates kaomoji faces instead. |
| <code>| / - \</code> | Frames of the ascii busy-indicator style. |
⏱ | Per-prompt elapsed time while the turn runs, e.g. ⏱ 12s/3m 45s (turn time / session time). |
⏲ | The same timer, frozen after the turn completes. |
cmp N | The session has been auto-compressed N times. |
▶ N | N /background tasks currently running. |
⚠ YOLO | YOLO mode is on (auto-approval). Also shown in the startup banner. |
⛓ N | N subagents currently active. |
↩ resumes when subagent finishes | Reassurance shown while you are idle but delegated work is still in flight — the result returns on its own. |
● REC | Voice mode is recording. |
◉ STT | Voice recording stopped; speech-to-text is transcribing. |
◉ focus | Focus view is on (reduced output). Pinned so it never drops off a narrow terminal. |
♥ | Affection flash — Hermes noticed you being nice to it. |
⚡ / 🔋 | Battery indicator (opt-in): plugged in / on battery, with percentage. |
N bg | N background terminal processes tracked in this session. |
N live sessions | Open TUI sessions in this process — click to open the session switcher. |
Short-lived status-bar notices carry their own leading glyph, set by severity:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
✓ | Success notice. |
• | Informational notice. |
⚠ | Warning (also used for credit warnings). |
✕ | Error notice. |
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
⚠ approval required | A tool wants to run something that needs your explicit yes (bordered panel with the command preview). |
⚠ / ? | Confirmation dialog title: dangerous action / ordinary question. |
🔐 | Sudo password prompt (input is masked). |
🔑 | Credential/secret input prompt (input is masked). |
/agents)| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
● | Subagent running. |
○ | Queued. |
✓ | Completed. |
■ | Interrupted. |
✗ | Failed. |
⌛ | Timed out. |
⚠ | Errored. |
⚡N | N currently-active agents in a rollup row. |
▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ | Activity sparkline — recent event volume per branch. |
Ctrl+X)| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
✓ | Session idle. |
… | Starting. |
? | Waiting for input. |
▶ | Working. |
✎ draft | The composer in that session holds an unsent draft. |
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
▸ | Current selection row (model picker and friends). |
* | The currently-active model / provider. |
● / ○ | Provider authenticated / not authenticated (model picker); plugin state fallback (plugins hub). |
✓ / ✗ | Plugin enabled / disabled (plugins hub). |
↑ N more / ↓ N more | More rows above/below the visible window of a list. |
┃ | Scrollbar thumb on scrollable overlays. |
Goal lifecycle notices (from goals) lead with their state:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
✓ | Goal complete. |
↻ | Goal continuing — another iteration was scheduled. |
⏸ | Goal paused. |