buzz-media-attachments

Buzz Media Attachments

Use this workflow when a user asks to post a local media file into the current Buzz conversation and normal MEDIA:/path delivery fails.

Workflow

Verify the source file exists and is readable. Use ffprobe for video metadata when relevant.

Find the current Buzz channel UUID from the live gateway log rather than guessing:

# Search ~/.hermes/logs/gateway.log for the user's latest inbound Buzz message.
# The line contains: platform=buzz ... chat=<CHANNEL_UUID>

Use Buzz's native attachment mechanism:

buzz messages send \
  --channel <CHANNEL_UUID> \
  --content - \
  --file /absolute/path/to/file

--file may be repeated to attach several files to one message.

Load Buzz credentials without shell-sourcing .env. BUZZ_AUTH_TAG can contain JSON that shell source mangles. Parse the file with python-dotenv and pass values through a subprocess environment:

import os, subprocess
from dotenv import dotenv_values

env = os.environ.copy()
env.update({
    k: v for k, v in dotenv_values(os.path.expanduser("~/.hermes/.env")).items()
    if v is not None
})
result = subprocess.run(
    ["buzz", "messages", "send",
     "--channel", channel_id,
     "--content", "-",
     "--file", file_path],
    input=caption,
    text=True,
    env=env,
    capture_output=True,
    timeout=180,
)

If Buzz rejects an MP4, diagnose the returned relay error:

moov atom not at front of file (not fast-start): first try remuxing:

ffmpeg -y -v error -i input.mp4 -c copy -movflags +faststart output.mp4

media contains metadata or a non-canonical metadata channel: use Buzz Desktop's canonical sanitizer settings. A simple stream-copy remux is insufficient because FFmpeg may retain or add forbidden MP4 metadata structures. Fully re-encode exactly as follows:

ffmpeg -y -nostdin -loglevel error -protocol_whitelist file,pipe \
  -i input.mp4 \
  -map 0:v:0 -map '0:a:0?' \
  -map_metadata -1 -map_chapters -1 -sn -dn \
  -fflags +bitexact -flags:v +bitexact -flags:a +bitexact \
  -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 23 -pix_fmt yuv420p \
  -vf 'pad=ceil(iw/2)*2:ceil(ih/2)*2' \
  -c:a aac -b:a 128k \
  -movflags +faststart -metadata encoder= \
  output.mp4

This matches block/buzz Desktop's transcode_to_mp4() implementation and produces the canonical H.264/AAC, metadata-free, fast-start MP4 expected by the relay.

If canonical MP4 encoding is undesirable, fails, or the user specifically asks for Attach Image, convert a short clip to an animated GIF:

ffmpeg -y -v error -i input.mp4 \
  -vf "fps=12,scale=512:-1:flags=lanczos,split[s0][s1];[s0]palettegen=max_colors=128[p];[s1][p]paletteuse=dither=bayer" \
  -loop 0 -map_metadata -1 output.gif

Upload the resulting MP4 or GIF through buzz messages send --file.

Verify success from real output. Only report success when Buzz returns JSON containing:
```
{"accepted": true, "event_id": "..."}
```

Pitfalls

Plain MEDIA:/absolute/path.mp4 can route through Hermes' generic send_video fallback; Buzz may not implement native video delivery there.
Do not claim an attachment worked merely because the gateway accepted the assistant response. Check the Buzz CLI's accepted value and retain the event_id as verification.
Never print BUZZ_PRIVATE_KEY or other .env values.
Keep converted GIFs in /tmp unless the user requests durable copies; do not modify the source MP4.
GIF conversion can increase file size. For long or high-resolution clips, lower fps, scale width, or color count before uploading.

About this skill

Workflow

Pitfalls