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Hermes Agent Needs a Legal Red Line: China Compliance Skills for the World's #1 Agent Framework

#hermes #agents #compliance #china

Hermes Agent just surpassed OpenClaw as the world's most-used AI agent framework (271B tokens/day on OpenRouter). But here's the gap nobody's filling:

No one is teaching agents where the legal lines are.

Every compliance skill on skills.sh and ClawHub targets GDPR, CI/CD, or SOC 2 — Western regulatory frameworks. China's legal landscape? A complete blank.

That's dangerous. Because:

  • China is the world's largest e-commerce market
  • Chinese law has 10 absolute prohibition categories that can shut down a business overnight
  • Cross-border sellers face 5 compliance dimensions (product certification, tax, data protection, IP, platform rules) before they can even list a product
  • Advertising law has 9 categories of prohibited words — using "最" (best) or "第一" (first) in a product title can trigger fines up to ¥2M

Three Skills, One Command

I built three compliance skills specifically for this gap. They work with Hermes Agent, OpenClaw, and any SKILL.md-compatible framework.

Install all three in 30 seconds: 

npx skills add kuanghs/agent-skills
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Or install individually via Hermes:

hermes skills install https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kuanghs/agent-skills/main/cn-business-compliance-check/SKILL.md
hermes skills install https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kuanghs/agent-skills/main/cn-ecommerce-compliance/SKILL.md
hermes skills install https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kuanghs/agent-skills/main/cn-advertising-compliance/SKILL.md
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Skill 1: cn-business-compliance-check

The three-layer filter every business decision needs.

Before executing any commercial strategy, side project, or monetization operation, this skill runs three sequential checks:

  1. Blacklist screening — 10 absolute prohibition categories (illegal fundraising, financial crime, cybercrime, privacy violation, IP infringement, etc.). Hit any one → immediate termination.
  2. Operational compliance — Does this need a special license? Does it involve unauthorized personal data? Is it automated mass-registration? Each flagged item requires resolution.
  3. Revenue transparency — Is the income source clear and legal? Is there a Ponzi structure? Is monthly ROI >20% with opaque model? Each red flag triggers a warning.

Output: A structured compliance report with clear verdict (✅ Pass / ⚠️ Grey Zone / ❌ Absolute Prohibition).

Example: "Build a P2P lending platform" → Layer 1 hits "illegal fundraising" → ❌ Absolute Prohibition. Terminated.

Skill 2: cn-ecommerce-compliance

Five dimensions every cross-border seller must pass before listing.

For Chinese sellers entering EU, US, UK, Japan, or Southeast Asian markets:

  1. Product certification — CE/FCC/FDA/UKCA/PSE requirements per market and product category
  2. Tax compliance — VAT/GST registration thresholds, customs duties, permanent establishment risks
  3. Data protection — GDPR, CCPA, PIPA, PDPA requirements for user data collection
  4. IP risk — trademark search, patent clearance, copyright compliance per target market
  5. Platform rules — Amazon, Shopify, TikTok Shop, Temu, eBay compliance requirements

Example: Selling LED lamps on Amazon US → FCC + UL certification needed (⚠️), state sales tax nexus (⚠️), CCPA privacy policy (⚠️), LED patent FTO analysis (⚠️) → Verdict: ⚠️ Remedy before listing.

Skill 3: cn-advertising-compliance

Nine categories of prohibited words that can shut down your business.

China's Advertising Law (《广告法》) is one of the strictest in the world. This skill screens any ad copy, product description, or marketing material through four steps:

  1. Prohibited words — 9 categories: absolute claims (最/第一/唯一), authority暗示 (国家级/特供), false promises (包治百病), inducement (限时仅剩), superstition, discrimination, etc.
  2. Category-specific restrictions — Medical products can't claim cure rates. Health supplements can't mention treatment functions. Financial ads can't promise returns. 11 product categories with specific rules.
  3. Format compliance — Ad identification, spokesperson rules, comparative advertising, data citation requirements, minor protection, livestream selling rules.
  4. Platform-specific rules — Taobao, JD, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Pinduoduo each have their own enforcement standards.

Example: Product title "全网最低价！国家级认证美白神器" → Hits "最低价" (absolute claim) + "国家级" (authority暗示) → ❌ Cannot publish.

Why This Matters for Agent Builders

If you're building agents that operate in or interact with the Chinese market, compliance isn't optional — it's existential. One wrong word in an ad, one missing certification on a product, one unregistered VAT number can mean:

  • Product recalls and fines
  • Platform account suspension
  • Criminal liability
  • Complete business shutdown

These skills give your agent the legal awareness to flag these risks before execution, not after.

Open Source, Zero Cost

All three skills are MIT-0 licensed, zero dependencies, zero API keys required. They work purely as procedural knowledge — structured legal frameworks that any LLM-powered agent can follow.

GitHub: https://github.com/kuanghs/agent-skills
Skills.sh: https://skills.sh/kuanghs/agent-skills
ClawHub: Search "cn-business-compliance-check", "cn-ecommerce-compliance", "cn-advertising-compliance"

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