fix(gateway): persist RLIMIT_NOFILE floor into the generated launchd plist

launchd starts children with soft nofile=256; hermes gateway start rewrites the plist and previously stripped any manually-added SoftResourceLimits, silently reintroducing EMFILE crashes under load. The plist generator now embeds the configured runtime.nofile_soft_limit so the persisted service definition and the in-process floor share one knob.

hermes_cli/gateway.py

@@ -4129,6 +4129,28 @@ def generate_launchd_plist() -> str:
     )
     prog_args_xml = "\n        ".join(prog_args)
 
+    # Persist the configured RLIMIT_NOFILE floor into the service definition
+    # itself. launchd starts children with a soft limit of 256 by default;
+    # without this block every plist rewrite (e.g. `hermes gateway start`)
+    # would silently strip a manually-added limit and reintroduce EMFILE
+    # crashes under load. The in-process floor (resource_limits.py) still
+    # applies as a second layer for non-launchd launches.
+    nofile_block = ""
+    try:
+        from hermes_cli.resource_limits import configured_nofile_soft_limit
+
+        nofile_target = configured_nofile_soft_limit()
+    except Exception:
+        nofile_target = None
+    if nofile_target:
+        nofile_block = f"""
+    <key>SoftResourceLimits</key>
+    <dict>
+        <key>NumberOfFiles</key>
+        <integer>{nofile_target}</integer>
+    </dict>
+"""
+
     return f"""<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
 <plist version="1.0">
@@ -4175,7 +4197,7 @@ def generate_launchd_plist() -> str:
 
     <key>ExitTimeOut</key>
     <integer>25</integer>
-
+{nofile_block}
     <key>StandardOutPath</key>
     <string>{log_dir}/gateway.log</string>
     

hermes_cli/resource_limits.py

@@ -65,6 +65,18 @@ def _configured_nofile_soft_limit(
     return raw_value
 
 
+def configured_nofile_soft_limit(
+    config: Mapping[str, Any] | None = None,
+) -> int | None:
+    """Public accessor for the resolved ``runtime.nofile_soft_limit`` target.
+
+    Used by service-definition generators (e.g. the launchd plist) so the
+    persisted service limits and the in-process floor share one config knob.
+    Returns ``None`` when the adjustment is disabled or unresolvable.
+    """
+    return _configured_nofile_soft_limit(config)
+
+
 def apply_nofile_soft_limit(
     config: Mapping[str, Any] | None = None,
 ) -> bool:
@@ -116,4 +128,5 @@ def apply_nofile_soft_limit(
 __all__ = [
     "DEFAULT_NOFILE_SOFT_LIMIT",
     "apply_nofile_soft_limit",
+    "configured_nofile_soft_limit",
 ]

tests/hermes_cli/test_gateway_service.py

@@ -232,6 +232,35 @@ class TestGeneratedSystemdUnits:
         assert str(local_bin) in plist
         assert str(profile_node_bin) not in plist
 
+    def test_launchd_plist_persists_configured_nofile_soft_limit(self, monkeypatch):
+        """The generated plist must carry SoftResourceLimits/NumberOfFiles so a
+        plist rewrite by `hermes gateway start` cannot strip the FD floor and
+        reintroduce EMFILE crashes (launchd default soft limit is 256)."""
+        import hermes_cli.resource_limits as resource_limits
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr(
+            resource_limits, "configured_nofile_soft_limit", lambda config=None: 65536
+        )
+
+        plist = gateway_cli.generate_launchd_plist()
+
+        assert "<key>SoftResourceLimits</key>" in plist
+        assert "<key>NumberOfFiles</key>" in plist
+        assert "<integer>65536</integer>" in plist
+
+    def test_launchd_plist_omits_nofile_block_when_disabled(self, monkeypatch):
+        """runtime.nofile_soft_limit: 0/false/null disables the adjustment; the
+        plist must then not contain a SoftResourceLimits block at all."""
+        import hermes_cli.resource_limits as resource_limits
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr(
+            resource_limits, "configured_nofile_soft_limit", lambda config=None: None
+        )
+
+        plist = gateway_cli.generate_launchd_plist()
+
+        assert "SoftResourceLimits" not in plist
+
 
 
 class TestGatewayStopCleanup: