0dfb4234 made every mode-less atomic write follow the process umask for NEW
targets, restoring what open("w")-based writers did. Ten of the folded sites
were not open("w") writers: they created the file through mkstemp and never
chmod'd, so on main a fresh file was 0600 regardless of umask (bot mailboxes,
relay inbox, turn markers, sessions.json, cron jobs/output, banner snapshot,
plugin toolset cache, presets, shell hooks, install id). CI caught the loosening
in tests/tools/test_bot_live_owner_delivery.py (st_mode 0o077 bits set).
Pass mode=0o600 explicitly at those ten sites; the umask default stays for the
sites that were open("w") on main. Invariant test exercises two real writers.
Each copy re-implemented temp+replace by hand and lacked one or more of
fsync, symlink preservation, atomic_replace's Windows-contention retry and
EXDEV/bind-mount fallback, mode preservation, or interrupt-safe temp
cleanup. Three (gateway/session_persistence, cron/suggestions,
agent/shell_hooks) were verbatim inlines of utils._atomic_write; two
modules defined their own directory-fsync helper, now utils.fsync_directory.
plugins/google_meet/_jsonfile.write_json_atomic is deleted (callers use the
canonical helper directly).
Behavior change: every one of these writers now fsyncs the payload, keeps a
pre-existing target's mode, cleans its temp file on BaseException, and
survives Windows AV/indexer contention and cross-device renames the way
config writes already did. cron/suggestions.json is 0600 from creation
(previously chmod'ed after the replace). Skipped on purpose: cron/jobs.py
two-phase staging, gateway/status._write_json_excl (create-only lock),
kanban_transfer staging (not atomic writers); tools/skill_usage.
_write_suppressed_names lives inside a PLUGIN-COMPAT block.
DeepInfra catalog (fetched with the launch env's key via os.getenv), Copilot
context limits (api_key ignored on hit), Nous reasoning caps + once-per-process
guards, the curated OpenRouter list, the model-catalog in-process copy (mtime
without path), banner skills, the guest-mint back-off flag and the active skin
were single slots read under per-profile overrides by the gateway and the TUI
gateway; the SWR refresh thread ran without the caller's ContextVars.
Under an override each lives per home key (hermes_cli/models_profile_cache.py
holds the shared slot helper so models.py does not grow), credentials are read
through the scope-aware dotenv reader and keyed by fingerprint, and background
refreshes run under copy_context(). Unscoped behaviour is byte-identical.
The Python passive check (`banner.check_for_updates`, used by the CLI
banner, `hermes --tui`, every `tui_gateway` spawn and the dashboard's
/api/hermes/update/check) also ran `git fetch origin main` on every cache
miss, and never cached an inconclusive result so a flaky line retried on
every start. Same GitHub complaint, same fix:
- remote tip via GET /repos/{slug}/commits/main (vnd.github.sha), local tip
via rev-parse, exact count + changelog via the compare API when they
differ. HTTPS `ls-remote` remains only as the fallback when the API is
unreachable or the origin isn't on GitHub.
- cache TTL 6h -> 24h, failures cached 1h; the cache is keyed on HEAD so
`hermes update` invalidates it immediately.
- the dashboard's "what's changed" list comes from the memoized compare
payload (`upstream_commits_behind`) instead of `git log HEAD..origin/main`,
which was stale without a fetch.
Tests rewritten to the new contract: passive checks must not run
`git fetch`/`ls-remote` for a GitHub origin; the daily cache invalidates
when HEAD moves and re-asks after the failure window.
* fix(auth): close the free tier's gaps against the gateway's welcome-tier contract
The inference gateway's welcome tier (NousResearch/api DOCS/anon-tier/plan.md) serves an
anonymous account exactly one model on its own host, refuses everything else with a structured
429, cross-refuses a request on the wrong host with a 400 (403 while the tier is dark), and
tells a signed-in account that still asks for `nous/welcome` what to switch to in an
`x-nous-model-switch` header. Four client-side gaps against that contract:
- Auxiliary calls were refused on every session. The auxiliary client asked the welcome host
for the Portal's recommended compaction/vision model, a guaranteed 429 `model_not_free`
before each fallback. On the welcome host it now uses `nous/welcome` (its backing model
covers auxiliary work) and skips Nous for vision, which the welcome model does not take.
- The structured 429 body was never read. The classifier now parses `reason` /
`retry_after` / `alternates` / `upgrade_url`: `model_not_free` and `feature_not_free` are
non-retryable gates that fall back; `at_capacity`, `admission_closed` and `rate_limited`
are rate limits that honour `retry_after` and never rotate the free tier's only credential.
The wrong-host 400 and the dark-tier 403 are deterministic, so they abort this route and
fall back instead of retrying or re-exchanging. The terminal paths say what happened and
name the sign-in (`/login` in a chat, `hermes auth upgrade` in a terminal).
- The `x-nous-model-switch` header was ignored. The chat-completions transport records it
beside the rate-limit and credits headers; the next call moves the session, and the config
default when it still names `nous/welcome`, to the backing model the gateway named.
- A guest fell back to the paid host. With `inference_base_url` absent from the exchange or
outside the host allowlist, routing defaulted to inference-api, where every request is a
400. A guest now defaults to the welcome literal at the exchange, in the shared store's
shape, and in effective routing.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
(cherry picked from commit fc758aad7efceff6223fc144a9b5c69f13e41bd8)
* feat(auth): the free tier is set up on request; nous.guest_setup decides whether also on first use
A caller that names nous/welcome on a Nous route with no Nous identity in reach — the guided
setup's session (provider=nous, which skips the resolver's nothing-configured rung), the free-tier
picker row, a bare --provider nous pointed at it — is asking for the free tier. The OAuth runtime
rung now sets it up there instead of failing "not logged in", so the guided chat no longer races
the root profile's first-run mint.
nous.guest_setup is the policy seam: "auto" (default) keeps today's first-use setup wherever
nothing else is configured; "on-request" mints only when the free tier is asked for by name
(nous/welcome, /login, hermes auth upgrade, replacing a retired identity). Implicit callers —
the resolver's last rung, the first-run check, free_tier.status, the CLI's background setup, the
connector token path — still adopt what the shared store holds, so every profile follows the one
identity the guided setup created, but never create one on their own.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
(cherry picked from commit ae915ddc65ecdb81b81e29b604671d15cd49233c)
(cherry picked from commit 62ad1ff3ab200ea064975a32c502041b25910165)
* feat(auth): the guided setup provisions the free tier explicitly; nous.guest_setup is auto | explicit
Two questions govern the free tier: may it exist (nous.guest) and who may CREATE the identity
(nous.guest_setup). "auto" (default) keeps today's first-use setup wherever nothing else is
configured. "explicit" means Hermes never creates one on its own: the only creator is the new
provision_free_tier() primitive, exposed as the free_tier.provision RPC, which the guided setup
on Hermes Desktop calls as its first step — on the root gateway, before the setup profile and
before the guided chat exists — so the identity lands in the root store every profile reads
through and is there before any session asks for nous/welcome. That closes the race against the
backend's own setup, and makes "only when the setup-bot flow is used" literally true.
The earlier "on-request" tier is replaced: it minted whenever any caller named nous/welcome
(the hermes model row, --provider nous), which treated a model name as intent and was broader
than the guided setup. Under "explicit" a nous/welcome request with no identity fails "not
logged in" as before the free tier existed, and /login or hermes auth upgrade report nothing to
sign in from. Implicit callers still adopt an identity the shared store holds, and a retired
credential is replaced (a continuation, not a creation).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
(cherry picked from commit c63d2c935c1e59016164fdfb90cf70b4094466a0)
* fix(auth): remove the nous.guest_setup knob; the free tier is created on first use
`nous.guest_setup: auto | explicit` decided who may CREATE the free-tier identity. Under its
default every line it added was inert (`may_mint` always true), nothing in tree set `explicit`,
unknown values read as `auto`, and under `explicit` a CLI-only install could never get an
identity, which contradicts the first-run contract (first command mints, then chats).
The mint race the knob accompanied is already benign: every caller takes the profile lock then
the shared-store lock, and the loser adopts what the winner wrote. What makes the guided setup
win deterministically is `provision_free_tier()` behind the `free_tier.provision` RPC, which
stays. `nous.guest` remains the only free-tier policy.
Removed: `guest_setup_policy()` and its constants, the `explicit=` / `may_mint=` threading through
`ensure_portal_identity` and `_reconcile_and_provision`, the flag at the three replacement call
sites (now no-ops), the config default, the docs section, and the four `guest_setup` test-config
entries. The three policy tests that hold regardless of the knob are kept under
`TestExplicitProvision`; the two that only tested the knob are deleted.
(cherry picked from commit d8a50526d93c374c0067dd935b5a65055e0af261)
* fix(gateway): a server-driven model switch off nous/welcome does not evict the cached agent
When a signed-in account still asks the paid host for `nous/welcome`, the inference gateway
serves the current backing model and names it in `x-nous-model-switch`. `apply_model_switch`
moves the live session to that model and moves `config.yaml`'s default off the alias in the
same step. The messaging gateway's fallback-eviction check compares the agent's model with the
config default and evicts on any mismatch that is not a /model override, so when the config
write did not land (unreadable config, lock) the cached agent was evicted once per turn, and
prompt caching with it.
`apply_model_switch` now stamps the alias it moved the session off on the agent, and
`_is_intentional_model_switch` treats "agent moved off the alias the config still carries" as
deliberate, beside the existing /model override case. The check takes the agent and the config
model instead of a bare model string; its one caller in `_run_agent_evict_on_fallback` passes them.
(cherry picked from commit 696d1ec86b69db28bf002c841e9389b85178a954)
* fix(auth): the free tier outranks implicit host credentials in provider resolution
On a fresh install with a leftover ~/.aws profile, resolve_provider("auto")
reached the Bedrock rung before the free-tier rung, so the first turn ran on
Bedrock and failed 403 while the free tier was still being minted in the
background at agent setup (NS-829). Live on a Mac with ~/.aws present: 28 s,
three retries, no answer; the next process then switched to nous/welcome.
The free-tier rung now sits directly above the Bedrock chain: when nous.guest
is on, an existing free-tier identity answers, else a blocking mint runs, and
only then does the boto chain get a say. Everything above is unchanged and
still wins: CLI creds, config.yaml model.provider, env keys, the OpenRouter
pool, a logged-in active_provider. nous.guest: false skips the rung, and a
failed mint still falls through to Bedrock and the no-provider guidance.
Tests: six precedence cases (identity present, fresh mint, free tier off, env
key still wins, sign-in still wins, failed mint falls through). The opt-out
test now neutralizes the AWS chain like the precedence tests do; on a machine
with ~/.aws it was failing for the same reason as the bug.
Live after the fix, same Mac, AWS credentials visible, isolated shared store:
identity minted 2 s in, turn on model=nous/welcome provider=nous, answer in
11 s.
(cherry picked from commit a04b05260cd334dd7199ad9b6cd5b2538364c75a)
* fix(auth): review follow-ups for the free-tier rung (NS-829)
- tests/agent/test_bedrock_integration.py: the Bedrock auto-detect test switches
the free tier off; its contract is the boto chain, and the free tier now
sits above it.
- gateway/run_notifications.py: the free-tier startup line reads auth.json
before consulting the resolver, so a gateway boot on a machine with AWS
credentials never mints or refreshes over the network.
- hermes_cli/anon_auth.py: module docstring says where the free tier sits in
the ladder instead of "the ladder is untouched".
- tests/hermes_cli/test_provider_precedence.py: two invariant tests instead of
six (parametrized ladder cases; a failed mint that returns None or raises
falls through to Bedrock).
scripts/run_tests.sh on the five affected files: 147 passed, 0 failed.
(cherry picked from commit 10790d148c60ada11b9ecdde2cd2c836c6a82a11)
* feat(auth): HERMES_GUEST_ONBOARDING=1 is the one launch gate for the free tier; HERMES_FORCE_GUEST is gone
The free tier is pre-GA. Until GA it must not exist for anyone who did not
ask for it: no identity minted, no portal traffic, no free-tier copy on any
surface. One environment variable now decides that, and one function reads it.
`guest_enabled()` returns False unless `HERMES_GUEST_ONBOARDING` is exactly
"1"; only then does `nous.guest` (the user's off switch) get consulted. Every
free-tier site already funnels through `guest_enabled()`, so the gate closes
minting, routing, connector entitlement, status lines and the picker row in
one place. With the variable unset, `resolve_provider("auto")` on a fresh
install raises `no_provider_configured` exactly as upstream does.
`HERMES_FORCE_GUEST` and `force_guest_mode()` are removed. They inverted the
gate (forced the tier ON over `nous.guest: false`), their "new" value re-minted
identities as a side effect of provider resolution, and `_has_any_provider_
configured` read them ahead of every other check, making the CLI a second
reader of a flag that must have exactly one. `_forced_new_done` and the
`force` parameter of `_reconcile_and_provision` go with them.
Supersedes the dev lever introduced in fcf9d11679 (rung 1) and hardened in
b5c162c3ec. Ruling: NS-845 Q1.1 (recorded on NS-847).
Not a user preference: the variable is never written to config.yaml or .env
and never shown in setup. It is deleted at GA together with its comment in
anon_auth.py. This is a deliberate, temporary exception to the "no new
HERMES_* env vars for non-secret config" rule.
Tests: fixtures set the gate instead of deleting the old lever; one new
invariant (`test_launch_gate_off_means_no_free_tier_at_all`) proves that "",
"0", "true" and "new" all leave the tier off with zero portal calls, red on the
previous commit. The `HERMES_FORCE_GUEST=new` re-mint test is deleted with the
feature.
* feat(auth): the free-tier identity is created in one place, at boot; every other site is a read
Before this commit eight sites could create a Nous free-tier identity as a
side effect of something else: resolving a provider, the CLI's first-run
check, the CLI's session setup (in the background beside an own key), a
connector bearer read, the desktop polling `free_tier.status`, the sign-in
precondition, the desktop's `free_tier.provision`, and the dead-credential
re-mint. A poll could mint. Provider resolution could hit the network. Two
of them raced each other on a fresh install.
Now `hermes_cli/free_tier_bootstrap.py::run_bootstrap` is the only creator.
`hermes serve` runs it on a daemon thread from `_lifespan` beside the other
background boots; `cmd_chat` runs it synchronously before the first-run
guard. It inventories credentials first (`resolve_provider("auto",
skip_free_tier=True)`: what would carry inference if the free tier did not
exist), creates the identity only when `guest_enabled()`, resolves inference,
records a `SetupRecord` in process memory and broadcasts ONE `setup.ready`
event. It runs on every boot; only the mint is gated.
`ensure_portal_identity` now requires `explicit=True` and raises otherwise.
Its callers are the bootstrap, the desktop's `free_tier.provision` (the
explicit retry when the boot could not create the identity) and the two
dead-credential replacements (`auth_nous.resolve_nous_runtime_credentials`,
`managed_tool_gateway._replace_dead_guest_token`). The background thread
path and `provision_free_tier` are deleted with their last callers.
Reads that used to mint and now only read: `auth.py::resolve_provider`
rung 7 (an existing identity still outranks the Bedrock chain, NS-829
ordering kept), `main.py::_has_any_provider_configured`,
`cli_agent_setup_mixin._ensure_runtime_credentials`,
`managed_tool_gateway.read_nous_access_token` (no identity -> None),
`anon_sign_in.run_sign_in` (no identity -> Unavailable),
`methods_free_tier` `free_tier.status`.
`setup.status` answers from the record for the launch profile, blocking up
to 8 s while the bootstrap is in flight so a client's first poll lands after
the identity exists rather than racing it; a named profile, or a process
that never ran the bootstrap, keeps today's live probe. The record's fields
ride along additively (`ready`, `free_tier`, `other_providers`,
`inference_provider`).
Identity and inference are decoupled (NS-845 Q1.3): the mint sets
`active_provider="nous"` only when the inventory found nothing else usable
(`_mint_locked(carries_inference=)`); an adopted account always does. A token
refresh no longer re-elects the provider it refreshed
(`_save_provider_state_to_source` writes credentials, not the user's
choice) — that write was how an own-key install ended up on the free tier
after the first connector call.
Supersedes the mint sites in fcf9d11679, a42d0748fc (first-run check),
bbbaa8935a (CLI background setup), 0179efc989 (`free_tier.status` mint),
62ad1ff3ab / c63d2c935c / d8a50526d9 (the `nous.guest_setup` knob and
`provision_free_tier`), and a04b05260c (blocking mint in the resolver).
Ruling: NS-845 Q1.2 + Q1.3, recorded on NS-847.
Tests: `TestBootstrapIsTheOneCreator` (one mint per process; own key keeps
inference; reads never reach the portal; a refused mint is memoised),
`free_tier.status` fails loudly if it ever calls the creator, the resolver
stub fails loudly if resolution ever mints, `setup.status` reads the record,
`skip_free_tier` proves the inventory question. The three sign-in tests for
the deleted pre-mint collapse into one (`no identity -> Unavailable, zero
portal calls`). Live: real `_lifespan` boot with a fake portal, gate on and
off (/tmp/ns847-recon/evidence/e2e-rung5-c2-serve-boot.txt), and the CLI
matrix incl. an own-key cell (e2e-rung5-c2-bootstrap.txt), 20/20.
* fix(credits): the welcome host is free-tier evidence, so a free-tier identity never sees "run /topup"
A free-tier identity carries $0 by design, so the portal seed reports
`paid_access=False` for it. `is_free_tier_model` did not know the welcome
host, read that as a depleted account, and every free-tier turn ended with
the credits-depleted notice telling the user to top up an account they do
not have.
Rule (4) in `is_free_tier_model`: a `base_url` on the Nous welcome host
(`anon_auth.route_is_welcome_host`) is the free tier. The host is the
evidence, not the model name: the paid inference host can serve
`nous/welcome` to a named account and that account's depletion is real, so
`("nous/welcome", <inference host>)` stays False. Local data only, like the
three rules above it.
Restores the two contracts dropped by hermes-magic 674e11d1eaa (the
prototype line ran without unit tests): the welcome host is free without
any pricing evidence; the model name alone is not. The first is red without
this fix.
* fix(copy): free-tier text stops promising a connector transfer and never names the config key
Sign-in copy on every surface said "Sign in to keep your connectors" and
ended with "Your connectors are kept." The transfer registry that would
make that true is empty (NS-821): nothing carries over today. The copy now
says what signing in does give ("unlock more models and tools") and the
completion line names the account, not a transfer. The docs page loses the
"connectors carry over" paragraph for the same reason.
The picker's off-state line exposed `nous.guest: false` and the word
"guest"; user copy names the free tier only (R-USR-1).
The docs page gains the pre-rollout note: until GA nothing on it happens
without `HERMES_GUEST_ONBOARDING=1`. Its "first command mints" and
"replaced on next use" sentences now describe the boot bootstrap.
zh is a strict locale: the `freeTier` block was English placeholder text
copied from `en`; it is now Chinese. `connectorsKept` is renamed
`completedBody` since it no longer talks about connectors.
* feat(desktop): the free-tier launch flag is decided once in Electron and stamped onto every backend spawn
The Python backend reads `HERMES_GUEST_ONBOARDING` and treats exactly "1"
as on. Until now nothing in the desktop set it, so a packaged app could
never turn the free tier on, and a backend spawned by the app could
disagree with the app about whether the tier was live.
`electron/guest-onboarding.ts` owns the decision: `guestOnboardingEnabled`
is true when the launch env has `HERMES_GUEST_ONBOARDING=1` or argv has
`--guest-onboarding` (the packaged-app spelling). It is read ONCE at launch
into a module constant. `desktopBackendSpawnEnv` wraps every backend env
as the outermost call and writes the flag LAST, as "1" or an explicit "0",
so no earlier spread (`process.env`, `backend.env`) can resurrect a stray
value from the parent shell.
Stamped onto all three spawn sites: the primary `serve` spawn, the pooled
per-profile spawn, and the remote SSH `exec env ...` command (which gains
` HERMES_GUEST_ONBOARDING=1` only when on). The embedded terminal PTY and
the backend probes are not backend spawns and do not get it: a
`hermes --tui` typed in the pane must not mint.
The renderer learns the same fact read-only through the existing
`hermes:launch-flags` sync IPC (`guestOnboarding`) and preload
(`window.hermesDesktop.guestOnboardingEnabled`).
Ruling: NS-845 Q1.1 / Q2 (env var is the contract, `--guest-onboarding`
maps to it in main). Two invariant tests on the pure helpers: only "1" or
the argv flag enables; the spawn env carries "1"/"0" as the last word and
preserves every other key.
* feat(desktop): the renderer learns free-tier readiness from one `setup.ready` push, not a 60 s poll
The backend's boot bootstrap now announces `setup.ready` once, after it has
created (or refused) the free-tier identity and resolved the inference
route. The renderer used to discover both by polling `setup.status`,
`setup.runtime_check` and `free_tier.status` every 60 s from
`useStatusSnapshot`; a fresh install's chip, notice strip and onboarding
overlay could sit stale for up to a minute after boot, and three RPCs a
minute per window kept asking a question whose answer changes only at
boundaries the backend already announces.
`handleLifecycleEvent` routes `setup.ready` (active source only, like
`skin.changed`) to `notifySetupReady()`, a one-shot tick atom in
`live-sync.ts` beside the other change ticks. `useStatusSnapshot` listens
to it and runs one readiness round at once (`setup.status` +
`setup.runtime_check` + `free_tier.status`). The readiness legs also run
once on open and on return from another app, as today. The 60 s tick keeps
only `getStatus()`.
`SetupStatusSnapshot` types the record's additive fields (`ready`,
`free_tier`, `other_providers`, `inference_provider`); readiness semantics
are unchanged and still key on `provider_configured` + `runtime_check`.
Ruling: NS-845 Q1.2 (renderer half). Tests: the lifecycle branch fires one
refresh from the active source and none from another; the snapshot hook's
contract is three legs on open, one leg on the tick.
* fix(cli): the banner names the free tier's model instead of "no model configured"
The welcome banner prints before credentials resolve, so on a fresh install
`model` is empty and the banner said, in red, "no model configured — run
/model or hermes setup". Under the free tier that is false: the route is
already known from local state (identity on disk, tier on), and the first
message will run on `nous/welcome`.
`_banner_left_lines` now asks the route the same question when `model` is
empty (`guest_carries_inference()`, a local read) and shows `welcome · Nous
Research`. When nothing resolves the red line stays. Ruling: NS-845 ("the
banner's 'no model configured' line reads the resolved route").
Live: fresh HERMES_HOME + fake portal, gate on -> `welcome · Nous Research`;
gate off -> the red line, zero portal calls.
* fix(aux): vision on the free tier uses nous/welcome too
The text-only modality on the gateway's `nous/welcome` row is DeepSeek V4 Flash's, the
backing model until the repoint; `z-ai/glm-5.3-flash` is natively multimodal and the
repoint declares the welcome row `text+image->text`. Skipping Nous for vision on the
welcome host would have sent every image step past the free tier for no reason, so the
auxiliary client pins the route's one model for every lane. A backing model that takes
no images answers with the upstream's own error, which the ladder handles as it always has.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
(cherry picked from commit 7456e028faba55480db43015dc2c8df3e393a415)
* fix(gateway): hermes gateway run is a boot owner of the free tier too
Rung 5 made every demand-time free-tier site a read: resolve_provider,
the connector token, the /login precondition. That is only correct if
every process that can reach those sites ran the bootstrap first. The
CLI (cmd_chat) and hermes serve (_lifespan) did; the standalone
messaging gateway did not. A fresh HERMES_HOME with the gate on and
`hermes gateway run` reached provider resolution with no identity to
consume, and /login returned Unavailable. Reported by @andrexibiza on
#107697 (P1).
GatewayRunner.start now runs `free_tier_bootstrap.run_bootstrap` on an
executor thread right after startup recovery and BEFORE any adapter
connects, so a fast first DM cannot arrive with nothing to resolve. It
is its own step, not part of the turn-machinery warm-up: the warm-up is
an optimisation with an off switch (HERMES_STARTUP_WARMUP_TIMEOUT<=0);
the bootstrap is correctness and must always run. With the gate unset it
is a local inventory and no network.
Live, real GatewayRunner.start against a fake portal in a fresh home:
gate on -> 1 create, identity persisted, resolve_runtime_provider=nous,
/login precondition sees the identity
gate off -> 0 portal calls, no identity, no_provider_configured
Before the fix the gate-on row was identical to the gate-off row.
Test: the bootstrap seam runs before _start_prefilter_platforms and
delegates to the one creator. Red on 5554eb6993 (no seam), green here.
---------
Co-authored-by: Robin Fernandes <robin@soal.org>
Co-authored-by: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
`hermes_cli/banner.py::_git_run` is the shared spawn path for every banner and
passive update-check git probe (rev-parse, rev-list, remote get-url, ls-remote).
It carried the UTF-8 text contract but not `creationflags=windows_hide_flags()`,
so on Windows each probe run from a GUI-hosted backend (desktop-spawned
`hermes serve`, `tui_gateway` import kicking off `prefetch_update_check`) flashes
a console window. Every other short-lived helper in `hermes_cli/` already passes
the flag; this brings the banner path in line.
Surfaced by CI on this PR: the stray `git ... origin` spawn from the prefetch
daemon landed in `test_env_probe_run_hides_console_window`'s process-wide
`subprocess.run` capture and tripped its call-count assertion. The test now
scopes its assertion through the module's `_spawns` helper like its siblings,
so an unrelated daemon spawn cannot fail it (the production fix is what makes
that stray spawn carry the flag in the first place).
A/B: base `_git_run` -> no `creationflags` kwarg; fixed -> 0x08000000.
The startup update check resolved `git remote get-url origin` with the
user's global config in scope while the subsequent fetch runs under
noninteractive_git_env (GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL=/dev/null). A global
url.<https>.insteadOf rewrite therefore made an SSH origin masquerade as
HTTPS, the SSH-avoiding fast path was skipped, and the fetch dialed the
raw SSH origin — whose host-key prompt opens /dev/tty directly and
steals the CLI's keystrokes (#104591).
Probe the origin URL under the same isolated env so both sides observe
the URL the fetch will actually dial.
Adapt the config-only portion of #104347; omit its environment flag and unrelated docs. Explicit update commands remain independent.
Co-authored-by: Rohith Pariki <rohithpariki@gmail.com>
Follow-up on the cherry-picked fix: _defer_update_notice no longer takes the Rich console it
can never safely use (the notice always lands after patch_stdout owns stdout), the unit test
asserts the contract at prompt_toolkit's boundary (an ANSI fragment reaches
print_formatted_text, with no raw ESC/markup in the visible text) instead of patching our own
cprint, and evals/cli_deferred_notice.py drives the real CLI under a Linux PTY with a FIFO-gated
update cache to A/B the late-notice cases (garbled on base, clean after).
The deferred update notice ("N commits behind") was rendered via
console.print which writes ANSI escapes directly to stdout. Under
patch_stdout (active in the interactive CLI), the StdoutProxy strips
ESC bytes, leaving visible [1;33m...[0m artifacts.
Fix: render Rich markup to an ANSI string via a captured Console, then
route through cprint (which uses prompt_toolkit ANSI parser) to
bypass the StdoutProxy mangling.
This is the same class of bug as #2262 (fixed by #2448 for agent._print_fn
and display.py), but the _defer_update_notice callsite in banner.py was
not covered by that fix.
Fixes#83969
For each issue anchor present in BASE 63279301bc non-test .py and absent on HEAD, the BASE comment/docstring block was re-attached at the HEAD location of the code it explained (matched by the distinctive code line / enclosing def). Sentences already covered by an existing HEAD comment were deduped; the issue number always survives. Insert-only: no code lines changed.
Every git fetch that dies mid-transfer (timeout, HTTP 429, dropped
line) strands a tmp_pack_* file in .git/objects/pack, and git never
cleans them. The banner's background update check is the main generator
on flaky lines — several aborted fetches a day — and the reporter's
install accumulated hundreds of files / 6.0 GB over 9 days until the
pack directory corrupted outright and every update check hung or
failed permanently.
clear_stale_tmp_packs() in gitlock.py sweeps tmp_pack_/tmp_idx_/
tmp_rev_/tmp_mtimes_ debris with the exact safety contract the lock
sweep already uses: only files past the 10-minute age floor, never
while any git process runs, never raises, real pack-*.pack/.idx files
untouchable by construction (prefix match). Wired into all three
fetch-adjacent sites: _cmd_update_check, the update apply path, and
the banner's passive check (generator = janitor).
Live E2E: 300 aged tmp_pack files (the reported scale-shape) swept
from a real repo; an in-flight fresh tmp and ancient real packs
survived; fsck clean and a real fetch round-trip succeeded after.
huklaa's review: a failed fetch makes origin/main stale, so a stale ref
cannot prove *currentness* (rev-list 0 is inconclusive), but a stale
positive count is still sound evidence an update exists. On fetch
failure, compute the stale behind-count and return it when > 0;
otherwise return None (inconclusive) and still skip the cache write.
Regression tests:
- fetch failure + stale rev-list 0 -> None (not 'up to date')
- fetch failure + stale rev-list 5 -> 5 (update evidence preserved)
- fetch failure + rev-list error -> None
When _check_via_local_git's git fetch fails (timeout, offline, DNS),
the code silently fell through to compare HEAD against the stale
origin/main tracking ref, which can report 0 (up to date) even when
upstream has moved forward. Combined with the 6-hour cache in
check_for_updates, a single fetch failure could suppress update
notifications for days — the exact symptom in #82166 where the daily
cron reported 'up to date' for 4 days after v0.20.0 was released.
Two fixes:
1. _check_via_local_git now detects fetch failure (returncode != 0 or
exception) and returns None instead of falling through to stale
refs. The caller treats None as 'check could not run' rather than
'up to date'.
2. check_for_updates no longer caches None results. Previously, a
None from a failed check was cached for 6 hours, suppressing
retries until the cache expired. Now only conclusive results
(0 or >=1) are cached, so the next check attempt runs immediately
on the next call.
Added regression tests:
- test_check_via_local_git_fetch_failure_returns_none
- test_check_for_updates_does_not_cache_none
Follow-up on the cherry-picked gitlock work (#80501 by @RGerrish, covering
the #75133 / #75168 wedge first reported and fixed by @RelaxJonh):
- Drop the PR's ancestor-check halves in banner.py, update-count.ts and
main.ts: superseded by the compare-API status recovery that landed in
#86257/#86331 (ahead_by == 0 already reports local-ahead as up to date).
The salvaged update_cmd.py check path keeps main's compare-API structure
instead of the PR's tip-SHA-plus-ancestry print.
- Keep and wire clear_stale_git_locks() at the remaining wedge sites the
original PR targeted: hermes update apply, hermes update --check, and the
passive banner check.
- Add the desktop counterpart (electron/gitlock.ts) so checkUpdates() heals
the same wedge instead of reporting fetch-failed forever; mirrored
age + git-process guards; vitest coverage.
E2E verified: real --depth 1 clone with an aged .git/shallow.lock reproduces
"Unable to create '.git/shallow.lock': File exists"; clear_stale_git_locks
removes it and the fetch succeeds; a fresh lock (in-flight fetch) is
preserved.
Fixes#84851
The SSH fast path in _check_via_local_git compared only the exact tip SHA
of local HEAD against upstream main. When a local carried commit makes the
SHAs differ, it returned 1 ('behind') without checking ancestry, so an
ahead-of-origin checkout was misreported as '1 commit behind' — nudging the
user to run 'hermes update' and wipe their carried work. Fall back to
git rev-list --count HEAD..origin/main (mirroring the full-clone path) when
the SHAs differ.
The honesty half (no fabricated counts) leaves shallow installs permanently
count-less. The compare API knows the full graph regardless of local clone
depth: GET /repos/<o>/<r>/compare/<current>...<target> returns ahead_by —
exactly the behind count the shallow boundary lost.
- hermes_cli/banner.py: _github_compare_behind() (bounded, unauthenticated,
best-effort); wired into _check_via_rev and the shallow branch of
_check_via_local_git. ahead_by==0 with differing tips = local-ahead => 0.
- hermes_cli/update_cmd.py: hermes update --check shallow path prints the
exact count when recoverable, presence-only wording otherwise.
- apps/desktop/electron/update-count.ts: compareApiUrl() +
parseCompareBehindCount() pure helpers; main.ts fetches the count when
resolveBehindCount() returns null, and the SSH-official passive path stops
fabricating behind:1 (uses compare API + updateAvailable flag).
- apps/desktop/src/lib/version-status.ts: updateAvailable now applies to the
client target too, so a shallow desktop install shows '(update)' instead of
nothing (or the old frozen '(+1)').
Fixes#84591; CLI siblings of #78253 / #53479 behavior.
E2E: live compare API returned 61/62 for real 61/62-commit gaps and 0 for the
reversed (local-ahead) pair; real shallow-clone fixture (depth-1 clone +
depth-1 fetch, merge-base broken) recovers the exact count with the API and
falls back to the honest sentinel offline.
The SSH-official-remote path in _check_via_local_git was hard-coded to
return 1 when _check_via_rev reported UPDATE_AVAILABLE_NO_COUNT, so
'hermes --version' and the CLI banner surfaced a stable but false
'Update available: 1 commit behind — run hermes update' message. The
count never grew: whether upstream was 1 commit or 100 commits ahead,
the banner always said '1 commit behind'.
Root cause: an ls-remote probe against the upstream URL can only tell
us tip SHAs, not a real commit count. Returning the sentinel
UPDATE_AVAILABLE_NO_COUNT (-1) already means 'update exists, count
unknown' — the exact right shape for this path.
The dashboard/desktop UI does not depend on the fabricated 1:
- The REST /api/hermes/update/check endpoint
(hermes_cli/web_server.py::check_hermes_update) treats any nonzero
behind as update_available=true, and its docstring explicitly
documents -1 as a legitimate value.
- The desktop store (apps/desktop/src/store/updates.ts::mapBackendCheck)
clamps behind<=0 to 0 and reads updateAvailable as a separate boolean
field.
So restoring the sentinel is a strict improvement: CLI banner and
hermes --version now say 'Update available' honestly instead of
inventing a count, and every REST/desktop consumer keeps working.
Changes:
- hermes_cli/banner.py: drop the 'return 1' override in the SSH branch;
propagate the sentinel unchanged.
- hermes_cli/main.py::_print_version_info: render the sentinel as
'Update available — run <cmd>' (without a count).
- tests/hermes_cli/test_update_check.py: update the SSH-official test
to assert on the sentinel; add 3 new tests covering the CLI
renderer's -1 / >0 / 0 branches.
Cold CLI time-to-banner was ~1.8s (hermes) / ~2.8s (hermes -w). The banner
path was paying for work the session doesn't need before first input:
- aux availability probes built REAL OpenAI/httpx clients (openai import
~0.3s + SSL context) just to answer check_fns. New aux_probe_mode()
returns a cache-excluded stub; resolution policy unchanged.
- tools/mcp_tool imported the mcp SDK (~260ms, mcp.types pydantic model
construction) at module import even with zero MCP servers configured.
SDK import is now lazy behind _ensure_mcp_sdk(); _MCP_AVAILABLE is a
find_spec probe so every existing gate/test keeps its semantics.
- banner blocked 500ms on the update-check prefetch; now waits 50ms and
defers the warning line to a daemon thread (prints above the prompt).
- banner recomputed get_tool_definitions + skills scan + git state every
launch; now snapshotted to ~/.hermes/cache/banner_snapshot.json keyed on
(config.yaml, .env, checkout rev, toolsets) and replayed on warm launches
with a background refresh. Agent tool list is still computed fresh.
- _resolve_active_context_length probed the Nous portal /models (~200ms
network) per launch; the tool-search gate now prefers the on-disk
context cache when present.
- schema reconciliation re-executed SCHEMA_SQL in a scratch SQLite DB
(~85ms) per SessionDB(); the reference parse is now disk-memoized by
DDL hash (live-DB diffing still runs every startup).
- bundled-skills sync (~120-170ms rglob/hash) moved off the startup path
to a daemon thread; plugin discovery starts in the background and every
synchronous consumer joins via discover_plugins().
- hermes_cli.auth imported httpx eagerly (~30ms); now a lazy proxy that
test monkeypatching still reaches (setattr forwards to the real module).
- fast chat launch: unambiguous 'hermes'/'hermes chat' invocations skip
building all ~40 subcommand parsers (bails to full dispatch on anything
else, incl. container mode).
- -w path: git worktree add runs with checkout.workers=8 (0.6s→0.2s) and
overlaps HermesCLI construction; --skills preload runs in the background
and is folded in at agent init (finalize_preloaded_skills, same
fail-loud contract for fully-unknown skill lists); stale-worktree prune
moved off the banner path.
Warm results (PTY time-to-banner, 5-run): hermes 1.80s → 0.38-0.40s;
hermes -w -s hermes-agent-dev --yolo 2.82s → 0.57-0.69s.
A completely unconfigured install previously booted into a working-looking
chat (banner showed model 'unknown'), accepted a message, spun ~30s, then
failed with 'Set OPENROUTER_API_KEY' — a provider the user never chose —
and never offered setup.
- HermesCLI.run() now probes provider readiness at startup (TTY only) and
offers the shared provider picker (hermes model flow, which fronts Quick
Setup / Nous Portal OAuth) when nothing is configured. Decline is
respected; picker state re-syncs into the live CLI so the next turn works
without a restart.
- New silent probe _runtime_credentials_ready(): no printing, no state
mutation; handles keyless local endpoints and callable bearer providers.
- The empty-api-key error is provider-aware: names the actual resolved
provider and points at 'hermes model' / 'hermes setup' instead of
hardcoding OPENROUTER_API_KEY.
- Banner: unconfigured installs render 'no model configured — run /model'
in red instead of the silent 'unknown' model slug.
Consumer-onboarding audit finding #2 (sev 5), Aug 2026.
Salvaged from #57016 by @lEWFkRAD:
- cli.py: handle file:///C:/... drive-letter URIs on nt (strip the
leading slash urlparse leaves); join Termux example paths with literal
forward slashes so hints stay POSIX on Windows.
- gateway/status.py + hermes_cli/gateway.py: normalize backslashes to
forward slashes before the HERMES_HOME substring match so separator
style cannot defeat profile ownership detection.
- hermes_cli/banner.py: cprint degrades to plain print when
prompt_toolkit has no console (NoConsoleScreenBufferError on
redirected/absent Windows stdout).
- hermes_cli/browser_connect.py: posixpath.join for WSL /mnt/c/... bases
(os.path.join would emit backslashes on nt).
- Test hardening: symlink skip-guards, USERPROFILE alongside HOME for
ntpath.expanduser, SIGKILL absence skipif fixed via monkeypatch,
drive-letter URI / separator-normalization / banner-fallback coverage.
Dropped from the original PR: tests/cli/conftest.py fixture and the
AppSession _output monkeypatch — main's merged tests/cli/conftest.py
already handles that prompt_toolkit pollution.
The banner update-check ran an unscoped 'git fetch origin', transferring
all ~1,400 remote heads (measured 3.0s dry-run vs 0.55s scoped, and up to
70s on a cold ref store) and frequently burning its full 10s timeout on
slow links. cmd_update already scopes its fetch for exactly this reason.
A scoped 'git fetch origin main' updates both the origin/main tracking
ref (full-clone count path) and FETCH_HEAD (shallow compare path), so
behind-count semantics are unchanged — verified empirically on a full
clone (rewound tracking ref restored to tip, count correct) and a
--depth 1 shallow clone (FETCH_HEAD updated, boundary preserved).
Path.read_text() and Path.write_text() without explicit encoding
default to the system locale encoding. On Windows this is typically
cp1252, which causes UnicodeDecodeError for UTF-8 content (JSON
configs, user data, service scripts).
Add encoding="utf-8" to all read_text() and write_text() calls
across 8 CLI files, matching the pattern established in PR #50534
(security_audit_startup.py) and ruff rule PLW1514.
Fixed files:
- main.py: 4 read_text calls
- auth.py: 3 read_text calls
- banner.py: 1 read_text + 1 write_text
- service_manager.py: 1 read_text + 4 write_text
- container_boot.py: 1 read_text + 4 write_text
- doctor.py: 3 read_text calls
- uninstall.py: 2 read_text calls
- gateway.py: 1 write_text call
The salvaged #61978 covers tui_gateway/server.py. The crash reported on
Jul 24 came from a sibling site it doesn't touch: the desktop update
panel's _recent_upstream_commits() in hermes_cli/web_server.py runs
git log with text=True and no encoding. Commit 84db32484f put a bug
emoji (UTF-8 f0 9f 90 9b) in a subject on main; byte 0x90 is undefined
in cp1252, so every Windows desktop install behind that commit crashed
in subprocess._readerthread during the update check (#52649).
Guard every text=True capture site in the desktop-backend process with
encoding='utf-8', errors='replace':
- hermes_cli/web_server.py: git log update panel, memory-provider setup
runner, WhatsApp bridge npm install, docker probe
- hermes_cli/banner.py: all 5 git sites (update check runs at startup)
- tui_gateway/host_supervisor.py: build-sha probe, ps probe, compute-host
Popen drain threads
- tui_gateway/compute_host.py: build-sha probe, ps rss probe
Removes Homebrew and PyPI wheel/sdist as Hermes distribution paths while
preserving the supported source, Docker, and Nix workflows.
Changes:
- Removes the Homebrew formula, PyPI publish workflow, sdist manifest
(MANIFEST.in), and wheel/sdist release-attachment logic from scripts/release.py.
- Keeps setuptools metadata and entry points required by editable installs
and Docker/Nix builds, but adds a setup.py guard that rejects wheel/sdist
builds outside a sealed Nix derivation (HERMES_NIX_BUILD=1).
- Removes pip/Homebrew install detection, PyPI update checks, the pip
self-update path, the deprecation-banner state, the postinstall subcommand,
wheel data-directory fallbacks in agent/i18n.py and hermes_constants.py,
and the ACP Registry manifest/version-lockstep release logic.
- Adds /nix/store/ path detection so `nix run` / `nix profile install`
installs (which don't set HERMES_MANAGED) are correctly identified as
"nix" rather than falling through to "git"/"unknown".
- Retired install-method values ("pip", "homebrew") in existing
.install_method stamps (both code-scoped and home-scoped) are ignored by
the allowlist reader and fall through to "unknown" instead of resurrecting
a retired enum value.
- Updates Nix packaging to ship bare runtime data (locales, optional-mcps)
through store symlinks and wrapper env vars instead of wheel data-files.
- Removes the ACP Registry manifest/icon and their version-lockstep tests.
- Deletes or rewrites packaging, pip-update, Homebrew, and ACP Registry
tests; adds parametrized coverage for the packaging build guard covering
BOTH sdist and wheel paths (the guards live in separate cmdclass entries
— a passing sdist test proves nothing about the wheel path).
- Updates installation/platform documentation and related user-facing copy.
- Adjusts the supply-chain scan so deleted install-hook files do not trigger
a finding, while additions or modifications still require the existing
ci-reviewed label gate.
Supported installation paths (unchanged):
- git installer (install.sh)
- Docker
- Nix/NixOS
- editable development installs (uv sync, uv pip install -e ., pip install -e .)
* feat(install): warn pip/Homebrew installs are unsupported (CLI, TUI, desktop)
pip and Homebrew are now Unsupported install methods per
website/docs/getting-started/platform-support.md. Surface a
warn-don't-block deprecation notice everywhere the install method is
already shown, pointing at the platform-support docs and noting these
installs will not receive further updates. NixOS (Tier 2) is untouched.
- hermes_cli/config.py: shared is_unsupported_install_method() /
format_unsupported_install_warning() helpers so the wording and docs
link stay consistent across every surface.
- hermes_cli/banner.py: generalize the existing pip-only banner
warning to also cover Homebrew.
- hermes_cli/main.py: hermes update and hermes update --check print
the warning before proceeding (still update; warn, don't block).
- tui_gateway/server.py: session.info gains install_warning.
- ui-tui: SessionPanel renders install_warning alongside the existing
'N commits behind' notice.
- apps/desktop: SessionRuntimeInfo/GatewayEventPayload gain
install_warning; applyRuntimeInfo + the live session.info event fire
a snoozable warning toast via a new reportInstallMethodWarning(),
mirroring the existing backend-contract-skew toast pattern. i18n
strings added for en/zh/zh-hant/ja.
- Tests: updated pip banner assertions for the new wording, added a
Homebrew banner test, and two tui_gateway session_info tests
(install_warning present for pip, absent for git).
* fix(nix): make `hermes` in developement environment actually work
install modules as editable overlay with uv
* feat: print install method when running --version
* fix: correct detect install method when running from a subtree
Follow-up to #53791 addressing review feedback: the footgun checker treated
capture_output=/stdout=/stderr=/check_output as proof a subprocess can't pop a
Windows console. That invariant is false — stream redirection controls where a
child's output goes, not whether a console is allocated. From a console-less
parent (Desktop/Electron, pythonw.exe, detached gateway/cron) a console-subsystem
child still flashes a window even when fully captured.
- check-windows-footguns.py: capture/redirect/check_output is no longer a blanket
safe-pass. Added _WINDOWS_FLASHING_PROGRAMS (git/gh/npm/node/python/uv/ffmpeg/
docker/powershell/…); calls to those are flagged even when captured. Non-flashing
programs keep the capture exemption (no 271-site noise). _subprocess_compat.run/
popen calls are inherently safe (wrapper injects CREATE_NO_WINDOW).
- Routed the 35 genuine flashing git/gh/npm/uv/ffmpeg/docker spawns through the
_subprocess_compat.run/popen chokepoint (Brooklyn's wrapper from #53810) — the
durable fix, not per-site annotations. cmd.exe /c start stays # ok (intentional).
- Updated tests + CONTRIBUTING.md rule #17 to the corrected invariant.
Selecting 'Mixture of Agents' in the `hermes model` provider picker fell
through silently — select_provider_and_model had no moa branch, so it just
reprinted the current model/provider summary and exited. And the CLI session
banner rendered the bare preset name (e.g. 'opus-gpt · Nous Research'),
which is meaningless out of context.
- Add _model_flow_moa: always lists the available presets (even one), then
prints the full reference-models + aggregator breakdown for the selection
and persists model.provider=moa / model.default=<preset> (dropping stale
base_url + endpoint creds, since moa is a virtual local provider).
- Wire the branch into select_provider_and_model.
- build_welcome_banner takes provider; when 'moa' it renders
'MoA: <preset> · agg <aggregator>' instead of a bare slug. Both CLI call
sites pass self.provider.
Tests: 2 new banner tests (moa + non-moa unchanged); E2E verified the picker
persists the preset and clears stale base_url/api_key.
* chore: re-trigger CI (workflows did not dispatch on prior head)
* fix(update): don't count across shallow-clone boundary (bogus '12492 commits behind')
Installer checkouts are shallow (git clone --depth 1). The CLI banner and
hermes update --check both did a plain git fetch (silently unshallowing the
repo) then git rev-list --count HEAD..origin/main, which counts across the
shallow boundary and prints a huge nonsense number like '12492 commits behind'.
Detect shallow up front, fetch with --depth 1 to preserve the boundary, and
compare tip SHAs instead of counting:
- banner _check_via_local_git: returns UPDATE_AVAILABLE_NO_COUNT when behind
(renders as 'update available') instead of the bogus count.
- _cmd_update_check: reports presence-only on shallow clones.
Full clones keep the exact count path unchanged. Mirrors the desktop fix in
apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs (commit 2950c6fa2).
The welcome banner's 'Available Tools' merged in every toolset from the
global check_tool_availability() registry walk, regardless of whether it
was enabled for the current platform. On a Blank Slate CLI (file +
terminal only) that surfaced discord / feishu / kanban tools the agent
was never actually given — they are not in the agent's tool schema, but
the banner displayed them, making it look like they were exposed.
- Filter the unavailable-toolset merge to toolsets actually in
enabled_toolsets (a toolset that's enabled but has unmet deps still
legitimately shows as disabled/lazy).
- Gate the 'Available Skills' section on the skills toolset being
enabled — when it's off, the agent can't load any skill, so show
'Skills toolset disabled' instead of the on-disk catalog.
When enabled_toolsets is empty (older callers), behavior is unchanged.
Validation: blank-slate banner now shows only file + terminal and
'Skills toolset disabled'; a skills-enabled banner still lists the
catalog. Added regression tests; full banner suite green (15/15).
Inside the published Docker image, both the `--tui` banner and the
dashboard-embedded TUI report `1 commit behind — run docker pull
nousresearch/hermes-agent:latest to update` even though the container
has no git repo and no way to compute a commit delta.
Root cause: two independent update-detection paths, only one of which
knows it's running in Docker.
- `recommended_update_command()` → `detect_install_method()` reads the
`.install_method` stamp that `docker/stage2-hook.sh` writes at boot →
returns "docker", so the *command string* correctly says `docker pull`.
- `banner.check_for_updates()` (the source of the "N commits behind"
*count*) has no notion of the docker install method. It only detects a
build via `HERMES_REVISION` (nix-only, unset in the image) or a `.git`
dir (excluded from the image by .dockerignore). Neither matches, so it
silently falls through to `check_via_pypi()`, whose PyPI-version
mismatch flag (1) is then rendered verbatim by the CLI banner
(build_welcome_banner), the Ink TUI badge (branding.tsx), and `hermes
version` as "1 commit behind" — a phantom count, no commit math
involved. `hermes update` already refuses to run in-place in the
container.
The dashboard's REST `/api/hermes/update/check` endpoint already
short-circuits docker (returns behind=None + the docker guidance). This
mirrors that guard inside `check_for_updates()` so the banner/TUI/version
surfaces agree: when `detect_install_method() == "docker"`, return None
before any git/pypi probe (and before writing a cache entry). None makes
the render guards (`typeof === 'number' && > 0`, `behind and behind > 0`)
stay false, so the badge/line disappears entirely — matching the System
page.
Fix is in one place (check_for_updates) because all three consumers route
through it via get_update_result()/_update_result.
Tests: test_check_for_updates_docker_returns_none asserts None + no
git/pypi probe + no cache write; test_check_for_updates_non_docker_still_checks
guards against over-broadening (pip still version-checks). Mutation-tested:
removing the guard fails the docker test.
Verified against a real `docker build` of the image — see PR description.
get_mcp_status() treated every non-connected server as a failure, so a
server configured with enabled: false rendered as red '— failed' in the
startup banner even though it was intentionally off. Add a 'disabled'
field derived from the enabled flag and render disabled servers dim as
'— disabled' instead.
The 'summoning hermes…' phase blocked on gateway.ready, which ran MCP
tool discovery inline. Any configured-but-unreachable MCP server burned
its full connect-retry backoff (1+2+4s ≈ 7s) before the composer
appeared — startup went from instant to ~7.5s of dead air for anyone
with a down stdio/http server in mcp_servers.
Move discovery into a background daemon thread so gateway.ready fires
immediately; tools register into the shared registry as servers connect,
and the agent isn't built until the first prompt. Measured spawn→ready:
~7500ms → ~115ms (dead twozero_td server in config).
Also drop rich.console + prompt_toolkit off banner.py's import path
(lazy-imported inside cprint/build_welcome_banner). tui_gateway.server
imports banner only to reach the lightweight prefetch_update_check
helper; the eager rich/pt imports added ~45ms before gateway.ready for
no benefit. tui_gateway.server import: ~115ms → ~69ms.
teknium1