The Desktop settings UI persists a registry provider's API key as a
credential pointer -- model.key_env in config.yaml pointing at an env var
in $HERMES_HOME/.env (e.g. HERMES_CUSTOM_LMSTUDIO_API_KEY) -- while
keeping model.provider on the registry id. _resolve_api_key_provider_secret
resolved registry providers exclusively from
PROVIDER_REGISTRY[...].api_key_env_vars, so the UI-saved key was silently
ignored; for lmstudio the runtime then substituted the no-auth placeholder
(dummy-lm-api-key) and auth-enabled LM Studio servers rejected every
request with an opaque, retryable-flagged 401.
Fix: consult model.key_env (only when config.yaml's main model targets the
provider being resolved, so the pointer never leaks across providers)
before the registry env vars, running the value through the same
_usable_declared_secret prefix validation. Precedence for the canonical
env vars and the credential pool is unchanged; a valid canonical key still
wins when no pointer is set.
Complements #75373, which covers providers.<id>.key_env at the provider
level; the Desktop save path writes the pointer at the model level, which
that PR does not consult.
Fixes#106336
Teknium