Two real gaps the CI-red sibling tests exposed:
- read_selection() treated EVERY raw stt.provider: local as the legacy
DEFAULT_CONFIG seed and reported no-selection — but the seed never
reached config.yaml (save_config strips schema defaults), so a
picker- or hand-written local pick was silently discarded and the
autodetect ladder could route an explicit local user to cloud STT.
A raw 'local' is now a genuine selection; the merged-view ambiguity
note replaces the over-broad shim (mirror comment updated in
nous_subscription._selected_provider and _get_provider).
- _reconfigure_provider was half-migrated: the tts/stt/browser/web
branches and the managed-category fallthrough still wrote
use_gateway flags and vendor names for managed rows. They now write
the single provider string ('nous' for managed rows) and pop the
legacy key, matching _write_provider_config.
Every hermes tools row now writes exactly one selection value per
category — managed 'Nous Subscription' rows write 'nous', BYOK rows the
vendor name (including the historically-unset BYOK-FAL image row) — and
use_gateway is no longer written; fresh picks drop any legacy key so the
read-time shim cannot override them. The non-managed clear now resolves
the category from the row's own markers, covering plugin-injected rows
the TOOL_CATEGORIES loop missed. Setup-flow writers (managed defaults,
gateway enablement) store 'nous', and the feature-state mirrors in
nous_subscription.py compute per-category selections with the same
legacy interpretation so hermes status matches runtime: a stored vendor
selection pins direct (managed availability no longer lights it up) and
an explicit non-camofox selection beats a stray CAMOFOX_URL.
Exa and Parallel now each render as two picker rows in hermes tools —
'Free (keyless)' and 'Paid (API key)'. Selection persists to
web.provider_tier.<name>:
- free: always the anonymous public endpoint, even with a key set
- paid: always the keyed SDK path; missing key errors instead of
silently downgrading to the free tier (is_keyless_available also
returns False so the auto-fallback walk can't route there)
- unset: auto (key present -> paid, else keyless)
Mechanism: get_setup_schema() gains a 'variants' list the picker
flattens into sibling rows sharing one web_backend; selection writes
the tier via both _write_provider_config sites; active-row detection
matches the tier (auto mirrors use_keyless). Routing goes through a
single use_keyless() chokepoint shared by search+extract in both
providers.
Live E2E: tier=free with a fake key present searched keyless OK (a
keyed call would have 401'd); tier=paid without key errored naming
PARALLEL_API_KEY; picker rows verified for both vendors x both tiers.
Same bug class as the plugin image picker crash (#77238): an unguarded
`current_model = default_model` fallback that can index the catalog with a
key it doesn't contain when the provider's default drifts from its catalog.
Applies the `default if default in catalog else next(iter(catalog))` guard
to _configure_imagegen_model and _configure_videogen_model_for_plugin.
A same-day version-floor bump (0.20 runtime contract) left every install
with an older cua-driver hard-failing on all computer_use calls: the
start() gate fails closed, while the `hermes update` refresh defers to the
driver's own check-update verb — whose ~20h cache routinely answers "no
update available" right after we raise the floor. Hermes knew it required
0.20+ but never acted on that knowledge.
Two changes:
- tools_config.install_cua_driver(): a contract-failed installed driver is
repaired on the upgrade=True path too (previously only upgrade=False).
The contract failure itself is the confirmation, so the
require_confirmed_update gate and the check-update short-circuit are
bypassed for repairs — an indeterminate or stale-cached check can no
longer pin users on an unusable driver.
- cua_backend.CuaDriverBackend.start(): when the contract gate fails on an
installed binary, attempt one automatic repair per process via the
standard install path, then re-probe. HERMES_CUA_DRIVER_CMD overrides
are never repaired (explicit override is authoritative even when broken)
and a missing binary still just reports the install hint. A failing
installer can't loop: the second start() surfaces the original error.
Tests: contract-repair coverage in test_computer_use.py (auto-repair
success, failed repair surfaces the original error, once-per-process
guard, override never repaired, missing binary never repaired) and
test_install_cua_driver.py (incompatible driver repairs despite an
indeterminate check-update, check-update not consulted). All new tests
verified to fail against the unfixed source (sabotage run).
Live-testing the Cua Driver 0.20 convergence on Windows 11 (session 2,
cua-driver 0.20.0) surfaced three defects in the existing-profile browser
path and in install status.
1. The config grant was silently nullified by an approval bypass.
`--yolo` / `-z` map onto a private unrestricted daemon, which answers every
browser_prepare. Because the host delegated the entire existing-profile
decision to the driver, that bypass also nullified
`computer_use.grant_existing_profile: false`: a plain `hermes -z` attached
to the user's real Chrome profile and read live page content over CDP, with
the driver reporting it as "the approved existing Chromium profile". It was
never approved.
An approval bypass is consent to skip prompts, not consent to read an
existing profile's pages, cookies, and storage. CuaTypedBrowserRoute.prepare
now enforces the key itself, regardless of permission mode. bounded stays
exempt - its reviewed capability manifest is the authorization boundary.
The authorization inputs are resolved in the backend from config and the
backend's immutable mode, never from model-supplied kwargs.
2. The grant, once set, still could not be used.
With `grant_existing_profile: true` the runtime is launched
`--grant existing-profile` correctly, but cua_browser_prepare then hit a
runtime approval prompt anyway - re-asking the user to authorize what the
config already authorized, and making the documented opt-in unusable on any
non-interactive run, where the prompt has nobody to answer it and the call
dies on approval timeout. The durable, file-backed grant now stands in for
that prompt. Scope is narrow: only the existing-profile prepare, only when
the grant is present; isolated launches still prompt and any resolution
failure falls closed to prompting.
3. `computer-use status` hid a custom override and spliced its output.
With HERMES_CUA_DRIVER_CMD pointed at cmd.exe, status printed the child's
multi-line banner and prompt inside the one-line version field, never
mentioned the override, and advised `hermes computer-use install` - which
install itself (correctly) refuses to run against an overridden path. It now
names the override and mirrors install's update-or-unset guidance, and
version output is reduced to one bounded line.
Verified on the reported host: `-z` existing-profile attach now refuses and
names the key; `grant: true` no longer prompts (33s vs a 300s approval
timeout); status names the override and prints one line. No change to the
reconciliation path - driver SHA256 unchanged end to end.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
`hermes config set` and JSON-mode editor saves store lists as quoted
strings (e.g. '["skill-a","skill-b"]' or "['memory']"). Both disable
filters treated such a string as a single name, so curated disable
lists silently filtered nothing with zero diagnostics.
Add parse_config_string_list() in agent.skill_utils and use it in
_normalize_string_set (skills.disabled / platform_disabled) and at
every agent.disabled_toolsets read site: tools_config resolve +
reconcile, CLI, gateway agent construction (both sites), cron
scheduler, and prompt_size. A scalar string still names a single
entry (#13026); malformed JSON falls back to the single-name
behavior instead of raising.
Fixes#86661
The Nous Subscription image_gen row carries imagegen_backend="fal", so
_reconfigure_provider's post-model-picker step ran
img_cfg["use_gateway"] = False
unconditionally at two sites, immediately after the managed branch had
written use_gateway=True. A user who picked Nous Subscription and then
re-entered `hermes tools` to change the model was silently flipped onto
their personal FAL_KEY.
Same bug class as fe63353cb, which fixed the plugin-provider selector
but missed these two legacy-backend sites in the reconfigure flow. Both
now write bool(managed_feature), matching the existing correct site in
_configure_provider.
Adds regression tests driven through the real TOOL_CATEGORIES managed
row; sabotage-verified (tests fail with the old behavior restored).
The `computer_use` toolset (cua-driver) had no persistence branch in
_write_provider_config or _is_provider_active. When the Desktop GUI
sent PUT /api/tools/toolsets/computer_use/provider, the config write
was a no-op and _is_provider_active always returned False -- so the
"Use this backend" CTA reappeared on every refresh.
Add a computer_use_backend marker to the cua-driver provider entry
and handle it in the same pattern as web_backend / browser_backend:
- _write_provider_config now sets computer_use.backend = "cua"
- _is_provider_active now checks computer_use.backend
- _reconfigure_provider (interactive CLI) also persists the key
Fixes#86962
_select_plugin_image_gen_provider hardcoded image_gen.use_gateway = False.
The managed (Nous-subscription) flow writes use_gateway = True via
_write_provider_config, then this selector runs AFTER it — so picking FAL
through Nous Portal silently persisted provider: fal, use_gateway: false
and every generation billed the user's personal FAL_KEY instead of the
subscription (real incident: key drained to zero-balance lock while the
managed route sat unused).
Fix the class, not the site:
- _select_plugin_image_gen_provider gains the same use_gateway kwarg its
video twin (_select_plugin_video_gen_provider) already had; all four
call sites pass use_gateway=bool(managed_feature), matching the video
call sites, TTS, STT, browser, and web.
- Active-provider detection (the checkmark in `hermes tools`): the
image_gen_plugin_name branch now defers managed entries to the
managed_feature branch and requires use_gateway OFF for direct-key
entries — mirroring the video branch's existing guard, so a managed
FAL pick and a direct-key FAL pick no longer both report active.
Runtime side (prefers_gateway("image_gen")) was already correct; the bug
was purely the setup-time writer.
Tests: new tests/hermes_cli/test_imagegen_managed_gateway.py (3 cases:
managed flag survives, direct pick still clears, image/video selector
contract parity). Sabotage-verified: restoring the hardcoded False fails
2/3. Neighboring hermes_cli provider/managed suites: 180 passed.
Layer 2 of the #81163 / #78050 fix: _get_platform_tools computed
plugin_ts_keys = _get_plugin_toolset_keys() but only used
CONFIGURABLE_TOOLSETS in the explicit-config filter, so a user-listed
plugin key like `a2a` in `platform_toolsets.cli: [hermes-cli, a2a]` was
silently dropped. The filter now unions configurable and plugin toolset
keys when evaluating has_explicit_config and when admitting per-key
entries.
Cherry-picked from PR #81190 (Layer 2 hunks only; Layer 1 is covered by
the provides_tools mechanism from PR #78842).
Everything Browser Use is now managed by Hermes: the canonical binary
is the one install_cli() provisions into HERMES_HOME/bin, and every
resolution and provisioning site prefers it.
- _find_cli(): probe order flipped to managed bin -> PATH ->
user-level tool dir (then uvx across the same order). A user's own
uv tool install can no longer shadow the Hermes-managed copy with a
drifted version; side installs only matter when we have nothing.
- install_cli(): a browser-use on PATH no longer short-circuits the
install — only the managed copy does, so selecting any backend
provisions the copy Hermes controls and updates.
- _ensure_browser_use_cli() (hermes tools): drops its own PATH check
and always delegates to install_cli(), the single owner of the
managed-copy policy.
- install.sh / install.ps1: same short-circuit fix — only
HERMES_HOME/bin/browser-use counts as installed.
Follow-up to #86240 and #86320: with every non-Camofox backend
selection installing the CLI, managed-first closes the remaining
version-drift/shadowing class instead of guarding single sites.
Tests updated to pin the new contract: managed beats PATH and
user-local; PATH install does not satisfy install_cli; helper always
delegates. E2E-verified precedence chain with real files and a real
degraded-PATH install attempt.
The Browser Use CLI 3.0 is the primary driver engine for all browser
backends except Camofox, but only the explicit 'Browser Use' picker row
ran the install hook. Local Browser, Browserbase, Firecrawl, and the
Nous-managed cloud rows left the CLI uninstalled, so those selections
depended on the uvx zero-install fallback (first-use PyPI download
inside the tool-call timeout) or silently downgraded to the built-in
browser tools where uvx was unavailable.
- Extract the install logic into _ensure_browser_use_cli() and run it
from the agent_browser/browserbase post_setup branch too (Firecrawl
and the Nous cloud row both declare post_setup: browserbase).
- Camofox is untouched: Firefox-based, no CDP surface, cannot be driven
by the CDP-only browser-use harness.
- Failure stays non-fatal: uvx fallback, then built-in tools.
Tests pin the contract: every browser post_setup key except camofox
attempts the install; camofox never does; install failure never raises.
- --ignore-scripts on every real npx agent-browser invocation.
AGENT_BROWSER_NPX_SPEC is a floating ^0.26.0 range, not an exact
pin, and none of these sites passed it (unlike install.sh/
install.ps1's own npm install of the same package). Verified against
the real CLI: `npx --ignore-scripts --prefer-offline -y
"agent-browser@^0.26.0" --version` resolves cleanly on npm
11.19.0/node 26.
- _resolve_npx_bin() now checks the Hermes-managed/extended search
before a bare ambient PATH lookup, validating each candidate with
node_tool_runnable before trusting it — a bare PATH-first lookup let
a broken system npx shadow a healthy managed one with no recovery.
- warm_agent_browser_npx_cache() now runs a credential-scrubbed,
PATH-propagated environment (matching every other agent-browser
subprocess spawn) instead of inheriting the full parent environment
including every provider/gateway credential Hermes holds, and kills
the whole process tree (not just the top-level npx PID) on timeout
via the new _kill_process_tree helper, since a surviving descendant
can otherwise hold a capture pipe open past the nominal deadline.
Git-clone installs resolving agent-browser via bare npx floated latest
with no integrity check, while install.sh/install.ps1 installs stayed
pinned to ^0.26.0. Pin the npx spec to match. Also extract the
"npx agent-browser" sentinel comparison (6 call sites across two
packages) into a named constant/predicate, fix a PATH-priority
inversion where a broken system npx could shadow a healthy
Hermes-managed one at the two real npx launch sites, and stop
`hermes doctor --fix` from counting a bonus npx cache warm as a fixed
issue on an otherwise-healthy run.
`hermes update` was pruning root-level Node dependencies (agent-browser)
because npm ci always wipes and reifies node_modules according to its
active filter -- no root-first/workspace-first ordering or flag
combination (--workspaces=false, --include-workspace-root, etc.) can
reliably keep a root-only package.json dependency from being pruned by
a subsequent workspace-scoped npm ci. Confirmed empirically and via
npm/cli source (isArboristCmd hardcodes includeWorkspaceRoot=false for
ci/install), so no amount of install-order juggling fixes this for good.
Instead of chasing install order, remove the root-only dependencies
that made the npm step fragile in the first place:
- agent-browser is no longer a root package.json dependency. It
resolves lazily via `npx agent-browser` (tools/browser_tool.py
already had this as a fallback; it's now the primary path).
warm_agent_browser_npx_cache() is called fire-and-forget from both
`hermes update` and `hermes doctor --fix` to keep npx's cache warm,
preserving the "available before any session starts" property
agent-browser had as an eager dependency without re-entangling it
with the npm workspace graph.
- @streamdown/math moves to apps/desktop/package.json, where it's
actually imported (markdown-text.tsx, katex-memo.ts) -- it was
never used anywhere else and was subject to the same pruning risk.
- _update_node_dependencies() collapses to a single
`npm ci --workspace ui-tui --workspace web` call now that root has
no dependencies of its own to protect, and keeps its original spot
ahead of `_build_web_ui()` at both call sites in update_cmd.py --
with no root-only dependencies left to protect, there's no reason
for the Node refresh and the web build to run in any particular
order relative to each other.
- hermes_cli/tools_config.py's post-setup Chromium-install path and
hermes_cli/doctor.py's agent-browser check both now resolve through
the same PATH -> Homebrew/Hermes-managed-node -> npx cascade
(_find_agent_browser / _resolve_npx_bin) instead of hand-rolling
their own node_modules/.bin lookups, so they can't diverge from what
browser tools actually invoke at runtime.
- tests-js/package-json-lazy-deps.test.ts gets a lockfile-level check
mirroring the existing camofox one, so a future regression that
reintroduces agent-browser into package-lock.json fails this test
directly instead of relying on manual review to catch it.
Fixes#43564.
The Browser Use CLI became the default browser backend, but nothing
provisioned it: users without uv/uvx (field report from DongyangHe on
macOS) silently fell back to the built-in browser tools with no notice.
- install_cli() in tools/browser_use_cli.py: uv tool install browser-use
via the managed uv (bootstrapped on demand), linked into
$HERMES_HOME/bin (UV_TOOL_BIN_DIR)
- _find_cli() now also probes $HERMES_HOME/bin for browser-use/uvx —
Hermes' managed uv is not on the user's PATH
- hermes tools post_setup actually installs (Camofox standard) instead
of printing instructions
- install.sh / install.ps1 provision the CLI at install time
(best-effort, non-fatal, honors --skip-browser)
- CLI startup shows a one-line notice (24h rate-limited) when the
default backend downgraded to the built-in tools
An unset browser.backend ("") now resolves to Browser Use mode whenever
the browser-use CLI is runnable (installed binary or uvx); otherwise the
built-in browser tools are kept so browsing never silently breaks.
Camofox setups always keep the built-in tools (no CDP surface), and
backend: off (including YAML 1.1 bare off -> False) forces the built-in
stack. hermes tools row highlighting follows the same effective-mode
resolution, and tests/tools/ pins CLI discovery off so host uvx installs
can't flip built-in-browser tests.
Reframe (per review): browser.backend: browser-use is now a DRIVER over
whatever browser source is configured, not a competing backend choice.
- browser_exec resolves its CDP endpoint through the same chain the
built-in tools use: BU_* env override > BROWSER_CDP_URL/browser.cdp_url
(/browser connect) > the configured cloud provider via browser_tool's
_get_session_info() — sharing the per-task session cache, expiry
replacement, inactivity reaper, and atexit cleanup instead of
duplicating them. Live-validated against Browserbase (session created,
driven, reaped) and gateway-provisioned Browser Use cloud browsers.
- Direct-API Browser Use configs skip provider resolution (the CLI talks
to their cloud natively via BU_AUTOSPAWN); the Nous-gateway variant
resolves through the provider, so subscribers get CLI mode without a
raw BROWSER_USE_API_KEY.
- Camofox: only true fallback — Firefox-based, custom HTTP API, no CDP
surface (its own health probes fail on CDP-schema calls). Active
Camofox setups keep the built-in browser tools even with
backend: browser-use set.
- hermes tools picker: provider rows and the Browser Use row are no
longer mutually exclusive; selecting a provider keeps the driver
choice, and both rows highlight when composed.
- Docs updated for driver-over-source semantics.
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.
plugins.manage list rows now carry the canonical registry key and a
portable flag (Agent Plugins v1 plugin.json packages), and toggles
address the key — bare names collide across category dirs
(image_gen/fal vs video_gen/fal), so name-addressed toggles flipped
both. Portable packages' in-memory MCP servers also fold into
enabled_mcp_server_names(); without that their tools registered with
the MCP runtime but never reached the model's schema.
Widen of the PowerShell codepage cluster: the autostart registration
subprocess in tools_config.py was the last text=True capture in these
modules still decoding with the locale code page. Standardize on
encoding='utf-8', errors='replace' like the rest of the file (#53428).
The a2a client tools are registered unconditionally by the plugin, but a
newly-registered plugin toolset defaults to ENABLED for every platform until
the user has seen it in 'hermes tools'. That force-injected 'a2a' into every
agent's enabled_toolsets, leaking 3 tool schemas to all users and breaking
tests that assert exact toolset membership
(test_api_server_toolset::test_create_agent_respects_config_override).
Add 'a2a' to _DEFAULT_OFF_TOOLSETS so it stays opt-in (user enables via
'hermes tools'), matching the spotify precedent. The inbound platform
adapter is already opt-in (only instantiated when the a2a platform is
enabled); this aligns the outbound client tools with the same posture.
NOTION_API_KEY/LINEAR_API_KEY defaults, DEEPINFRA_API_KEY model gate, FAL_KEY via the file's own _scoped_credential helper, XAI/VERCEL/DAYTONA presence checks, GITHUB_TOKEN/GH_TOKEN + GitHub App creds in tirith/skills_hub, and the masked HERMES_API_KEY display in tui_gateway config.show all route through get_secret.
Hermes installs runtimes for itself — `uv` at `$HERMES_HOME/bin/uv`, Node
at `$HERMES_HOME/node` — and neither directory is on an arbitrary
process's PATH. Every `shutil.which("node"/"npm"/"npx"/"uv")` in Hermes's
own code therefore has two failure modes: the managed runtime is invisible,
so the caller reports "not installed" or degrades to a slower tier on a
machine that has exactly what it needed; and when a system copy also
exists, the one Hermes does not own wins.
Routed the Hermes-owned call sites through managed-aware resolvers:
- `agent/lsp/install.py`, `hermes_cli/dep_ensure.py`, `hermes_cli/main.py`
(`_make_tui_argv`), `hermes_cli/tools_config.py` (`_run_post_setup`) now
use `find_node_executable()`.
- `hermes_cli/tools_config.py::_pip_install` and `hermes_cli/setup.py`'s
vercel install use `ensure_uv()` (installing uv is in scope during setup,
and the Windows installer's `uv venv` does not seed pip, so the fallback
tier is "No module named pip"). `tools/lazy_deps.py` uses `resolve_uv()`
— a lookup, not a bootstrap, because it runs mid-turn for an optional
dependency and downloading a runtime as a side effect exceeds what the
caller asked for.
- `hermes_cli/gateway.py`: extracted `_append_node_dir_for_service()`,
shared by the systemd unit and launchd plist generators, which appends
the managed dirs before the PATH-resolved one. A service definition is
written once and survives reboots, so resolving a system Node that
happens to lead the installing shell's PATH bakes the wrong interpreter
in permanently. Managed dirs are profile-scoped, so each profile's unit
still names its own Node; the existing symlink-parent rule (don't
`.resolve()`) is preserved verbatim.
- `tools/environments/local.py`: the terminal tool's subshell PATH gains
the managed dirs, appended alongside the sane entries rather than
prepended — a tool the user deliberately put on their own PATH still
wins, and the managed one only fills a gap. This is also what makes the
bare `which("uv")` in `tools/env_probe.py` correct: that probe reports
the environment the *model* sees, and the model can only run what is on
that subshell's PATH.
`scripts/install.ps1`: the persisted User PATH update becomes
`Set-ManagedNodeFirstOnUserPath`, a move-to-front rather than an
add-if-missing. Installs made by an older install.ps1 already have the
managed dir in User PATH — at the tail, behind a system Node — and an
add-if-missing check sees it present and leaves that ordering in place
forever, so the users the bug hurt would never be repaired. Unrelated
entries keep their relative order (empty segments included; a trailing
`;` is legal and the installer's other PATH code preserves them),
duplicates collapse, and it writes only when the string actually changes.
Tests:
- `tests/test_managed_runtime_resolution.py` — AST guard that fails any
new bare `which()` for a managed runtime, with a short justified
allow-list and a companion test that fails when an allow-list entry goes
stale. Reading source is banned by AGENTS.md and this is the documented
exception: the property is "no call site anywhere spells it this way",
which no runtime seam can observe.
- `scripts/ci/test_install_ps1_path_migration.ps1` — behavioral, not a
source regex: it lifts the real `Set-ManagedNodeFirstOnUserPath` out of
install.ps1's AST and rewrites only the two registry calls into an
in-memory store, so the shipped split/dedupe/prepend/change-detection
logic executes for real. Not in the default lane (Linux runners have no
PowerShell host); runs under `pwsh`. 13/13 assertions pass.
Detect a missing cua-driver-serve scheduled task after the installer runs
and retry registration via Start-Process -FilePath/-ArgumentList instead of
interpolating the binary path into a PowerShell command string (which splits
at the first space in a username-space path).
Salvaged from #60880 by @embwl0x. Related: #60808.
The upstream cua-driver installer scripts on trycua/cua@main carry a
baked default version that Release Please bumps in the release PR
*before* the release assets are published. During that window an
unpinned installer run 404s on the asset download and the
`hermes update` cua-driver refresh fails with:
error: download failed: The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found.
⚠ cua-driver refreshing did not complete. Re-run manually: ...
Observed live 2026-07-29: baked version 0.14.0 vs latest published
release 0.13.1 — every `hermes update` run with an out-of-date driver
hit the warning until upstream publishes the assets.
We already know the correct version: `cua-driver check-update --json`
returns `latest_version` straight from the GitHub Releases API, whose
entries by definition have published assets. When the check positively
confirms an update, export that version as CUA_DRIVER_RS_VERSION into
the installer child env (both install.sh and install.ps1 honour it over
their baked default), so the refresh downloads the release that
actually exists instead of racing the upstream release pipeline.
Malformed / missing latest_version values fall back to the previous
unpinned behaviour. The explicit `hermes computer-use install
--upgrade` force path and fresh installs are unchanged.
STT previously had no configuration surface outside hand-editing
config.yaml — no category in the hermes tools picker, no provider
matrix in the GUI capabilities tab, no status line in hermes setup.
- TOOL_CATEGORIES['stt']: 7 provider rows (Local Whisper, Nous
Subscription managed, OpenAI, Groq, xAI, ElevenLabs Scribe,
DeepInfra) with key prompts, badges, and post-setup hooks
- stt_provider marker wired through _write_provider_config,
_configure_provider, _reconfigure_provider, and
_is_provider_active — GUI and CLI share one write path
(apply_provider_selection)
- STT model picker (_configure_stt_model + STT_MODEL_CATALOG) runs
after provider pick: local sizes, Groq whisper family, OpenAI
whisper-1/gpt-4o-*/gpt-transcribe, ElevenLabs scribe (model_id key)
- faster_whisper post-setup hook auto-installs the local backend;
registered in _POST_SETUP_READY
- stt is CONFIG-ONLY (_CONFIG_ONLY_TOOLSETS): it ships no tool
schemas, so it is excluded from the per-platform enable checklist;
the GUI toolset toggle writes stt.enabled instead of
platform_toolsets
- hermes setup shows a Speech-to-Text status line per provider
- Mistral row omitted (mistralai PyPI quarantine), mirroring the
dashboard stt.provider options
Tests: tests/hermes_cli/test_stt_picker.py (20 cases) incl. invariant
checks against agent.transcription_registry builtins and the runtime
OPENAI_MODELS/GROQ_MODELS sets.
Three GUI Capabilities-tab defects reported on Windows:
1. Browser rows stuck on 'Setup required' after a successful setup run.
Root causes, all in the readiness probe (not the installer):
- _has_agent_browser() never searched the Hermes-managed Node dir
(%LOCALAPPDATA%/hermes/node / $HERMES_HOME/node/bin) where the
Windows install lands, and probed node_modules/.bin/agent-browser
as the extensionless POSIX shim, which fails exec on Windows
(WinError 193) — now resolved via PATHEXT-aware shutil.which
against both rungs, mirroring _find_agent_browser().
- Cloud rows (Nous Subscription Browser Use, Browserbase, Browser
Use, Firecrawl) declared post_setup: agent_browser, whose
readiness gate requires a LOCAL Chromium build the cloud never
uses — switched to the cloud-scoped 'browserbase' hook (CLI-only).
- _agent_browser_installed() could read browser_tool's stale cached
'Chromium missing' result from before the install ran in the
spawned post-setup process — cache now dropped before probing so
the pill flips to Ready right after a successful run.
2. No way to tell which backend is active, and clicking a row to read
its details silently rewrote config. Row click now only
expands/collapses; activation is an explicit 'Use this backend'
button, the active row carries an 'Active' pill, and the expanded
active row says 'This is your active backend'.
3. OpenAI TTS showed one model and one voice. The options were always
defined but rendered through a native <datalist>, which filters by
the field's current value — a field already set to a valid option
suggested only itself. Replaced with a real combobox (Input +
dropdown) that lists every option, and voice suggestions now track
the selected model per the OpenAI TTS docs: tts-1/tts-1-hd = 9
voices, gpt-4o-mini-tts = 13 (adds ballad, verse, marin, cedar).
'Refreshing cua-driver (Computer Use)...' could hang for minutes on
Windows: when the driver's native check-update verb returned an
indeterminate result (old driver without the verb, offline, GitHub
rate-limited, or the probe timing out), install_cua_driver(upgrade=True)
fell through to the full upstream installer — a silent, output-captured
run with a 660s ceiling, plus install.ps1's 600s concurrency-lock wait
on Windows on top. Every 'hermes update' paid that cost.
Two changes:
- install_cua_driver() grows require_confirmed_update: with it set, an
indeterminate check keeps the installed version and returns fast,
printing the force path (hermes computer-use install --upgrade).
'hermes update' passes it; the explicit --upgrade CLI keeps the old
fall-through so a force refresh still works when the check can't
answer.
- cua_driver_update_check() default timeout is now 25s on Windows
(8s unchanged on POSIX): first-spawn of the exe under Defender /
SmartScreen routinely exceeds 8s, and a false timeout is exactly the
indeterminate result that used to trigger the multi-minute reinstall.
Adds build_aux_picker_rows() + format_aux_picker_entries() to
hermes_cli/inventory.py and converts both auxiliary-task pickers to them,
so custom providers, exclusions, and picker visibility can no longer be
dropped one call site at a time.
The two salvaged commits each fixed one kwarg at these same two sites
(user/custom providers, then for_picker). Both were per-site patches, so
the next aux picker would have reintroduced the gap. The seam makes the
correct behaviour the default a new caller cannot forget:
- user `providers:` and saved `custom_providers:` entries
- `model_catalog.excluded_providers`, matching /model
- exhausted-credential-pool providers stay visible
- only the active custom endpoint is probed, so an offline saved local
server can't hang the picker
- the virtual `moa` row is excluded (auxiliary_client unwraps it to the
aggregator anyway, so offering it is a silently-rewritten choice)
The vision picker also gains the current-selection marker it never had.
Also threads for_picker through build_models_payload, which had no way to
express it despite list_authenticated_providers supporting it.
credential pool has entries but is entirely rate-limited (exhausted): rate
limits are per-model for many providers (e.g. Google Gemini), so an exhausted
key for model-A may still serve model-B, and the user should stay able to
select it. That fix wired `for_picker=True` into `list_picker_providers`.
The two sibling interactive pickers reached by `hermes model` still called
`list_authenticated_providers()` WITHOUT `for_picker=True`, so they kept
hiding exhausted-pool providers:
- `_aux_select_for_task` (hermes_cli/main.py) — the auxiliary-task
provider/model picker.
- `_configure_vision_provider_model` (hermes_cli/tools_config.py) — the vision
provider/model picker.
Both persist a per-task config the user runs *later* (once the momentary
cooldown clears), so hiding an exhausted-pool provider here is exactly the
Tests: two regressions assert each picker requests `for_picker=True` (they
omitted it before the fix); the existing picker/exhausted-pool suite still
passes (6 total).
AST-driven pass over every subprocess.run/Popen/check_output/check_call/call
with text=True (or universal_newlines=True) and no explicit encoding=:
append encoding='utf-8', errors='replace' at the kwarg site. 136 call
sites across 28 files (cli.py, hermes_cli/main.py, tools_config.py,
environments, computer_use, gateway, scripts, skills helpers, agent/*).
Together with the salvaged #55339/#60741 commits this closes out issue
#53428's bug class; the salvaged #60751 linter rule in
check-windows-footguns.py now enforces it repo-wide (verified: 807 files
scanned, zero findings).
Make the x_search / xurl boundary explicit in the skill, feature docs,
toolset metadata, setup note, and reference pages, while keeping the
model-facing x_search schema generic (no static xurl name).
Regression tests assert behavioral routing invariants rather than frozen
prose snapshots. Drop the stale CI-only plugin/hangup hunks already on
main so this rebases cleanly.
Teknium