* feat(desktop): free-tier state over RPC, status routes that name it, and a sign-in that keeps connectors
The desktop learns about the Nous free tier by reading local auth state (pull): free_tier.status
answers has_guest / enabled / carries_inference / notice_pending with zero network, and
free_tier.ack_notice persists the one-time notice flag on the identity itself. setup.runtime_check
reports free_tier for the selected route; /api/portal, the Nous card in /api/providers/oauth and
billing.state carry free_tier (billing answers the free tier locally instead of a portal call that
can only fail). The free-tier picker row carries an explicit free_tier_row flag and is never priced or
locked. POST /api/providers/oauth/nous/start over a free-tier identity registers the connector
transfer and returns its code and consent URL; the poller waits for the transfer before the token
grant, persists the account, runs settle_after_upgrade, and the poll response gains reason,
account_email and model.
* feat(desktop): free tier on Hermes Desktop: ready screen, notice strip, status chip, Billing view, one sign-in dialog
The renderer reads the free tier from free_tier.status (pull) into one store; the first-launch
intro is the same state rendered two ways, keyed on the backend's one-time flag: the onboarding
overlay opens on a ready screen when the free tier carries inference, else a one-time strip above
the composer. Settings > Billing gains a free_tier view (notice with one Sign in, Plan / Model /
Connectors summary, plan card, footnote; no payment or usage rows). A status-bar chip names the
tier and model while it carries inference. Every entry point opens one claimed sign-in dialog that
drives the extended oauth/nous route and maps the poll's status and reason to the ruled screens;
Done settles billing, model options, providers and re-homes a session still on nous/welcome. The
picker badge also fires on free_tier_row. Docs: Desktop section in the free-tier guide, AGENTS notes.
* fix(desktop): free_tier.status starts the free tier's background setup when no identity exists
A served backend has no session-setup moment like the CLI's, so beside an explicit provider the free
tier was never set up on the desktop: no connectors, no notice strip. The first status read now
starts the same one-attempt background setup; the call itself never waits.
* fix(desktop): one Sign in on the Billing page; Settings > Providers names the free tier, never Connected
The free-tier plan card is the what-you-get text alone (the notice carries the page's one Sign in).
The Nous provider row reads Nous · free tier with a Free tier tag while the identity is the free
tier, instead of Nous Portal · Connected.
* fix(desktop): Settings > Providers never files the free tier under Connected
* fix(desktop): the intro's shape is keyed on the route, not on the identity
free_tier.status reports available (an identity exists and the tier is on); whether inference
runs on the free tier is setup.runtime_check.free_tier, keyed on the resolved endpoint. The ready
screen shows when that route is the free tier; the composer strip when the user's own provider
carries inference. An own-key install used to get the ready screen.
* docs(desktop): say what the free-tier chip is keyed on
* fix(desktop): the featured Nous row's pitch on the free tier says what signing in adds
* fix(desktop): a cancelled or superseded sign-in attempt can no longer change the identity or hide the intro
Four lifecycle holes from review. The Nous poller checks the session's cancelled flag after the
transfer wait, after the token grant, and once more under the session lock together with the
save, so a sign-in the user abandoned never persists. The renderer's sign-in store carries an
attempt generation that every continuation checks after each await, so a poll from a closed
attempt cannot publish over the one on screen (and its backend session is cancelled). The ready
screen comes down only after the backend recorded the acknowledgement. A composer still mounted
takes over the notice claim when its owner unmounts. One thin test per hole.
Siddharth Balyan
3b01b4ce0f