hermes debug share reads os.getenv — the invoking terminal's environment — but
launchd/systemd and the desktop-spawned `serve` backend load credentials from
~/.hermes/.env, not the login shell. A key exported in the shell but absent
from .env is invisible to the backend, yet the dump printed a bare "set",
sending support down a phantom "the key is configured" path.
This was the actual trap behind a "Desktop has no web_search / no tools"
report: FIRECRAWL_API_KEY was a shell export (so `debug share` in a terminal
read "firecrawl set") but not in .env, so the launchd backend's
check_web_api_key returned False and web_search was gated off — which a
contributor then misdiagnosed as a missing `desktop` platform registration.
The dump now annotates any key set in-process but missing from ~/.hermes/.env
with "(shell only — not in .env; managed/desktop backend may not see it)" so
the mismatch is obvious instead of hidden behind "set".
Brooklyn Nicholson
89acc19606