The Hermes gateway runs inside its own venv, so its process environment
carries VIRTUAL_ENV (and possibly CONDA_PREFIX). The terminal tool spawned
subprocesses inheriting those markers. When the agent ran `uv sync`,
`uv pip install`, `poetry install`, etc. in ANY other project directory,
those tools honored the inherited VIRTUAL_ENV and rebuilt/synced that
project's dependencies into the Hermes venv path — wiping Hermes' own runtime
deps (and, when the other project pinned a different Python, replacing the
interpreter), bricking the gateway on the next restart (#23473).
Strip VIRTUAL_ENV/CONDA_PREFIX in both subprocess-env construction points in
tools/environments/local.py — `_sanitize_subprocess_env` and `_make_run_env`
— via a shared `_ACTIVE_VENV_MARKER_VARS` constant. The Hermes venv stays
reachable because its bin dir is already first on PATH, so removing the
active-environment markers is safe and only prevents the cross-project clobber.
Adds TestActiveVenvMarkerStripping: end-to-end (markers in os.environ don't
reach the spawned subprocess) and unit coverage for both functions, plus a
guard on the marker constant.
Also adds the AUTHOR_MAP entry for the salvaged contributor.
Closes#23473
Dale Nguyen
dbbf102b8e