Composio eval traces showed Hermes wasting turns re-issuing identical tool
calls (same tool, same args, same result — 3x/4x in one run) and ending
turns by announcing an action it never took. Two conservative, config-gated
guards (agent.stall_guards, default true):
- Identical-call loop breaker: ToolCallGuardrailController.observe_identical_call
tracks the consecutive streak of (tool, canonical args, result-hash); on
the 3rd identical call a compact one-line notice is appended to that tool
RESULT at construction time (cache-safe — tool results are append-only).
Never blocks the call. Pollers (process, *_get_result, *_poll) are exempt
via STALL_GUARD_REPEATABLE_TOOLS. Streak resets on any different call,
changed result, or new turn. Observed on the raw result before the
tool-loop warning suffix so its changing count can't defeat matching.
- Said-continue-but-stopped recovery: trailing_continue_intent() detects a
short reply ENDING on an announced next action ('Let me now…', 'I will
now…', 'Next, I…'); the conversation loop feeds it into the EXISTING
intent-ack continuation path (same interim-assistant + user-nudge
mechanism, same codex_ack_continuations cap of 2), preserving message
alternation — no parallel recovery machinery.
Config: agent.stall_guards in DEFAULT_CONFIG; docs in configuration.md;
unit tests for streak/allowlist/reset/gate and detector pos/neg cases.
Teknium
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