fix(auth): fall back to global-root auth.json for providers missing in profile

Profile processes (kanban workers, cron subprocesses, delegated subagents)
read the profile's auth.json only. If a provider was authenticated at the
global root but not inside the profile, the profile's credential_pool
comes back empty and the process fails with 'No LLM provider configured'
— even though the credentials are sitting in ~/.hermes/auth.json. #18594
propagated HERMES_HOME correctly, which is what surfaced this: workers
now land in the right profile, and the profile turns out to shadow global
with no fallback.

Semantics (read-only, per-provider shadowing):
* Profile has any entries for provider X → use profile only (global ignored).
* Profile has zero entries for provider X → fall back to global.
* Writes (write_credential_pool, _save_auth_store) still target the profile.
* Classic mode (HERMES_HOME == global root) skips the fallback entirely —
  _global_auth_file_path() returns None.

Also mirrors the fallback in get_provider_auth_state so OAuth singletons
(nous, minimax-oauth, openai-codex, spotify) inherit cleanly — the Nous
shared-token store (PR #19712) remains the authoritative path for Nous
OAuth rotation, this just makes the read side consistent with it.

Seat belt: _load_global_auth_store() refuses to read the real user's
~/.hermes/auth.json under PYTEST_CURRENT_TEST even when HERMES_HOME points
to a profile-shaped path. Guard uses $HOME (stable across fixtures) rather
than Path.home() (which fixtures often monkeypatch to a tmp root).

Reported by @SeedsForbidden on Twitter as the credential_pool shadowing
follow-up to the #18594 fix.

hermes_cli/auth.py

@@ -780,6 +780,73 @@ def _auth_file_path() -> Path:
     return path
 
 
+def _global_auth_file_path() -> Optional[Path]:
+    """Return the global-root auth.json when the process is in profile mode.
+
+    Returns ``None`` when the profile and global root resolve to the same
+    directory (classic mode, or custom HERMES_HOME that is not a profile).
+    Used by read-only fallback paths so providers authed at the root are
+    visible to profile processes that haven't configured them locally.
+
+    See issue #18594 follow-up (credential_pool shadowing).
+    """
+    try:
+        from hermes_constants import get_default_hermes_root
+        global_root = get_default_hermes_root()
+    except Exception:
+        return None
+    profile_home = get_hermes_home()
+    try:
+        if profile_home.resolve(strict=False) == global_root.resolve(strict=False):
+            return None
+    except Exception:
+        if profile_home == global_root:
+            return None
+    # No pytest seat belt here: this is a pure read-only path, and
+    # ``_load_global_auth_store()`` wraps the read in a try/except so an
+    # unreadable global file can never break the profile process.  The
+    # write-side seat belt still lives on ``_auth_file_path()`` where it
+    # belongs (that's what protects the real user's auth store from being
+    # corrupted by a mis-configured test).
+    return global_root / "auth.json"
+
+
+def _load_global_auth_store() -> Dict[str, Any]:
+    """Load the global-root auth store (read-only fallback).
+
+    Returns an empty dict when no global fallback exists (classic mode,
+    or the global auth.json is absent). Never raises on missing file.
+
+    Seat belt: under pytest, refuses to read the real user's
+    ``~/.hermes/auth.json`` even when HERMES_HOME is set to a profile
+    path. The hermetic conftest does not redirect ``HOME``, so
+    ``get_default_hermes_root()`` for a profile-shaped HERMES_HOME can
+    still resolve to the real user's home on a dev machine. That would
+    leak real credentials into tests. This guard uses the unmodified
+    ``HOME`` env var (what ``os.path.expanduser('~')`` would resolve to),
+    not ``Path.home()``, because ``Path.home`` is sometimes monkeypatched
+    by fixtures that want to relocate the global root to a tmp path.
+    """
+    global_path = _global_auth_file_path()
+    if global_path is None or not global_path.exists():
+        return {}
+    if os.environ.get("PYTEST_CURRENT_TEST"):
+        real_home_env = os.environ.get("HOME", "")
+        if real_home_env:
+            real_root = Path(real_home_env) / ".hermes" / "auth.json"
+            try:
+                if global_path.resolve(strict=False) == real_root.resolve(strict=False):
+                    return {}
+            except Exception:
+                pass
+    try:
+        return _load_auth_store(global_path)
+    except Exception:
+        # A malformed global store must not break profile reads. The
+        # profile's own auth store is still authoritative.
+        return {}
+
+
 def _auth_lock_path() -> Path:
     return _auth_file_path().with_suffix(".lock")
 
@@ -966,15 +1033,50 @@ def get_auth_provider_display_name(provider_id: str) -> str:
 
 
 def read_credential_pool(provider_id: Optional[str] = None) -> Dict[str, Any]:
-    """Return the persisted credential pool, or one provider slice."""
+    """Return the persisted credential pool, or one provider slice.
+
+    In profile mode, the profile's credential pool is authoritative. If a
+    provider has no entries in the profile, entries from the global-root
+    ``auth.json`` are used as a read-only fallback — so workers spawned in a
+    profile can see providers that were only authenticated at global scope.
+
+    Profile entries always win: the global fallback only applies per-provider
+    when the profile has zero entries for that provider. Once the user runs
+    ``hermes auth add <provider>`` inside the profile, profile entries
+    fully shadow global for that provider on the next read.
+
+    Writes always go to the profile (``write_credential_pool`` is unchanged).
+    See issue #18594 follow-up.
+    """
     auth_store = _load_auth_store()
     pool = auth_store.get("credential_pool")
     if not isinstance(pool, dict):
         pool = {}
+
+    global_pool: Dict[str, Any] = {}
+    global_store = _load_global_auth_store()
+    maybe_global_pool = global_store.get("credential_pool") if global_store else None
+    if isinstance(maybe_global_pool, dict):
+        global_pool = maybe_global_pool
+
     if provider_id is None:
-        return dict(pool)
+        merged = dict(pool)
+        for gp_key, gp_entries in global_pool.items():
+            if not isinstance(gp_entries, list) or not gp_entries:
+                continue
+            # Per-provider shadowing: profile wins whenever it has ANY entries.
+            existing = merged.get(gp_key)
+            if isinstance(existing, list) and existing:
+                continue
+            merged[gp_key] = list(gp_entries)
+        return merged
+
     provider_entries = pool.get(provider_id)
-    return list(provider_entries) if isinstance(provider_entries, list) else []
+    if isinstance(provider_entries, list) and provider_entries:
+        return list(provider_entries)
+    # Profile has no entries for this provider — fall back to global.
+    global_entries = global_pool.get(provider_id)
+    return list(global_entries) if isinstance(global_entries, list) else []
 
 
 def write_credential_pool(provider_id: str, entries: List[Dict[str, Any]]) -> Path:
@@ -1033,9 +1135,25 @@ def unsuppress_credential_source(provider_id: str, source: str) -> bool:
 
 
 def get_provider_auth_state(provider_id: str) -> Optional[Dict[str, Any]]:
-    """Return persisted auth state for a provider, or None."""
+    """Return persisted auth state for a provider, or None.
+
+    In profile mode, falls back to the global-root ``auth.json`` when the
+    profile has no state for this provider. Profile state always wins when
+    present. Writes (``_save_auth_store`` / ``persist_*_credentials``) are
+    unchanged — they still target the profile only. This mirrors
+    ``read_credential_pool``'s per-provider shadowing semantics so that
+    ``_seed_from_singletons`` can reseed a profile's credential pool from
+    global-scope provider state (e.g. a globally-authenticated Anthropic
+    OAuth or Nous device-code session). See issue #18594 follow-up.
+    """
     auth_store = _load_auth_store()
-    return _load_provider_state(auth_store, provider_id)
+    state = _load_provider_state(auth_store, provider_id)
+    if state is not None:
+        return state
+    global_store = _load_global_auth_store()
+    if not global_store:
+        return None
+    return _load_provider_state(global_store, provider_id)
 
 
 def get_active_provider() -> Optional[str]:

tests/hermes_cli/test_auth_profile_fallback.py

@@ -0,0 +1,360 @@
+"""Tests for cross-profile auth fallback.
+
+When ``HERMES_HOME`` points to a named profile, ``read_credential_pool()``
+and ``get_provider_auth_state()`` fall back to the global-root
+``auth.json`` per-provider when the profile has no entries for that
+provider.  Writes still target the profile only.
+
+See the #18594 follow-up report: profile workers couldn't see providers
+authenticated only at the global root.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import json
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+
+def _make_auth_store(pool: dict | None = None, providers: dict | None = None) -> dict:
+    store: dict = {"version": 1}
+    if pool is not None:
+        store["credential_pool"] = pool
+    if providers is not None:
+        store["providers"] = providers
+    return store
+
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def profile_env(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """Set up a global root + an active profile under Path.home()/.hermes/profiles/coder.
+
+    * Path.home() -> tmp_path
+    * Global root -> tmp_path/.hermes            (has its own auth.json fixture)
+    * Profile     -> tmp_path/.hermes/profiles/coder   (active, HERMES_HOME points here)
+
+    This mirrors the real "named profile mounted under the default root"
+    layout that profile users actually have on disk.
+    """
+    monkeypatch.setattr(Path, "home", lambda: tmp_path)
+    global_root = tmp_path / ".hermes"
+    global_root.mkdir()
+    profile_dir = global_root / "profiles" / "coder"
+    profile_dir.mkdir(parents=True)
+    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_HOME", str(profile_dir))
+    return {"global": global_root, "profile": profile_dir}
+
+
+def _write(path: Path, payload: dict) -> None:
+    path.write_text(json.dumps(payload, indent=2))
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# read_credential_pool — provider-slice reads
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_profile_with_zero_entries_falls_back_to_global(profile_env):
+    """Empty profile pool inherits the global-root entries for that provider."""
+    from hermes_cli.auth import read_credential_pool
+
+    _write(profile_env["global"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(pool={
+        "openrouter": [{
+            "id": "glob-1",
+            "label": "global-key",
+            "auth_type": "api_key",
+            "priority": 0,
+            "source": "manual",
+            "access_token": "sk-or-global",
+        }],
+    }))
+    # Profile auth.json: exists but has no openrouter entries.
+    _write(profile_env["profile"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(pool={}))
+
+    entries = read_credential_pool("openrouter")
+    assert len(entries) == 1
+    assert entries[0]["id"] == "glob-1"
+    assert entries[0]["access_token"] == "sk-or-global"
+
+
+def test_profile_with_entries_fully_shadows_global(profile_env):
+    """Once the profile has any entries for a provider, global is ignored."""
+    from hermes_cli.auth import read_credential_pool
+
+    _write(profile_env["global"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(pool={
+        "openrouter": [{
+            "id": "glob-1",
+            "label": "global-key",
+            "auth_type": "api_key",
+            "priority": 0,
+            "source": "manual",
+            "access_token": "sk-or-global",
+        }],
+    }))
+    _write(profile_env["profile"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(pool={
+        "openrouter": [{
+            "id": "prof-1",
+            "label": "profile-key",
+            "auth_type": "api_key",
+            "priority": 0,
+            "source": "manual",
+            "access_token": "sk-or-profile",
+        }],
+    }))
+
+    entries = read_credential_pool("openrouter")
+    assert len(entries) == 1
+    assert entries[0]["id"] == "prof-1"
+    assert entries[0]["access_token"] == "sk-or-profile"
+
+
+def test_per_provider_shadowing_is_independent(profile_env):
+    """Profile can override one provider while inheriting another from global."""
+    from hermes_cli.auth import read_credential_pool
+
+    _write(profile_env["global"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(pool={
+        "openrouter": [{
+            "id": "glob-or",
+            "label": "global-or",
+            "auth_type": "api_key",
+            "priority": 0,
+            "source": "manual",
+            "access_token": "sk-or-global",
+        }],
+        "anthropic": [{
+            "id": "glob-ant",
+            "label": "global-ant",
+            "auth_type": "api_key",
+            "priority": 0,
+            "source": "manual",
+            "access_token": "sk-ant-global",
+        }],
+    }))
+    _write(profile_env["profile"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(pool={
+        # Profile has openrouter only — anthropic should still fall back.
+        "openrouter": [{
+            "id": "prof-or",
+            "label": "profile-or",
+            "auth_type": "api_key",
+            "priority": 0,
+            "source": "manual",
+            "access_token": "sk-or-profile",
+        }],
+    }))
+
+    or_entries = read_credential_pool("openrouter")
+    ant_entries = read_credential_pool("anthropic")
+    assert [e["id"] for e in or_entries] == ["prof-or"]
+    assert [e["id"] for e in ant_entries] == ["glob-ant"]
+
+
+def test_missing_global_auth_file_is_safe(profile_env):
+    """Profile processes that never had a global auth.json still work."""
+    from hermes_cli.auth import read_credential_pool
+
+    # No global auth.json written at all.
+    _write(profile_env["profile"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(pool={
+        "openrouter": [{
+            "id": "prof-1",
+            "label": "profile",
+            "auth_type": "api_key",
+            "priority": 0,
+            "source": "manual",
+            "access_token": "sk-profile",
+        }],
+    }))
+
+    assert read_credential_pool("openrouter")[0]["id"] == "prof-1"
+    assert read_credential_pool("anthropic") == []
+
+
+def test_malformed_global_auth_file_does_not_break_profile_read(profile_env):
+    (profile_env["global"] / "auth.json").write_text("{not valid json")
+    _write(profile_env["profile"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(pool={
+        "openrouter": [{
+            "id": "prof-1",
+            "label": "profile",
+            "auth_type": "api_key",
+            "priority": 0,
+            "source": "manual",
+            "access_token": "sk-profile",
+        }],
+    }))
+
+    from hermes_cli.auth import read_credential_pool
+
+    # Profile reads still work; malformed global is silently ignored.
+    assert read_credential_pool("openrouter")[0]["id"] == "prof-1"
+    # And no fallback for anthropic since global is unreadable.
+    assert read_credential_pool("anthropic") == []
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# read_credential_pool — whole-pool reads (provider_id=None)
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_whole_pool_merges_global_providers_when_missing_locally(profile_env):
+    from hermes_cli.auth import read_credential_pool
+
+    _write(profile_env["global"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(pool={
+        "openrouter": [{
+            "id": "glob-or",
+            "label": "global-or",
+            "auth_type": "api_key",
+            "priority": 0,
+            "source": "manual",
+            "access_token": "sk-or-global",
+        }],
+        "anthropic": [{
+            "id": "glob-ant",
+            "label": "global-ant",
+            "auth_type": "api_key",
+            "priority": 0,
+            "source": "manual",
+            "access_token": "sk-ant-global",
+        }],
+    }))
+    _write(profile_env["profile"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(pool={
+        "openrouter": [{
+            "id": "prof-or",
+            "label": "profile-or",
+            "auth_type": "api_key",
+            "priority": 0,
+            "source": "manual",
+            "access_token": "sk-or-profile",
+        }],
+    }))
+
+    pool = read_credential_pool(None)
+    # Profile wins for openrouter, global fills in anthropic.
+    assert [e["id"] for e in pool["openrouter"]] == ["prof-or"]
+    assert [e["id"] for e in pool["anthropic"]] == ["glob-ant"]
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# get_provider_auth_state — singleton fallback
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_provider_auth_state_falls_back_to_global_when_profile_has_none(profile_env):
+    from hermes_cli.auth import get_provider_auth_state
+
+    _write(profile_env["global"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(providers={
+        "nous": {"access_token": "nous-global", "refresh_token": "rt-global"},
+    }))
+    _write(profile_env["profile"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(providers={}))
+
+    state = get_provider_auth_state("nous")
+    assert state is not None
+    assert state["access_token"] == "nous-global"
+
+
+def test_provider_auth_state_profile_wins_when_present(profile_env):
+    from hermes_cli.auth import get_provider_auth_state
+
+    _write(profile_env["global"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(providers={
+        "nous": {"access_token": "nous-global"},
+    }))
+    _write(profile_env["profile"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(providers={
+        "nous": {"access_token": "nous-profile"},
+    }))
+
+    state = get_provider_auth_state("nous")
+    assert state is not None
+    assert state["access_token"] == "nous-profile"
+
+
+def test_provider_auth_state_returns_none_when_neither_has_it(profile_env):
+    from hermes_cli.auth import get_provider_auth_state
+
+    _write(profile_env["global"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(providers={}))
+    _write(profile_env["profile"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(providers={}))
+
+    assert get_provider_auth_state("nous") is None
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Classic mode — no fallback path should ever trigger
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_classic_mode_does_not_double_read_same_file(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """In classic mode (HERMES_HOME == global root), no fallback path runs.
+
+    This guards against the merge accidentally duplicating entries when the
+    profile and global resolve to the same directory.
+    """
+    # Put Path.home() under a subdir so the seat belt in _auth_file_path()
+    # sees tmp_path/home/.hermes as the "real home" — which is NOT equal
+    # to the HERMES_HOME we set (tmp_path/classic), so the guard passes.
+    fake_home = tmp_path / "home"
+    fake_home.mkdir()
+    monkeypatch.setattr(Path, "home", lambda: fake_home)
+    hermes_home = tmp_path / "classic"
+    hermes_home.mkdir()
+    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_HOME", str(hermes_home))
+
+    _write(hermes_home / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(pool={
+        "openrouter": [{
+            "id": "only",
+            "label": "classic",
+            "auth_type": "api_key",
+            "priority": 0,
+            "source": "manual",
+            "access_token": "sk-classic",
+        }],
+    }))
+
+    from hermes_cli.auth import read_credential_pool, _global_auth_file_path
+
+    # Classic mode: HERMES_HOME is set to a custom path that is NOT under
+    # ~/.hermes/profiles/ — get_default_hermes_root() returns HERMES_HOME
+    # itself, so the profile root and global root are the same directory,
+    # and the helper correctly returns None (no fallback).
+    assert _global_auth_file_path() is None
+    # And the read should return exactly one entry (not two).
+    entries = read_credential_pool("openrouter")
+    assert len(entries) == 1
+    assert entries[0]["id"] == "only"
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Writes stay scoped to the profile
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_write_credential_pool_targets_profile_not_global(profile_env):
+    from hermes_cli.auth import read_credential_pool, write_credential_pool
+
+    _write(profile_env["global"] / "auth.json", _make_auth_store(pool={
+        "openrouter": [{
+            "id": "glob-1",
+            "label": "global",
+            "auth_type": "api_key",
+            "priority": 0,
+            "source": "manual",
+            "access_token": "sk-global",
+        }],
+    }))
+
+    write_credential_pool("openrouter", [{
+        "id": "prof-new",
+        "label": "profile-new",
+        "auth_type": "api_key",
+        "priority": 0,
+        "source": "manual",
+        "access_token": "sk-profile-new",
+    }])
+
+    # Global auth.json unchanged.
+    global_data = json.loads((profile_env["global"] / "auth.json").read_text())
+    assert global_data["credential_pool"]["openrouter"][0]["id"] == "glob-1"
+
+    # Profile auth.json holds the new entry.
+    profile_data = json.loads((profile_env["profile"] / "auth.json").read_text())
+    assert profile_data["credential_pool"]["openrouter"][0]["id"] == "prof-new"
+
+    # Subsequent read returns profile (shadows global).
+    assert [e["id"] for e in read_credential_pool("openrouter")] == ["prof-new"]