fix(cron): deliver max-iteration fallback reports

cron/scheduler.py

@@ -2189,13 +2189,27 @@ def run_job(job: dict) -> tuple[bool, str, str, Optional[str]]:
         # would otherwise be delivered as if it were the agent's reply and the
         # job's `last_status` set to "ok". Raise so the except handler below
         # builds the proper failure tuple. (issue #17855)
-        if result.get("failed") is True or result.get("completed") is False:
+        turn_exit_reason = str(result.get("turn_exit_reason") or "")
+        final_response_text = (result.get("final_response") or "").strip()
+        max_iteration_summary = (
+            result.get("failed") is not True
+            and result.get("completed") is False
+            and turn_exit_reason.startswith("max_iterations_reached(")
+            and bool(final_response_text)
+        )
+        if result.get("failed") is True or (result.get("completed") is False and not max_iteration_summary):
             _err_text = (
                 result.get("error")
-                or (result.get("final_response") or "").strip()
+                or final_response_text
                 or "agent reported failure"
             )
             raise RuntimeError(_err_text)
+        if max_iteration_summary:
+            logger.warning(
+                "Job '%s' reached the iteration limit but produced a final fallback response; "
+                "delivering the response instead of failing the cron run",
+                job_name,
+            )
 
         final_response = result.get("final_response", "") or ""
         # Strip leaked placeholder text that upstream may inject on empty completions.

tests/cron/test_scheduler.py

@@ -1394,6 +1394,52 @@ class TestRunJobSessionPersistence:
         assert error is None
         assert final_response == "all good"
 
+    def test_run_job_delivers_max_iteration_fallback_summary(self, tmp_path):
+        """Cron should deliver a usable max-iteration fallback summary.
+
+        A cron run can exhaust the iteration budget, get a final text summary
+        from the no-tools fallback call, and still have ``completed=False`` in
+        the generic agent result. That should not make cron raise the report
+        text as a RuntimeError.
+        """
+        job = {
+            "id": "summary-job",
+            "name": "summary",
+            "prompt": "finish the report",
+        }
+        fake_db = MagicMock()
+
+        with patch("cron.scheduler._hermes_home", tmp_path), \
+             patch("cron.scheduler._resolve_origin", return_value=None), \
+             patch("dotenv.load_dotenv"), \
+             patch("hermes_state.SessionDB", return_value=fake_db), \
+             patch(
+                 "hermes_cli.runtime_provider.resolve_runtime_provider",
+                 return_value={
+                     "api_key": "***",
+                     "base_url": "https://example.invalid/v1",
+                     "provider": "openrouter",
+                     "api_mode": "chat_completions",
+                 },
+             ), \
+             patch("run_agent.AIAgent") as mock_agent_cls:
+            mock_agent = MagicMock()
+            mock_agent.run_conversation.return_value = {
+                "final_response": "final fallback report",
+                "completed": False,
+                "failed": False,
+                "turn_exit_reason": "max_iterations_reached(60/60)",
+            }
+            mock_agent_cls.return_value = mock_agent
+
+            success, output, final_response, error = run_job(job)
+
+        assert success is True
+        assert error is None
+        assert final_response == "final fallback report"
+        assert "final fallback report" in output
+        assert "(FAILED)" not in output
+
     def test_tick_marks_empty_response_as_error(self, tmp_path):
         """When run_job returns success=True but final_response is empty,
         tick() should mark the job as error so last_status != 'ok'.