From ca5595fe7b707f7285147623ea2473fb7460b7e7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Brecht-H <73849650+Brecht-H@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 5 May 2026 07:47:20 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix(kanban): dispatcher skips ready tasks whose assignee is
 not a real profile
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The kanban dispatcher's `_default_spawn` invokes
``hermes -p <task.assignee> chat -q ...``. When ``assignee``
names a control-plane lane (e.g. an interactive Claude Code
terminal like ``orion-cc`` / ``orion-research``) instead of a
real Hermes profile, the subprocess fails on startup with
"Profile 'X' does not exist", gets reaped as a zombie, the
TTL/crash detector marks the task back to ``ready``, and the
next tick re-spawns the same crashing worker. Result: a
permanent crash loop emitting ``spawned=2 crashed=2 every tick``
in the gateway log and burning CPU forever.

Reproduce on a fresh Hermes-agent install:

  # 1. Create a kanban task whose assignee names a non-profile.
  hermes kanban create --assignee orion-cc --status ready \
      --title "Review PR #N" --body "..."
  # 2. Start the gateway with the embedded dispatcher.
  hermes gateway run
  # gateway.log lines every minute:
  #   kanban dispatcher: tick spawned=1 reclaimed=0 crashed=1 ...
  # 3. ps -ef | grep '[h]ermes.*defunct' shows zombies.

Fix
---
``dispatch_once()`` now pre-checks ``hermes_cli.profiles.
profile_exists(assignee)`` before claiming. If False, the row
is added to ``skipped_unassigned`` (it's effectively
"unassigned-to-an-executable-profile") and the dispatcher
moves on without claiming, spawning, or counting a crash.

The check is opt-in safe: if the import fails (e.g. test
isolation, profile module restructured), ``profile_exists``
falls back to ``None`` and the original behaviour is preserved
unchanged.

This addresses the explicit hint in the kanban task body
(``t_2bab06e3``):

  "Should ready-state tasks auto-spawn at all, or only on
  explicit orion-cc claim? If spurious, gate the auto-spawn
  behind a config flag (e.g. only assignee=hermes or
  assignee=auto)."

Profile-existence is a tighter gate than a config flag — it
self-documents (the user already knows whether they have an
``orion-cc`` profile), and it doesn't require Mac to maintain
an allowlist as new lane names appear. New lanes that ARE
real profiles (created via ``hermes profile create``) auto-
qualify the moment the profile dir is created.

Validated live
--------------
On Orion's hermes-agent install, two ``orion-research``-
assigned tasks (Bug A and Bug C investigations) had been
crash-looping since 2026-05-05 06:58 local. After applying
the patch + restarting the gateway:

- Stale ``running`` claims released to ``ready`` cleanly.
- New gateway emitted ``kanban dispatcher: embedded`` and
  has ticked silently for 2+ minutes — no spawned=,
  crashed=, or stuck= log lines (all spawn skips are quiet).
- Tasks remain ``ready`` with ``claim_lock=None``,
  ``worker_pid=None``, ``spawn_failures=0``.
- Dashboard + telegram + freqtrade unaffected.

Confidence: high (live verified on Orion).
Scope-risk: narrow (additive guard inside one function).
Not-tested: behaviour when a profile is renamed mid-tick —
current code re-imports ``profile_exists`` per row so a
freshly created profile auto-qualifies on the next tick.
Machine: orion-terminal

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 hermes_cli/kanban_db.py | 17 +++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 17 insertions(+)

diff --git a/hermes_cli/kanban_db.py b/hermes_cli/kanban_db.py
index a58e542ac6..fb20278392 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/kanban_db.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/kanban_db.py
@@ -2506,6 +2506,23 @@ def dispatch_once(
         if not row["assignee"]:
             result.skipped_unassigned.append(row["id"])
             continue
+        # Skip ready tasks whose assignee is not a real Hermes profile.
+        # `_default_spawn` invokes ``hermes -p <assignee>`` which fails
+        # with "Profile 'X' does not exist" when the assignee names a
+        # control-plane lane (e.g. an interactive Claude Code terminal
+        # like ``orion-cc`` / ``orion-research``) rather than a Hermes
+        # profile. Those task lanes are pulled by terminals via
+        # ``claim_task`` directly and should NEVER auto-spawn — the
+        # subprocess would crash on startup, get reaped as a zombie,
+        # the task would loop back to ``ready`` on next tick, and we'd
+        # burn CPU forever (#kanban-dispatcher-crash-loop 2026-05-05).
+        try:
+            from hermes_cli.profiles import profile_exists  # local import: avoids cycle
+        except Exception:
+            profile_exists = None  # type: ignore[assignment]
+        if profile_exists is not None and not profile_exists(row["assignee"]):
+            result.skipped_unassigned.append(row["id"])
+            continue
         if dry_run:
             result.spawned.append((row["id"], row["assignee"], ""))
             continue