From f218474552b28afcfc53f001603bbde0f105d010 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Teknium <127238744+teknium1@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2026 07:09:35 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix(tui): gate the shared-owner MCP discovery wait on the
 stdio TUI flag

The TUI retry-allowance follow-up made tui_gateway.entry.wait_for_mcp_discovery
delegate to hermes_cli.mcp_startup unconditionally when no entry-local thread
exists. But server._make_agent already calls the startup wait directly for
dashboard /api/ws sessions, so every non-stdio agent build paid the bounded
wait twice (caught by test_make_agent_waits_for_shared_mcp_discovery). Gate
the retry-spawn AND the delegated wait on _mcp_discovery_enabled, which only
the stdio TUI arms in main().
---
 tests/test_tui_entry_mcp_owner.py |  7 +++++++
 tui_gateway/entry.py              | 26 ++++++++++++++++----------
 2 files changed, 23 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tests/test_tui_entry_mcp_owner.py b/tests/test_tui_entry_mcp_owner.py
index 1022fc4fbf5b..cf5b8c86bf18 100644
--- a/tests/test_tui_entry_mcp_owner.py
+++ b/tests/test_tui_entry_mcp_owner.py
@@ -16,6 +16,13 @@ from tui_gateway import entry
 
 def test_wait_falls_through_to_shared_owner(monkeypatch):
     monkeypatch.setattr(entry, "_mcp_discovery_thread", None)
+    # The fall-through to the shared owner only exists for the stdio TUI,
+    # which arms this flag in main(); other surfaces call the startup wait
+    # directly from _make_agent and must NOT be waited twice.
+    monkeypatch.setattr(entry, "_mcp_discovery_enabled", True)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        mcp_startup, "start_background_mcp_discovery", lambda **kw: None
+    )
     thread = threading.Thread(target=lambda: time.sleep(0.05), daemon=True)
     thread.start()
     monkeypatch.setattr(mcp_startup, "_mcp_discovery_thread", thread)
diff --git a/tui_gateway/entry.py b/tui_gateway/entry.py
index a81c0238eb9d..c585cca158fd 100644
--- a/tui_gateway/entry.py
+++ b/tui_gateway/entry.py
@@ -249,17 +249,23 @@ def wait_for_mcp_discovery(timeout: "float | None" = None) -> None:
     # connected servers, start_background_mcp_discovery's
     # retry-after-zero-connected allowance kicks off a fresh discovery run
     # here instead of leaving the TUI latched MCP-less for the session.
-    if _mcp_discovery_enabled:
-        try:
-            from hermes_cli.mcp_startup import start_background_mcp_discovery
+    # Only the stdio TUI (which spawned discovery through the shared owner)
+    # should delegate to the startup wait here — for every other surface
+    # (dashboard /api/ws) _make_agent already calls
+    # hermes_cli.mcp_startup.wait_for_mcp_discovery directly, and delegating
+    # unconditionally would make that bounded wait run twice per agent build.
+    if not _mcp_discovery_enabled:
+        return
+    try:
+        from hermes_cli.mcp_startup import start_background_mcp_discovery
 
-            start_background_mcp_discovery(
-                logger=logger, thread_name="tui-mcp-discovery"
-            )
-        except Exception:
-            logger.debug(
-                "TUI MCP discovery retry-spawn failed", exc_info=True
-            )
+        start_background_mcp_discovery(
+            logger=logger, thread_name="tui-mcp-discovery"
+        )
+    except Exception:
+        logger.debug(
+            "TUI MCP discovery retry-spawn failed", exc_info=True
+        )
     try:
         from hermes_cli.mcp_startup import (
             wait_for_mcp_discovery as _startup_wait,