fix(config): reload .env over stale shell overrides

Hermes startup entrypoints now load ~/.hermes/.env and project fallback env files with user config taking precedence over stale shell-exported values. This makes model/provider/base URL changes in .env actually take effect after restarting Hermes. Adds a shared env loader plus regression coverage, and reproduces the original bug case where OPENAI_BASE_URL and HERMES_INFERENCE_PROVIDER remained stuck on old shell values before import.

acp_adapter/entry.py

@@ -42,19 +42,16 @@ def _setup_logging() -> None:
 
 def _load_env() -> None:
     """Load .env from HERMES_HOME (default ``~/.hermes``)."""
-    from dotenv import load_dotenv
+    from hermes_cli.env_loader import load_hermes_dotenv
 
     hermes_home = Path(os.getenv("HERMES_HOME", Path.home() / ".hermes"))
-    env_file = hermes_home / ".env"
+    loaded = load_hermes_dotenv(hermes_home=hermes_home)
-    if env_file.exists():
+    if loaded:
-        try:
+        for env_file in loaded:
-            load_dotenv(dotenv_path=env_file, encoding="utf-8")
+            logging.getLogger(__name__).info("Loaded env from %s", env_file)
-        except UnicodeDecodeError:
-            load_dotenv(dotenv_path=env_file, encoding="latin-1")
-        logging.getLogger(__name__).info("Loaded env from %s", env_file)
     else:
         logging.getLogger(__name__).info(
-            "No .env found at %s, using system env", env_file
+            "No .env found at %s, using system env", hermes_home / ".env"
         )
 
 

cli.py

@@ -61,23 +61,14 @@ import queue
 _COMMAND_SPINNER_FRAMES = ("⠋", "⠙", "⠹", "⠸", "⠼", "⠴", "⠦", "⠧", "⠇", "⠏")
 
 
-# Load .env from ~/.hermes/.env first, then project root as dev fallback
+# Load .env from ~/.hermes/.env first, then project root as dev fallback.
-from dotenv import load_dotenv
+# User-managed env files should override stale shell exports on restart.
 from hermes_constants import OPENROUTER_BASE_URL
+from hermes_cli.env_loader import load_hermes_dotenv
 
 _hermes_home = Path(os.getenv("HERMES_HOME", Path.home() / ".hermes"))
-_user_env = _hermes_home / ".env"
 _project_env = Path(__file__).parent / '.env'
-if _user_env.exists():
+load_hermes_dotenv(hermes_home=_hermes_home, project_env=_project_env)
-    try:
-        load_dotenv(dotenv_path=_user_env, encoding="utf-8")
-    except UnicodeDecodeError:
-        load_dotenv(dotenv_path=_user_env, encoding="latin-1")
-elif _project_env.exists():
-    try:
-        load_dotenv(dotenv_path=_project_env, encoding="utf-8")
-    except UnicodeDecodeError:
-        load_dotenv(dotenv_path=_project_env, encoding="latin-1")
 
 # Point mini-swe-agent at ~/.hermes/ so it shares our config
 os.environ.setdefault("MSWEA_GLOBAL_CONFIG_DIR", str(_hermes_home))

gateway/run.py

@@ -35,16 +35,12 @@ sys.path.insert(0, str(Path(__file__).parent.parent))
 # Resolve Hermes home directory (respects HERMES_HOME override)
 _hermes_home = Path(os.getenv("HERMES_HOME", Path.home() / ".hermes"))
 
-# Load environment variables from ~/.hermes/.env first
+# Load environment variables from ~/.hermes/.env first.
-from dotenv import load_dotenv
+# User-managed env files should override stale shell exports on restart.
+from dotenv import load_dotenv  # backward-compat for tests that monkeypatch this symbol
+from hermes_cli.env_loader import load_hermes_dotenv
 _env_path = _hermes_home / '.env'
-if _env_path.exists():
+load_hermes_dotenv(hermes_home=_hermes_home, project_env=Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1] / '.env')
-    try:
-        load_dotenv(_env_path, encoding="utf-8")
-    except UnicodeDecodeError:
-        load_dotenv(_env_path, encoding="latin-1")
-# Also try project .env as fallback
-load_dotenv()
 
 # Bridge config.yaml values into the environment so os.getenv() picks them up.
 # config.yaml is authoritative for terminal settings — overrides .env.

hermes_cli/env_loader.py

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+"""Helpers for loading Hermes .env files consistently across entrypoints."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import os
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Iterable
+
+from dotenv import load_dotenv
+
+
+def _load_dotenv_with_fallback(path: Path, *, override: bool) -> None:
+    try:
+        load_dotenv(dotenv_path=path, override=override, encoding="utf-8")
+    except UnicodeDecodeError:
+        load_dotenv(dotenv_path=path, override=override, encoding="latin-1")
+
+
+def load_hermes_dotenv(
+    *,
+    hermes_home: str | os.PathLike | None = None,
+    project_env: str | os.PathLike | None = None,
+) -> list[Path]:
+    """Load Hermes environment files with user config taking precedence.
+
+    Behavior:
+    - `~/.hermes/.env` overrides stale shell-exported values when present.
+    - project `.env` acts as a dev fallback and only fills missing values when
+      the user env exists.
+    - if no user env exists, the project `.env` also overrides stale shell vars.
+    """
+    loaded: list[Path] = []
+
+    home_path = Path(hermes_home or os.getenv("HERMES_HOME", Path.home() / ".hermes"))
+    user_env = home_path / ".env"
+    project_env_path = Path(project_env) if project_env else None
+
+    if user_env.exists():
+        _load_dotenv_with_fallback(user_env, override=True)
+        loaded.append(user_env)
+
+    if project_env_path and project_env_path.exists():
+        _load_dotenv_with_fallback(project_env_path, override=not loaded)
+        loaded.append(project_env_path)
+
+    return loaded

hermes_cli/main.py

@@ -54,16 +54,11 @@ from typing import Optional
 PROJECT_ROOT = Path(__file__).parent.parent.resolve()
 sys.path.insert(0, str(PROJECT_ROOT))
 
-# Load .env from ~/.hermes/.env first, then project root as dev fallback
+# Load .env from ~/.hermes/.env first, then project root as dev fallback.
-from dotenv import load_dotenv
+# User-managed env files should override stale shell exports on restart.
-from hermes_cli.config import get_env_path, get_hermes_home
+from hermes_cli.config import get_hermes_home
-_user_env = get_env_path()
+from hermes_cli.env_loader import load_hermes_dotenv
-if _user_env.exists():
+load_hermes_dotenv(project_env=PROJECT_ROOT / '.env')
-    try:
-        load_dotenv(dotenv_path=_user_env, encoding="utf-8")
-    except UnicodeDecodeError:
-        load_dotenv(dotenv_path=_user_env, encoding="latin-1")
-load_dotenv(dotenv_path=PROJECT_ROOT / '.env', override=False)
 
 # Point mini-swe-agent at ~/.hermes/ so it shares our config
 os.environ.setdefault("MSWEA_GLOBAL_CONFIG_DIR", str(get_hermes_home()))

rl_cli.py

@@ -27,25 +27,16 @@ from pathlib import Path
 import fire
 import yaml
 
-# Load .env from ~/.hermes/.env first, then project root as dev fallback
+# Load .env from ~/.hermes/.env first, then project root as dev fallback.
-from dotenv import load_dotenv
+# User-managed env files should override stale shell exports on restart.
-
 _hermes_home = Path(os.getenv("HERMES_HOME", Path.home() / ".hermes"))
-_user_env = _hermes_home / ".env"
 _project_env = Path(__file__).parent / '.env'
 
-if _user_env.exists():
+from hermes_cli.env_loader import load_hermes_dotenv
-    try:
+
-        load_dotenv(dotenv_path=_user_env, encoding="utf-8")
+_loaded_env_paths = load_hermes_dotenv(hermes_home=_hermes_home, project_env=_project_env)
-    except UnicodeDecodeError:
+for _env_path in _loaded_env_paths:
-        load_dotenv(dotenv_path=_user_env, encoding="latin-1")
+    print(f"✅ Loaded environment variables from {_env_path}")
-    print(f"✅ Loaded environment variables from {_user_env}")
-elif _project_env.exists():
-    try:
-        load_dotenv(dotenv_path=_project_env, encoding="utf-8")
-    except UnicodeDecodeError:
-        load_dotenv(dotenv_path=_project_env, encoding="latin-1")
-    print(f"✅ Loaded environment variables from {_project_env}")
 
 # Set terminal working directory to tinker-atropos submodule
 # This ensures terminal commands run in the right context for RL work

run_agent.py

@@ -45,24 +45,16 @@ import fire
 from datetime import datetime
 from pathlib import Path
 
-# Load .env from ~/.hermes/.env first, then project root as dev fallback
+# Load .env from ~/.hermes/.env first, then project root as dev fallback.
-from dotenv import load_dotenv
+# User-managed env files should override stale shell exports on restart.
+from hermes_cli.env_loader import load_hermes_dotenv
 
 _hermes_home = Path(os.getenv("HERMES_HOME", Path.home() / ".hermes"))
-_user_env = _hermes_home / ".env"
 _project_env = Path(__file__).parent / '.env'
-if _user_env.exists():
+_loaded_env_paths = load_hermes_dotenv(hermes_home=_hermes_home, project_env=_project_env)
-    try:
+if _loaded_env_paths:
-        load_dotenv(dotenv_path=_user_env, encoding="utf-8")
+    for _env_path in _loaded_env_paths:
-    except UnicodeDecodeError:
+        logger.info("Loaded environment variables from %s", _env_path)
-        load_dotenv(dotenv_path=_user_env, encoding="latin-1")
-    logger.info("Loaded environment variables from %s", _user_env)
-elif _project_env.exists():
-    try:
-        load_dotenv(dotenv_path=_project_env, encoding="utf-8")
-    except UnicodeDecodeError:
-        load_dotenv(dotenv_path=_project_env, encoding="latin-1")
-    logger.info("Loaded environment variables from %s", _project_env)
 else:
     logger.info("No .env file found. Using system environment variables.")
 

tests/hermes_cli/test_env_loader.py

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+import importlib
+import os
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from hermes_cli.env_loader import load_hermes_dotenv
+
+
+def test_user_env_overrides_stale_shell_values(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    home = tmp_path / "hermes"
+    home.mkdir()
+    env_file = home / ".env"
+    env_file.write_text("OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://new.example/v1\n", encoding="utf-8")
+
+    monkeypatch.setenv("OPENAI_BASE_URL", "https://old.example/v1")
+
+    loaded = load_hermes_dotenv(hermes_home=home)
+
+    assert loaded == [env_file]
+    assert os.getenv("OPENAI_BASE_URL") == "https://new.example/v1"
+
+
+def test_project_env_overrides_stale_shell_values_when_user_env_missing(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    home = tmp_path / "hermes"
+    project_env = tmp_path / ".env"
+    project_env.write_text("OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://project.example/v1\n", encoding="utf-8")
+
+    monkeypatch.setenv("OPENAI_BASE_URL", "https://old.example/v1")
+
+    loaded = load_hermes_dotenv(hermes_home=home, project_env=project_env)
+
+    assert loaded == [project_env]
+    assert os.getenv("OPENAI_BASE_URL") == "https://project.example/v1"
+
+
+def test_user_env_takes_precedence_over_project_env(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    home = tmp_path / "hermes"
+    home.mkdir()
+    user_env = home / ".env"
+    project_env = tmp_path / ".env"
+    user_env.write_text("OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://user.example/v1\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    project_env.write_text("OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://project.example/v1\nOPENAI_API_KEY=project-key\n", encoding="utf-8")
+
+    monkeypatch.setenv("OPENAI_BASE_URL", "https://old.example/v1")
+    monkeypatch.delenv("OPENAI_API_KEY", raising=False)
+
+    loaded = load_hermes_dotenv(hermes_home=home, project_env=project_env)
+
+    assert loaded == [user_env, project_env]
+    assert os.getenv("OPENAI_BASE_URL") == "https://user.example/v1"
+    assert os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY") == "project-key"
+
+
+def test_main_import_applies_user_env_over_shell_values(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    home = tmp_path / "hermes"
+    home.mkdir()
+    (home / ".env").write_text(
+        "OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://new.example/v1\nHERMES_INFERENCE_PROVIDER=custom\n",
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
+
+    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_HOME", str(home))
+    monkeypatch.setenv("OPENAI_BASE_URL", "https://old.example/v1")
+    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_INFERENCE_PROVIDER", "openrouter")
+
+    sys.modules.pop("hermes_cli.main", None)
+    importlib.import_module("hermes_cli.main")
+
+    assert os.getenv("OPENAI_BASE_URL") == "https://new.example/v1"
+    assert os.getenv("HERMES_INFERENCE_PROVIDER") == "custom"