The ephemeral no-tools side-question variant of /btw confused users who
expected 'by-the-way' to mean 'run this off to the side with tools' —
they'd type /btw and get a toolless agent that couldn't do the work.
/bg worked because it was /background with full tools.
Collapse the two: /btw and /bg both alias to /background. One command,
one behavior, no more gotchas about which variant has tools.
Removed:
- _handle_btw_command in cli.py and gateway/run.py
- _run_btw_task + _active_btw_tasks state in gateway/run.py
- prompt.btw JSON-RPC method + btw.complete event in tui_gateway
- BtwStartResponse type + btw.complete case in ui-tui
- Standalone /btw slash tree registration in Discord
- Standalone btw CommandDef in hermes_cli/commands.py
Updated:
- background CommandDef aliases: (bg,) -> (bg, btw)
- TUI session.ts: local btw handler merged into background
- Docs and tips updated to describe /btw as a /background alias
PR #16046 added /busy and /verbose hints to the classic CLI and the
gateway runner but skipped the Ink TUI (and therefore the dashboard
/chat page, which embeds the TUI via PTY). This extends the same
latch to the TUI with TUI-native wording.
The TUI's busy-input model is not the /busy knob from the CLI —
single Enter while busy auto-queues, double Enter on an empty line
interrupts. The new busy-input hint teaches THAT gesture instead of
telling the user to flip a config that does not apply.
Changes:
- agent/onboarding.py — add busy_input_hint_tui() + tool_progress_hint_tui()
- tui_gateway/server.py — onboarding.claim JSON-RPC (Ink triggers busy
hint on enqueue) + _maybe_emit_onboarding_hint helper hooked into
_on_tool_complete for the 30s/tool_progress=all path. Same
config.yaml latch so each hint fires at most once per install across
CLI, gateway, and TUI combined.
- ui-tui/src/gatewayTypes.ts — OnboardingClaimResponse + onboarding.hint event
- ui-tui/src/app/createGatewayEventHandler.ts — render the hint event as sys()
- ui-tui/src/app/useSubmission.ts — claim busy_input_prompt on first
busy enqueue
- tests/agent/test_onboarding.py — +3 cases for TUI hint shape
- tests/tui_gateway/test_protocol.py — +4 cases for onboarding.claim
- website/docs/user-guide/tui.md — new 'Interrupting and queueing'
section explaining the TUI's double-Enter model and the hints
Validation:
scripts/run_tests.sh tests/agent/test_onboarding.py \
tests/tui_gateway/test_protocol.py \
tests/gateway/test_busy_session_ack.py
-> 66 passed
npm --prefix ui-tui run type-check -> clean
npm --prefix ui-tui run lint -> clean
npm --prefix ui-tui run build -> clean
Follow-up on #16020 salvage. Three corrections:
1. Truth signal for /copy
Before: success was 'OSC 52 sequence was emitted to stdout'. That's
false on local Linux inside tmux (emitSequence=false), so /copy kept
printing 'clipboard copy failed' to users whose xclip/wl-copy had
already succeeded fire-and-forget.
Fix: setClipboard() now returns { sequence, success } where success =
native-fired OR tmux-buffer-loaded OR osc52-emitted. copyNative()
returns a boolean telling setClipboard whether a native attempt was
made. /copy only shows 'failed' when literally no path was taken.
2. Dashboard keybinding
Before: Ctrl+C for copy on non-Mac (Ctrl+Shift+C for paste).
That swallows SIGINT when a stale selection is present and breaks
the xterm/gnome-terminal/konsole/Windows-Terminal convention where
Ctrl+C in a terminal emulator is always SIGINT. The real bug was
that clipboard writes lost user-gesture through OSC-52 round-trips,
which the direct writeText already fixes.
Fix: revert copyModifier to Ctrl+Shift+C on non-Mac. Direct
writeText in the keydown handler preserves user gesture. term.write
Escape replaced with term.clearSelection() (works without relying
on TUI input mode).
3. Error toast text
Before: 'see HERMES_TUI_DEBUG_CLIPBOARD' — tells users how to
debug but not how to fix.
Fix: point users at HERMES_TUI_FORCE_OSC52=1 first (the actual
escape hatch), mention the debug var second.
- Dashboard copy: direct Clipboard API on Ctrl+C/Cmd+C (user gesture);
send Escape to TUI to clear selection; Ctrl+Shift+C kept as fallback.
- TUI /copy: copySelection() async; only reports success if OSC52 emitted.
- Add HERMES_TUI_FORCE_OSC52 env var to override native-tool detection.
- Fixes "copied N chars" false-positive when clipboard backend absent.
Changes:
web/src/pages/ChatPage.tsx — direct navigator.clipboard.writeText
ui-tui/packages/hermes-ink/src/ink/ink.tsx — async copySelection
ui-tui/packages/hermes-ink/src/ink/termio/osc.ts — HERMES_TUI_FORCE_OSC52
ui-tui/src/app/slash/commands/core.ts — async /copy with honest feedback
Problem: Ctrl+C in Hermes TUI shows 'copied' but clipboard often empty.
Root causes:
- Native Linux tools (xclip, wl-copy) require DISPLAY/WAYLAND_DISPLAY; in
headless Docker/SSH they fail or hang.
- OSC 52 fallback requires terminal emulator support; when absent, sequence
is dropped silently.
- Dashboard OSC 52 → Clipboard API path fails due to missing user gesture;
errors were silently caught.
- User feedback 'copied selection' was shown unconditionally, regardless of
success.
Solution implemented:
- Short-circuit Linux native clipboard probing when no display server is
present (no DISPLAY and no WAYLAND_DISPLAY). Avoids futile attempts and
timeouts.
- Add HERMES_TUI_DEBUG_CLIPBOARD env var (1/true). When set, TUI logs to
stderr which clipboard path is used, probe results on Linux, and whether
OSC 52 was emitted. Greatly improves diagnosability.
- Improve dashboard clipboard error handling: replace empty catch blocks
with console.warn messages for OSC 52 decode/Write failures and direct
copy/paste errors. Makes browser permission/user-gesture failures visible
in DevTools.
- Add comprehensive clipboard troubleshooting documentation to README and
AGENTS, covering OSC 52 verification, tmux config, Docker/headless
constraints, env vars, dashboard caveats, and fallback strategies.
Technical details:
- in ui-tui/packages/hermes-ink/src/ink/termio/osc.ts:
- Early return on Linux if both DISPLAY and WAYLAND_DISPLAY unset.
- Refactor probe sequence to async with 500ms timeout,
caching result; subsequent copies use cached tool immediately.
- Emit debug logs when HERMES_TUI_DEBUG_CLIPBOARD=1.
- in ink.tsx: log when OSC 52 not emitted (native
or tmux path in use) in debug mode.
- : OSC 52 handler and Ctrl+Shift+C handler now
log warnings to console on Clipboard API rejection with error message.
- Documentation: new 'Clipboard Troubleshooting' section in README; new
'Clipboard environment variables and pitfalls' subsection in AGENTS.md
(Known Pitfalls).
Tests: full ui-tui test suite (292 tests) passes; clipboard and OSC tests
unaffected. No breaking changes.
Files changed:
- ui-tui/packages/hermes-ink/src/ink/termio/osc.ts
- ui-tui/packages/hermes-ink/src/ink/ink.tsx
- web/src/pages/ChatPage.tsx
- README.md
- AGENTS.md
- CHANGELOG.md (new)
