Degrading models (observed with gpt-5.6 past ~350K input) emit tool-call
batches like 6 valid named calls + 1 blank-name call. Previously the
whole turn was voided — every valid call got 'Skipped: another tool call
in this turn used an invalid name' — and three such batches tripped the
3-strike stop, killing sessions that were still making progress.
Now a mixed batch error-results ONLY the invalid call(s) (terse
anti-priming error for blank names per #47967, catalog dump for typos)
and dispatches the valid subset for execution. The assistant message
keeps every emitted call so provider-side tool_call/result pairing stays
intact. The 3-strike counter only advances when a turn contains NO valid
call, so a fully-degenerate model still stops while a mostly-coherent
one keeps working. Broken JSON args on a never-executing invalid call no
longer trigger the whole-turn JSON retry loop.
Field evidence: July 2026 debug bundle showed gpt-5.6-sol emitting
6-call batches with one blank-name rider at 559K/384K-token context in
two separate sessions; 13 valid tool calls were discarded before the
session stopped as partial.
Weak open models (mimo, nemotron-class) that see tool-call XML/JSON sitting in
file contents or tool output get primed and emit their own structured tool
calls mimicking the payload — usually with an empty/whitespace name. Those
calls can't be fuzzy-repaired toward a real tool, so the dispatch loop returns
an error and the model retries. Before this fix, every empty-name error dumped
the full tool catalog back to the model, which fed the priming loop more names
to mimic and inflated context 3-4x across the retry budget.
A blank/whitespace-only tool name now gets a terse anti-priming error that
tells the model in-context tool-call syntax is DATA, with no catalog dump. A
genuinely-wrong-but-nonempty name (a real typo) still gets the full catalog so
the model can self-correct.
Not a sandbox/auth boundary issue: Hermes never parses tool-call text from
content into executable calls (structured tool_calls only; the lone text->call
parser is the Copilot ACP transport and it also rejects empty names). The
reporter's own debug dump confirms the injection never executed.
Behavior-contract test added: empty-name -> terse error, no catalog; nonempty
unknown -> catalog preserved. Exercised end-to-end via run_conversation against
an in-process mock provider.
