Follow-up to the /memory approve fresh-store fix. Both the CLI fallback and
the messaging-gateway handler built a bare MemoryStore() with the hardcoded
default char limits (2200/1375), ignoring the user's configured
memory.memory_char_limit / user_char_limit. A live agent honors those
overrides (agent/agent_init.py), so an approval applied without a live agent
could accept a write the user's lower cap would reject, or vice versa.
Extract a shared tools.memory_tool.load_on_disk_store() factory that reads
the configured limits (falling back to defaults if config can't load) and
wire both the CLI and gateway handlers to it, closing the gap on both
surfaces and de-duplicating the construction block.
The CLI /memory slash handler (cli_commands_mixin._handle_memory_command)
passed self.agent._memory_store straight through, which is None when the
command runs without a live agent — e.g. /memory approve from the Desktop
GUI. The shared write-approval handler then returns "memory store
unavailable" and applies nothing, even with built-in memory enabled and
pending writes present.
Fall back to a freshly loaded on-disk MemoryStore when no live store is
available, mirroring the gateway path (gateway/slash_commands.py). It
persists to the same MEMORY/USER.md and creates MEMORY.md on the first
approved write.
Fixes#46783
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Follow-ups to #38199/#43354 found in post-merge review:
- Inline CLI memory approval never worked: the per-thread approval callback
was not passed to prompt_dangerous_approval, so the prompt_toolkit
fail-closed guard (#15216) denied every gated foreground write without
showing a prompt. Now invokes the registered callback directly; a crashed
prompt falls back to staging instead of a silent deny.
- Gateway sessions claimed inline support but prompt_dangerous_approval has
no gateway round-trip (that lives in the pending-approval queue), so gated
gateway memory writes hit the input() fallback and denied. Gateway
contexts now stage for /memory pending review.
- /skills pending|approve|reject|diff|approval now works on the gateway
(gateway_config_gate on skills.write_approval), so skills staged from a
messaging session can be reviewed there. Diff output truncated for chat.
- memory_tool validates required params before the gate so invalid writes
are rejected immediately instead of staged and failing at approve time.
- Stale tri-state write_mode docstrings updated to the boolean gate; docs
table corrected (inline prompt is interactive-CLI-only).
- 6 new tests covering the interactive approve/deny/error paths, gateway
staging, skills never-prompt invariant, and pre-gate validation.
The shipped tri-state write_mode (on|off|approve) conflated two concepts —
whether writes are enabled and whether they're gated — so 'on' (writes flow
freely, gate inactive) read like 'gating is on'. Replace it with a single
clear boolean gate that defaults off.
memory.write_approval / skills.write_approval:
false (default) — write freely; the approval gate is off (pre-gate behaviour)
true — require approval: memory foreground prompts inline, memory
background-review + all skill writes stage for review
The old 'off = block all writes' mode is dropped; memory_enabled: false already
disables memory entirely, so a third 'block' state was redundant.
- tools/write_approval.py: get_write_mode/MODE_* → write_approval_enabled() bool;
evaluate_gate() loses the config-driven 'blocked' path (blocked now only comes
from an interactive user denial).
- tools/memory_tool.py, tools/skill_manager_tool.py: comment + behaviour follow.
- hermes_cli/config.py: memory/skills write_mode → write_approval (False);
_config_version 28→29 with a 28→29 migration that renames any persisted
write_mode (approve→true, on/off/unset→false) and drops the old key.
- slash commands: '/memory|/skills mode <on|off|approve>' → 'approval <on|off>'
('mode' kept as a back-compat alias); set_mode_fn callback now takes a bool.
- write_approval_commands.py, cli_commands_mixin.py, gateway/slash_commands.py,
commands.py: handlers + registry args/subcommands updated.
- docs + tests rewritten for the boolean model; added migration tests.
Adds memory.write_mode and skills.write_mode (on|off|approve), applied to
both foreground turns and the background self-improvement review fork — the
source of the unprompted 'wrong assumption' saves users reported.
- on (default): write freely, unchanged behaviour
- off: never write; the tool returns a clean disabled result
- approve: don't commit. Memory foreground writes prompt inline (small,
reviewable in a chat bubble); background memory writes and ALL skill writes
stage to a pending store instead (a SKILL.md is too large to review inline,
and a daemon thread can't block on a prompt)
Review staged writes from CLI or any messaging platform:
/memory pending|approve|reject|mode
/skills pending|approve|reject|diff|mode
Skill review respects the size asymmetry: inline you see a one-line gist;
the full unified diff stays out-of-band (/skills diff, dashboard, or the
staged JSON file).
New: tools/write_approval.py (gate + pending store), hermes_cli/
write_approval_commands.py (shared CLI+gateway handlers). Gates wired at the
single entry points memory_tool() and skill_manage(), using the existing
write-origin ContextVar to distinguish foreground from background_review.
