Cross-checked website/docs against the source at main HEAD and corrected
documented commands, env vars, config keys, headers, and default values
that don't match the code. Docs-only; no behavioral changes.
Refs #36048
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Fixes#62452. Two amplifiers turned one slow auxiliary route into a
per-turn multi-minute stall:
1. Fallback candidates inherited the exact effective_timeout the primary
was called with. When the primary's deadline was short (tuned or
already burned), an independently healthy fallback died on the same
clock — the reporter's 163k-token compression needed ~90s on the
fallback and got the primary's 30s, every turn. fallback_chain
entries may now declare their own 'timeout' (seconds); both fallback
candidate call sites (sync + async) resolve it via
_fallback_entry_timeout, label-scoped so only configured-chain
candidates are affected. No entry timeout → task-level timeout,
preserving existing behavior.
2. A session whose transcript structurally cannot be summarized within
the deadline re-attempted every 60s, re-burning the full timeout on
every subsequent turn. Consecutive timeout-class failures now
escalate the cooldown 60s → 300s → 900s (capped); any successful
summary or session reset clears the streak. Timeout classification
takes precedence over the streaming-closed 30s rung ('timed out'
also matches _is_connection_error) and now recognizes the SDK's
'Request timed out.' phrasing.
Fail-safe behavior is unchanged: all messages are preserved when every
candidate fails; the cooldown only spaces out retries.
Document that safe-root violations are hard-blocked (not approval-gated),
add a security guide section for write_file/patch guards, and link cron
and verifier docs so users trust the footer over agent summaries.
- Nudge text now warns that repeated protocol violations will block the
task and require manual intervention, so the model understands the
consequence of ignoring the nudge.
- Kanban docs restructured to clearly separate the two defense layers:
agent-side prevention (nudge, from #64350) and dispatcher-side
recovery (bounded retry, from this PR).
- Two new integration tests verifying the nudge mentions blocking and
that the agent-side and dispatcher-side budgets are independent.
Fold in kevinb361's suggested lifecycle wording (#61817 conceded in favor of
this PR) and update the second stale site his sweep didn't cover: the
task-events table still said the dispatcher 'auto-blocks immediately instead
of retrying'. Both now describe the violation-only streak: protocol_violation
fires on every violation (its payload marker feeds the budget), below-budget
runs return the task to ready, and gave_up + auto-block happen only when the
consecutive streak reaches _PROTOCOL_VIOLATION_FAILURE_LIMIT (default 3,
per-task max_retries overriding).
The salvaged SelfHostedBackend made self-hosted servers reachable via
mem0.json / MEM0_HOST, but the setup wizard still offered only Platform
and OSS — exactly the gap users hit (Discord report: 'At memory setup
there's only 2 options'). Adds a third wizard mode:
- interactive picker: Platform / Self-hosted server / Open Source
- non-interactive: hermes memory setup mem0 --mode selfhosted
--host http://... [--api-key ...] [--dry-run]
- host -> mem0.json (behavioral), API key -> .env as MEM0_API_KEY
(secret), optional key for AUTH_DISABLED servers
- best-effort reachability check against the server, non-fatal
- README + memory-providers docs updated with the wizard path
Review follow-ups on the salvage:
- get_all() pruned from the ABC and all three backends: mem0_list (its
only caller) was removed by the recall-tuning commit, leaving new,
tested, unreachable code — including SelfHostedBackend's _MAX_TOP_K
over-fetch workaround. Tests for it dropped; fake-class stubs remain
harmlessly. (The #52921 true-total fix lives on in the PR history if
a lister ever returns.)
- The persisted rerank config key was write-only (setup prompted for it,
nothing read it). initialize() now parses it into _rerank_default and
mem0_search uses it when the model doesn't pass rerank explicitly;
per-call args still win. Guard test added.
- Platform-mode setup now warns when MEM0_HOST is set in the environment:
the json host-clear can't help there (_load_config seeds host from the
env var, docs tell users to put it in .env) — the user would silently
keep routing to the self-hosted server.
- SelfHostedBackend: connect-level retries (httpx.HTTPTransport(retries=2))
so a single transient blip doesn't count toward the provider breaker;
transport now injectable and the test helper uses the real __init__
instead of mirroring it via __new__.
- plugin.yaml description no longer leads with reranking (off by default,
platform-only); docs em-dash typo fixed.
Salvage of #55614 by @kartik-mem0 (mem0 maintainer). Adds a SelfHostedBackend
that talks to a self-hosted Mem0 Docker server over httpx (X-API-Key auth,
/search + /memories routes), gated behind `host`. Also folds in the mem0
research-team recall tuning that rides with it: rerank defaults to false across
all modes, the mem0_list tool is removed (5->4 tools), search guidance is
de-shouted, and self-hosted get_all reports the true stored total (#52921).
Supersedes the self-hosted portion of #52487 (@liuhao1024, first-submitted).
Closes#52478Fixes#52921
* docs(secrets): secret-source plugin developer guide + sidebar registration for 1Password page
- New developer-guide/secret-source-plugin.md: SecretSource contract
(never raises/prompts, fetch-only, timeout budget), framework-vs-plugin
ownership table, mapped-vs-bulk shape guidance, run_secret_cli()
subprocess-safety, registration + timing note, conformance kit usage,
ErrorKind reference.
- Register user-guide/secrets/onepassword in the sidebar (page shipped
in #59498 but was not listed, so it was unreachable from nav).
- Cross-link the user-guide plugin section to the new dev guide.
* docs: group all plugin guides under a Plugins subcategory in Extending
- Move guides/build-a-hermes-plugin.md -> developer-guide/plugins/index.md
(both locales) and make it the category landing page (slug pinned to
/developer-guide/plugins).
- New sidebar subcategory Developer Guide > Extending > Plugins holding
the general guide + all 8 provider-plugin docs (llm-access, memory,
context-engine, secret-source, model, image-gen, video-gen, web-search);
provider-doc URLs unchanged.
- Client redirect /guides/build-a-hermes-plugin -> /developer-guide/plugins.
- Update 30 cross-links across both locales.
/model switches, primary-model fallback, and credential-pool key
rotation all change the prompt-cache key (model and/or account), so
the next turn re-reads the entire conversation at full input price.
Add cost warnings everywhere docs recommend or describe these paths:
- reference/slash-commands.md: cost note on both /model rows
- user-guide/features/fallback-providers.md: warning admonition
- user-guide/features/credential-pools.md: warning admonition
- user-guide/configuring-models.md: mid-session switch warning
- guides/tips.md: expand cache tip + /model tip
- reference/faq.md: warning on the switch-back-and-forth example
- user-guide/desktop.md: composer picker bullet
- developer-guide/context-compression-and-caching.md: new
cache-aware design pattern (model identity is part of the key)
Inspired by Claude Code v2.1.199 (July 2, 2026): stacked slash-skill
invocations load all leading skills (up to 5), not just the first.
- agent/skill_commands.py: split_stacked_skill_commands() consumes leading
/skill tokens (stops at the first non-skill token so slash-path arguments
are never swallowed); build_stacked_skill_invocation_message() composes
the multi-skill turn reusing the existing bundle scaffolding markers so
extract_user_instruction_from_skill_message() keeps memory providers
storing the user's instruction, not N skill bodies.
- cli.py + gateway/run.py: dispatch the stacked path on both surfaces.
- 11 new tests + docs section in skills.md.
A single-model Hermes agent never sends temperature; the provider default
applies. MoA hardcoded reference_temperature=0.6 / aggregator_temperature=0.4,
and the coercion float(preset.get(key, 0.6) or 0.6) made unset IMPOSSIBLE to
express: absent, null, empty, and even an explicit 0 all collapsed to the
baked-in default. Every MoA advisor and aggregator therefore ran at 0.6/0.4
while the same model running solo used the provider default — silently
skewing solo-vs-MoA comparisons and overriding provider-tuned defaults.
- moa_config normalization: temperatures coerce to None when absent/blank/
invalid (new _coerce_float_or_none); explicit values incl. 0 honored.
- moa_loop: _preset_temperature() resolves preset values; None flows to
call_llm, which already omits the parameter when None (same contract as
max_tokens). Aggregator still inherits the acting agent's own configured
temperature when the preset doesn't pin one.
- conversation_loop (context-mode MoA): same resolution, no more hardcoded
0.6/0.4 at the call site.
- DEFAULT_CONFIG preset + web_server payload models + docs updated: unset
is the default, pinning stays available.
MoA per-turn latency is dominated by advisor GENERATION: turn wall time
correlates ~0.88 with output tokens and ~-0.03 with input tokens (measured over
52 turns). Each turn waits for the slowest advisor to finish writing, and
advisors were uncapped — writing multi-thousand-token essays the aggregator
only needs the gist of.
Add an opt-in per-preset reference_max_tokens knob (mirrors reference_temperature)
that caps ADVISOR output only; the acting aggregator is never capped. Default
None = uncapped, so existing presets are byte-for-byte unchanged (no regression).
Wired through both MoA execution paths (MoAChatCompletions.create and
aggregate_moa_context).
E2E: same task, closed preset uncapped vs reference_max_tokens=600 -> 59s to 33s
(~44% faster), final answer identical/correct.
- hermes_cli/moa_config.py: _coerce_int_or_none helper + reference_max_tokens
in _normalize_preset/_default_preset/flattened view
- agent/moa_loop.py: read preset.reference_max_tokens, pass to reference fan-out
- agent/conversation_loop.py: pass reference_max_tokens on the per-turn path
- tests + docs
Live DM testing showed a reply to a DM cron brief did NOT continue the job.
Root cause: for a 1:1 DM the governing knob is dm_top_level_threads_as_sessions
(default True), NOT reply_in_thread / cron_continuable_surface. Under the
default, each top-level DM keys to a per-message session (…:dm:<chat>:<ts>),
so a reply mints a new ts and can never converge with the flat …:dm:<chat>
session the cron seed creates.
A 1:1 DM has no thread-vs-timeline split, so "in_channel" has no coherent
meaning for a DM — cron_continuable_surface is a channel concept and is a
no-op for DMs. DM continuation is governed entirely by
dm_top_level_threads_as_sessions:
- false → all top-level DMs share …:dm:<chat> → seed + reply converge → works
- true (default) → per-message sessions → no continuation (cron or interactive)
Option A (chosen): document the requirement; no code change (the flat-DM seed
from the prior commit already lands correctly when the knob is false). Adds a
":::note 1:1 DMs" admonition to cron.md + the zh-Hans mirror.
Verification (real inbound handler, not a hard-coded assumption — the mistake
that made the earlier DM E2E falsely pass): tests/manual/cron_inchannel_dm_e2e.py
drives the REAL _handle_slack_message for a top-level DM under both knob values
and asserts false→converges (…:dm:D_TESTDM == seed), true→diverges
(…:dm:D_TESTDM:<ts>). See decisions.md D9.
Add a per-platform `cron_continuable_surface` extra key
(`thread` default | `in_channel`) so a continuable cron job can deliver
FLAT into a Slack channel — no dedicated thread — and still be
replied-to. In `in_channel` mode the scheduler skips the thread-open
branch (leaves `thread_id=None`); the shipped origin-mirror then seeds
the `(slack, chat_id, None)` shared-channel session — the same bucket
`reply_in_thread: false` routes inbound channel replies to — so a plain
channel reply continues the job in context.
Design: specs/cron-inchannel-continuable (D1–D7, F5). Model B
(shared-channel session), NOT anchoring to the delivery `ts` — on Slack
replying to a specific message IS threading, so a `ts` anchor would only
relocate the thread, never deliver true threadless continuable.
- gateway/platforms/base.py: `supports_inchannel_continuable` capability
flag (default False → unsupported platforms fail SAFE to `thread`).
- plugins/platforms/slack/adapter.py: flag=True; `_cron_continuable_surface()`
resolver (coerces to the two-value enum); `_warn_if_inchannel_without_flat_reply`
connect-time warning (D5: warn, not hard-require — the misconfig fails safe).
- gateway/config.py: shared-key bridge line (top-level OR nested config).
- cron/scheduler.py: read the key generically from platform config, gate
the `in_channel` branch on the adapter capability flag, skip thread-open.
No new seed function (reuses the existing mirror — G6).
Pairing (docs): `in_channel` + `reply_in_thread: false` +
`require_mention: false` (or a free-response channel). Missing
`reply_in_thread: false` fails safe to a threaded continuation.
Gateway-side config flag — `/restart` to apply; NO Slack app reinstall.
Tests (from inside the worktree, PYTHONPATH=$PWD):
- +6 cron scheduler tests (in_channel skips thread-open; seeds flat
channel session with thread_id=None; thread-mode regression;
fail-safe on unsupported platform; value coercion). Prove-fail:
removing the `and not in_channel_surface` guard turns the two
load-bearing tests RED; restore → GREEN.
- +10 slack resolver/capability/warning tests; +2 config-bridge tests.
- tests/manual/cron_inchannel_e2e.py: offline E2E driving BOTH real
legs (delivery seed + inbound reply keying) → both converge on
(slack, C, None).
- No regressions: test_slack.py 216 passed alone; broader sweep green
(4 pre-existing cross-file-ordering failures reproduce identically on
pristine origin/main).
Docs: cron.md + slack.md + zh-Hans mirrors of both.
Registers PowerShell (.ps1/.psm1/.psd1) in the LSP server registry,
spawning PowerShellEditorServices over stdio via a pwsh/powershell
host. PSES ships as a GitHub release zip (no npm/go/pip recipe), so it
sits in the manual install tier alongside rust-analyzer and clangd.
The spawn builder resolves the module bundle from (in order) the
lsp.servers.powershell.command override, init bundlePath, the
PSES_BUNDLE_PATH env var, or <HERMES_HOME>/lsp/PowerShellEditorServices,
then launches Start-EditorServices.ps1 -Stdio with a non-interactive,
no-profile host. hermes lsp status/list report it as manual-only until
pwsh is present.
Docs and tests included.
Cron pre-run scripts were capped at 120s by default, which surprised
users running long data-collection scripts on crons (the whole point of
crons being to offload long work). Raise _DEFAULT_SCRIPT_TIMEOUT to 3600s
(1 hour).
This bounds the script only — skill/agent jobs already run on a separate
inactivity budget (HERMES_CRON_TIMEOUT, default 600s idle, 0=unlimited),
not a wall-clock cap. Scripts dispatch to a persistent thread pool and do
not hold the tick lock, so a long script doesn't starve other due jobs.
Docs clarified to make the script-vs-agent timeout distinction explicit.
env/config overrides (HERMES_CRON_SCRIPT_TIMEOUT,
cron.script_timeout_seconds) unchanged and still take precedence.
Add a `pre_verify` user/plugin/shell hook fired once per turn when the agent
edited code and is about to finish, after the existing verify-on-stop guard. A
hook can keep the agent going one more turn (run a check, defer it, tidy the
diff) by returning {"action":"continue","message":...} (the Claude-Code Stop
shape {"decision":"block","reason":...} is accepted too). Hooks receive coding,
attempt, final_response, and sorted changed_paths so they can self-scope and
self-throttle; the path is bounded by agent.max_verify_nudges and preserves
message-role alternation.
Hermes still ships its default coding guidance (agent.verify_guidance, on by
default), but it now rides the evidence-based verify-on-stop missing-evidence
nudge instead of a separate default pre_verify continuation, so it costs no
extra model turn of its own. Guidance reuses the shared utils.is_truthy_value
parser rather than a local copy.
/moa no longer does a sticky model switch. It now always runs a single
prompt through the default MoA preset and restores the prior model
afterward; the whole argument is the prompt (no preset-name matching).
To switch to a MoA preset for the session, select it from the model
picker, where presets already surface under a virtual Mixture of Agents
provider on every model-selection surface.
Also fixes#53444: the TUI one-shot only set session[model_override],
which the already-built cached agent ignored, so MoA silently never ran
and the turn used the original model. The TUI now does a real in-place
agent.switch_model() via _apply_model_switch() when a live agent exists
(with a proper restore after the turn), and falls back to a model_override
for lazy/unbuilt sessions.
Removes the redundant sticky-switch branch from the CLI, gateway, and TUI
/moa handlers; updates the command description, usage string, and docs.
Add post_setup() and get_status_config() to the Supermemory memory
provider so `hermes memory setup` and `hermes memory status` print a
one-line connection summary (container, profile fact count,
auto_recall/auto_capture). Point API-key onboarding at the Hermes
connect URL (app.supermemory.ai/integrations?connect=hermes).
Salvage of #52988. Two fixes folded in:
- Test isolation: the new probe/status tests mocked _SupermemoryClient
but not the __import__("supermemory") guard inside
_probe_supermemory_connection, so they passed only where the optional
supermemory package was installed and failed on a clean checkout / CI
(the PR shipped with red CI). Added _stub_supermemory_importable()
mirroring the existing test_is_available_false_when_import_missing
pattern; the suite now passes with supermemory absent.
- post_setup: `if api_key and api_key not in os.environ` checked whether
the key's *value* named an env var (always false in practice). Fixed to
compare the value: `os.environ.get("SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY") != api_key`.
Verified: 38/38 in test_supermemory_provider.py and the full
tests/plugins/memory/ suite green with supermemory not installed.
Closes#52988
* feat(kanban): typed block reasons + unblock-loop breaker
Stops the kanban blocked-task loop: a worker blocks a task, a cron
unblocks it, the worker re-blocks for the same reason, repeat forever.
block_task now takes a typed kind and a persistent block_recurrences
counter on the tasks table:
- kind=dependency routes to todo (parent-gated, auto-resumed), never
the human 'blocked' bucket a cron would keep unblocking.
- needs_input/capability/transient/untyped land in blocked; each
same-cause re-block after an unblock increments block_recurrences,
and at BLOCK_RECURRENCE_LIMIT (default 2) the task routes to triage
for a human instead of blocked.
- unblock_task no longer resets block_recurrences (the amnesia that
let the loop run unbounded); complete_task clears it on success.
Wired through the worker kanban_block tool (new kind arg) and the
hermes kanban block --kind CLI flag, both reporting where the task
actually landed. Docs + 11 new tests; 536 existing kanban tests green.
* test(kanban): make second-block notify test use a distinct block cause
test_notifier_second_blocked_delivers blocked the same task twice with
the same (untyped) reason, which now trips the new unblock-loop breaker
and routes the second block to triage instead of blocked — so only one
'blocked' notification fired. The test's actual intent is that TWO
distinct block cycles each notify; give the two cycles different kinds
(needs_input then capability) so they're genuinely separate blocks. The
same-cause loop→triage path is covered by test_kanban_block_kinds.py.
* feat(moa): expose MoA presets as selectable virtual models
Reconstructed onto current main (PR #46081's base had diverged with no common
ancestor, marking the PR dirty so CI never dispatched). MoA is now a virtual
provider: each named preset is a selectable model under provider 'moa', and the
preset's aggregator is the acting model that answers and calls tools.
Reference models fan out in parallel via a bounded ThreadPoolExecutor (the same
batch pattern delegate_task uses) — all references dispatched at once, collected
when every one finishes, then handed to the aggregator. Output order is
preserved, failures and the MoA-recursion guard stay isolated per reference.
- Removed the old mixture_of_agents model tool and moa toolset.
- Added moa as a virtual provider in the provider/model inventory.
- /moa is shortcut behavior over model selection (default preset / named preset
/ one-shot prompt).
- Dashboard + Desktop manage named presets; presets appear in model pickers.
- Parallel reference fan-out in agent/moa_loop.py with regression test.
* fix(moa): thread moa_config through _run_agent to _run_agent_inner
The reconstructed gateway MoA wiring declared moa_config on _run_agent (the
profile-scoping wrapper) and used it inside _run_agent_inner, but the wrapper
never forwarded it — _run_agent_inner had no such parameter, so the runtime hit
NameError: name 'moa_config' is not defined on the compression-failure session
sync path. Add moa_config to _run_agent_inner's signature and forward it from
both wrapper call sites (multiplex and non-multiplex). Caught by
tests/gateway/test_compression_failure_session_sync.py on CI shard test(4).
* fix(moa): classify moa as a virtual provider in the catalog
The moa virtual provider has no PROVIDER_REGISTRY/ProviderProfile entry, so
provider_catalog() fell through to the default auth_type="api_key" with no
env vars — tripping two catalog invariants:
- test_provider_catalog: api_key providers must expose a credential env var
- test_provider_parity: every hermes-model provider must be desktop-configurable
moa already declares auth_type="virtual" in HERMES_OVERLAYS; consult that
overlay as an auth_type fallback so the catalog reports moa as virtual (no real
credential, no network endpoint). Exempt virtual providers from the desktop
parity union check the same way 'custom' is exempt — derived from the catalog,
not a hardcoded slug, so future virtual providers are covered too.
Addresses review on #51077 (kxee). The continuable-cron mirror reused
gateway.mirror.mirror_to_session, which writes role=assistant — re-
introducing the exact alternation violation #2313 (37a997945)
deliberately removed: a cron brief landing as assistant after the
agent's last turn yields assistant->assistant, which breaks strict-
alternation providers (OpenAI/OpenRouter) per issue #2221. The mirror/
mirror_source metadata is also dropped at the SQLite boundary, so the
[Delivered from cron] label is lost on replay.
This is an intentional, opt-in (default OFF) reversal of #2313's
'cron output does not belong in interactive history' for the reply-to-
cron use case — gated behind cron.mirror_delivery / attach_to_session.
Fixes:
- mirror_to_session gains a role param (default 'assistant' — interactive
send_message mirror unchanged, it IS the agent speaking). Cron paths
pass role='user' with a '[Cron delivery: <task>]' prefix so the brief
collapses via repair_message_sequence's consecutive-user merge on every
provider, and stays distinguishable on replay despite the metadata drop.
- thread_seeded: defer seeding + the flag until delivery into the new
thread actually succeeds. Previously set pre-delivery, so an open-
succeeds / deliver-fails case both stranded a seeded-but-unseen brief
AND suppressed the DM-fallback mirror.
- seed mirror now passes user_id='system:cron' to resolve the exact
thread-keyed session row it just created.
- dedupe the duplicate BasePlatformAdapter import in _deliver_result.
- trim oversized docstrings to non-obvious WHY (AGENTS.md).
- docs: document cron.mirror_delivery / attach_to_session in
website/docs/user-guide/features/cron.md.
- test: assert the cron mirror writes role='user' with the label prefix.
204 cron+mirror tests pass.
* docs: stop recommending pip install hermes-agent; point to install script
The install script is the only supported install path (it provisions a
managed, isolated uv environment). Replace bare `pip install hermes-agent`
primary-install recommendations with the curl install script, and rewrite
optional-extra snippets (`pip install "hermes-agent[X]"`) to the managed-env
form `cd ~/.hermes/hermes-agent && uv pip install -e ".[X]"` that matches the
installer and the English quickstart.
Covers English docs + zh-Hans mirrors, the achievements plugin README, and
realigns the zh-Hans quickstart to the English Desktop-installer-first layout
(dropping its stale "Method A — pip (simplest)" section).
* docs: drop pip as a supported install/update method
Removes the 'pip installs' supported-method sections from updating.md and
cli-commands.md (EN + zh-Hans): the curl install script is the only supported
way to install/update the Hermes CLI. The _cmd_update_pip pip/pipx branches
remain in code as an undocumented safety net for users who already have such an
install, but the docs no longer advertise pip as a path.
Also normalizes a bare `pip install -e '.[acp]'` to the managed-env form.
Leaves python-library.md untouched: importing AIAgent as a library dependency
into your own project is a distinct use case where pip is correct.
Open-ended skill learning across every surface. /learn <free text> takes a
description of any source — a directory, a URL, the workflow you just walked
the agent through, or pasted notes — and the live agent gathers it with the
tools it already has (read_file/search_files, web_extract, the conversation,
the pasted text), then authors a SKILL.md via skill_manage following the
house authoring standards (<=60-char description, the standard section order,
Hermes-tool framing, no invented commands).
No engine, no model-tool footprint, works on any terminal backend (local,
Docker, remote): /learn builds a standards-guided prompt and hands it to the
agent as a normal turn.
- agent/learn_prompt.py: shared standards-guided prompt builder
- /learn registry entry (both surfaces) + CLI handler (inject onto input
queue) + gateway handler (rewrite turn, fall through, /blueprint pattern)
- tui_gateway command.dispatch returns a send directive -> TUI + dashboard chat
- dashboard Skills page 'Learn a skill' panel (dir + URL + open-ended text)
composes a /learn request and runs it in chat
- docs (slash-commands ref + skills feature page), 11 targeted tests
Inspired by OpenAI Codex's Record & Replay and the /learn concept from #47234
(dir-distillation engine); reworked to be open-ended and engine-free per
review.
A Medium-integrity Hermes agent cannot drive High-integrity (admin)
windows on Windows — UIPI blocks UIA enumeration and mouse injection
(SOM returns 0 elements, clicks silently no-op, screenshots still work,
keyboard partially bypasses). OS constraint affecting every Windows
automation stack, not a cua-driver bug. Document the symptom + the
run-elevated workaround. Closes#49067.