The port-announcement clock in waitForDashboardPort starts the instant the
backend process is spawned — before uvicorn binds its socket. On a cold
install the child first compiles and imports the whole hermes_cli.main ->
web_server -> FastAPI/uvicorn chain, and on Windows real-time AV scans every
freshly written .pyc. That pre-bind cost can exceed the old hardcoded 45s
deadline, so the desktop killed a healthy-but-still-starting backend and
respawned it, piling up orphaned processes (#50209).
Raise the default to 90s and make it overridable via
HERMES_DESKTOP_PORT_ANNOUNCE_TIMEOUT_MS, clamped to a 45s floor so a bad
override can't reintroduce the loop. Warm starts still announce in well under
a second; both call sites inherit the new default with no change. Adds
backend-ready.test.cjs (wired into test:desktop:platforms).
Replace the PortPool-based port reservation system (9120-9199 range) with OS-assigned ephemeral ports via --port 0.
Before: Desktop probed a hardcoded port range, reserved ports in-process to close TOCTOU races, and passed the chosen port to the dashboard via CLI arg.
After: Desktop spawns dashboard with --port 0, parses the actual port from a stdout announcement line (HERMES_DASHBOARD_READY port=<N>), and uses that for WebSocket connections.
Changes:
- web_server.py: add --port 0 support with SO_REUSEADDR pre-bind + announcement; add EADDRINUSE preflight for explicit ports
- main.cjs: remove PortPool, PORT_FLOOR/CEILING, pickPort(), isPortAvailable(); add waitForDashboardPort() stdout parser
- Delete port-pool.cjs and port-pool.test.cjs (106 lines removed)
Net effect: eliminates the entire TOCTOU-mitigation reservation infrastructure and arbitrary port range constraints. OS handles port allocation natively.
