Commit 4 made cleanup_vm() default to force_remove=True, which was wrong:
cleanup_vm() is called from AIAgent.close() (TUI session close at
tui_gateway/server.py:2991, gateway session teardown at gateway/run.py:3569)
and from per-turn cleanup (agent/chat_completion_helpers.py:1517). All
three are session-lifecycle events that should honor persist mode, not
explicit user-initiated teardown.
Ben reported the symptom: container shared between multiple TUI sessions
(good) but killed as soon as any session closed (bad). With force_remove=True
as the default, every `session.close` JSON-RPC tore down the container.
The fix is to flip cleanup_vm()'s force_remove default back to False.
The kwarg still exists for future explicit-teardown paths (`/reset`-style
flows, "destroy my sandbox" commands) that haven't been wired up yet.
Two new unit tests pin the behavior:
* `test_cleanup_vm_default_honors_persist_mode` — asserts
`cleanup_vm(task_id)` does neither docker stop nor docker rm on a
persist-mode container (the regression Ben caught).
* `test_cleanup_vm_force_remove_tears_down_persist_container` —
asserts the kwarg still flows through the runtime-signature-inspection
plumbing to the backend's cleanup().
E2E verified against real Docker (in addition to all 17 existing checks):
✓ Default cleanup_vm() leaves persist-mode container running
✓ cleanup_vm(force_remove=True) removed the container
Refs #20561
The first iteration of this PR did docker stop on every cleanup in
persist mode (only skipping docker rm). Ben caught this as
contradicting the documented "ONE long-lived container shared across
sessions" semantics: stopping the container on every Hermes /quit kills
any background processes inside (npm watchers, pytest watchers,
long-running scripts) — exactly the case persist mode is supposed to
protect.
This commit splits the cleanup paths cleanly:
* **Persist mode (default)** — cleanup() is a NO-OP for the
container. Container stays running, processes survive, next Hermes
process attaches via the existing label probe in ~ms instead of
waiting for docker start. Resource reclamation happens via the
orphan reaper at next startup (2 × lifetime_seconds threshold), which
covers the SIGKILL / OOM / abandoned-laptop cases.
* **Opt-out mode (persist_across_processes=False)** — unchanged:
docker stop + docker rm -f on cleanup as before.
* **Explicit teardown** — new cleanup(force_remove=True) kwarg
overrides persist mode and tears the container down unconditionally.
cleanup_vm(task_id) now defaults to force_remove=True since
it's the user-driven reset path (called from AIAgent.close(),
/reset-style flows, and the idle reaper's per-turn cleanup).
The idle reaper in _cleanup_inactive_envs calls env.cleanup()
directly with no kwargs, so idle persist-mode envs are no-op'd — the
container survives the in-process pop and the next tool call re-probes
via labels. No state leak: _container_id is still cleared on the
in-process handle.
E2E verified against real Docker:
✓ Container is still running after cleanup()
✓ Background process (sleep loop) survived cleanup()
✓ Filesystem state preserved across cleanup()
✓ In-process container_id cleared (next __init__ will re-probe)
✓ Background process visible from reused env (no docker start happened)
✓ force_remove=True removed the container even in persist mode
✓ cleanup_vm() removed the container (defaults to force_remove=True)
Test changes:
* Replaces `test_cleanup_with_persist_only_stops_no_rm` with
`test_cleanup_with_persist_is_noop_for_container` — asserts neither
stop nor rm runs in persist mode, and the in-process handle is
cleared so re-probe works.
* Adds `test_cleanup_force_remove_stops_and_rms_even_in_persist_mode`
— covers the new kwarg.
* Updates `test_cleanup_uses_subprocess_run_not_detached_shell` and
`test_wait_for_cleanup_after_cleanup_returns_true` to pass
`force_remove=True` so they actually exercise the docker code path
(default no-op would trivially pass).
cleanup_vm() forwards `force_remove` only to backends whose cleanup()
accepts the kwarg (currently just DockerEnvironment) via runtime
signature inspection — Modal/Daytona/SSH `cleanup()` signatures are
unchanged.
Refs #20561
The cleanup-fix in the previous commit handles the graceful-exit leak: a
Hermes process that runs ``atexit`` will now actually wait on the docker
stop/rm worker thread, so containers either survive (persist mode) or are
fully removed (opt-out mode) by the time the interpreter exits.
But ``atexit`` doesn't fire on SIGKILL, OOM-kill, or terminal-window
close. Containers from those exits stay parked with no surviving Python
process to reuse or remove them, so they accumulate until the operator
intervenes with ``docker rm -f``. The cleanup-fix doesn't help this class
— there's no live cleanup() to fix.
This commit adds the safety net: a startup orphan reaper that runs once
per Hermes process and removes long-Exited hermes-labeled containers
that the prior commit couldn't reach.
Implementation:
* New ``reap_orphan_containers()`` in ``tools/environments/docker.py``.
Filters: ``label=hermes-agent=1`` + ``status=exited`` + (optional)
``label=hermes-profile=<current>``. Per-container ``docker inspect``
parses ``State.FinishedAt`` (with nanosecond-precision trimming for
Python's microsecond-bound ``fromisoformat``); containers older than
the threshold get ``docker rm -f``'d. The ``status=exited`` filter is
load-bearing — a running container may belong to a sibling Hermes
process whose reuse path will pick it up; killing it would crash the
sibling mid-command. Single-container failures are logged and the
sweep continues to the next candidate.
* New ``_maybe_reap_docker_orphans()`` helper in
``tools/terminal_tool.py``. Wired into ``_create_environment()`` for
``env_type == "docker"``. Gated by:
- ``terminal.docker_orphan_reaper: true`` (default; opt-out for
operators running multiple Hermes processes in the same profile
who don't trust the conservative defaults)
- ``_docker_orphan_reaper_ran`` module flag with double-checked
locking — parallel subagents and RL rollouts don't trigger N
concurrent docker ps storms
- Age threshold = ``2 × TERMINAL_LIFETIME_SECONDS`` with a 60s floor
(so ``TERMINAL_LIFETIME_SECONDS=0`` doesn't race the user's own
setup)
- Profile scoping — a research profile NEVER reaps the default
profile's stragglers
- Exception swallow — a janitor failure must never block container
creation
* New config ``terminal.docker_orphan_reaper`` wired through all four
config-bridge sites (cli.py, gateway/run.py, hermes_cli/config.py,
tests/conftest.py) and pinned by
``test_docker_orphan_reaper_is_bridged_everywhere``.
Coverage:
* 9 new unit tests in test_docker_environment.py — happy path, recent-
container sparing, profile scoping, unparseable-timestamp safety,
docker-ps-failure handling, partial-failure continuation, nanosecond
timestamp parsing, zero-value FinishedAt rejection.
* 6 new integration tests in test_docker_orphan_reaper_integration.py
— once-per-process gate, disable-flag respected, lifetime doubling
with 60s floor, current-profile filter wiring, exception swallow.
* 1 new bridge-invariant regression test.
Closes#20561 (combined with the two prior commits on this branch).
The Docker backend docs claim "Single persistent container — ONE long-
lived container shared across sessions, /new, /reset, and delegate_task
subagents. Stopped/removed on shutdown." In practice the code only
honored that contract within a single Python process via the in-memory
\`_active_environments[task_id]\` cache. Every \`hermes chat\` invocation
spawned a fresh \`hermes-<hex>\` container; older containers piled up in
\`Exited\` state and accumulated until manual \`docker rm\` (issue #20561).
Three root causes, all addressed by this commit:
1. No cross-process container discovery.
2. \`cleanup()\` used fire-and-forget \`subprocess.Popen("... &", shell=True)\`
which raced with parent-process exit — when Python exited promptly the
detached shell child got killed mid-\`docker stop\`, leaving stopped
containers behind.
3. The \`docker rm\` step in cleanup was gated on \`not self._persistent\`
(the bind-mount-persistence flag). Default config sets
\`container_persistent: true\`, so the default happy path skipped \`rm\`
entirely — even when the user explicitly didn't want cross-process
reuse, containers leaked.
Fix:
* Add \`DockerEnvironment.__init__(persist_across_processes=True)\`. When
true, init probes
\`docker ps -a --filter label=hermes-agent=1
--filter label=hermes-task-id=<task>
--filter label=hermes-profile=<profile>\`
and reuses a matching container (running → attach; stopped →
\`docker start\` → attach; \`docker start\` failure → fall through to a
fresh \`docker run\`). Multiple matches prefer the running one, with the
stragglers left for the orphan reaper (next commit) to clean up.
* Rewrite \`cleanup()\`. Uses \`subprocess.run(..., timeout=30)\` on a
daemon \`threading.Thread\`, not the racy \`Popen(... &)\`. The
\`_persistent\` guard is dropped on the \`rm\` step — \`rm\` now runs
whenever \`persist_across_processes\` is false, regardless of the
bind-mount-persistence setting. The leak class is gone in all
combinations.
* Add \`wait_for_cleanup(timeout)\`. \`tools/terminal_tool.py\`'s atexit
hook calls this on every active env, blocking up to 15s for the
cleanup thread before interpreter exit. Without this, \`hermes /quit\`
raced the daemon-thread teardown and dropped the stop/rm work.
* New config \`terminal.docker_persist_across_processes\` (default
\`true\` — restores the documented contract). Set \`false\` for hard
per-process isolation. Wired through all four config-bridge sites
(cli.py env_mappings, gateway/run.py _terminal_env_map,
hermes_cli/config.py _config_to_env_sync, tests/conftest.py env-strip
list); regression-pinned by
\`test_docker_persist_across_processes_is_bridged_everywhere\` matching
the existing pattern for docker_run_as_host_user / docker_env.
Reuse intentionally does NOT compare image / mounts / resources — only
the labels. Operators changing those settings should set
\`docker_persist_across_processes: false\` (or \`docker rm -f\` the
labeled container) to force a fresh start. This keeps the probe cheap
and the failure mode obvious.
Coverage: 12 new unit tests in tests/tools/test_docker_environment.py
covering reuse paths (running, stopped, fallback, opt-out, duplicate
preference) and cleanup behavior (persist-mode no-rm, opt-out always-rm,
no-Popen, wait_for_cleanup semantics, partial-init safety). Plus one
config-bridge regression pin.
Refs #20561
Background processes whose command contains `gh pr view --json
statusCheckRollup` or `gh pr checks | jq` now get a runtime hint in
the result pointing at the canonical green-ci-policy snippets. The
homebrew shape has caused at least seven silent CI-watcher failures
in the past two weeks (#31329, #31448, #31695, #31709, #31745,
#32264, #33131) — each one a different jq/awk/grep variation of the
same fundamental problem (stdout buffering, jq null-key edge cases,
conclusion-vs-status confusion, TTY-only banner grepping).
The skill that documents this anti-pattern is excellent, but a skill
only fires if the agent loads it. The tool surface fires on every
misuse. This is the embed-footguns-in-tool-surface pattern from
PR #31289 applied to a recurring failure mode that's outgrown
skill-only enforcement.
Detector is deliberately narrow — flags two specific shapes:
1. Any command containing `statusCheckRollup` (the JSON-API path —
conclusion vs status field semantics keep burning us).
2. `gh pr view` / `gh pr checks` combined with `jq` (gh pr
checks doesn't emit JSON, so any `| jq` here is confused intent;
the canonical column-2 poller uses awk-on-tabs, not jq).
Does NOT flag the blessed column-2 awk-on-tabs poller (which uses
`awk -F"\t" "\==\"pending\""`) or the exit-code-driven
`gh pr checks $PR >/dev/null` snippet.
Hint composes with the existing background-without-notify_on_complete
hint — both can fire on the same call. Each is independently
actionable.
Tests:
- 4 new cases in tests/tools/test_notify_on_complete.py
- test_homebrew_ci_poller_via_statusCheckRollup_emits_hint (positive)
- test_homebrew_ci_poller_via_gh_pr_checks_piped_to_jq_emits_hint (positive)
- test_canonical_column2_awk_poller_does_not_emit_homebrew_hint (negative)
- test_canonical_gh_pr_checks_exit_code_loop_does_not_emit_hint (negative)
- test_non_ci_background_command_does_not_emit_homebrew_hint (negative)
- 30/30 passing (was 26)
* remove Vercel AI Gateway provider and Vercel Sandbox terminal backend
Both Vercel-hosted integrations are removed end-to-end. Users on the AI
Gateway should switch to OpenRouter or one of the other aggregators
(Nous Portal, Kilo Code). Users on the Vercel Sandbox backend should
switch to Docker, Modal, Daytona, or SSH.
What's removed:
- `plugins/model-providers/ai-gateway/` provider plugin
- `hermes_cli/vercel_auth.py` Vercel-Sandbox auth helper
- `tools/environments/vercel_sandbox.py` terminal backend
- `ai-gateway` provider wiring across auth, doctor, setup, models,
config, status, providers, main, web_server, model_normalize, dump
- `vercel_sandbox` backend wiring across terminal_tool, file_tools,
code_execution_tool, file_operations, approval, skills_tool,
environments/local, credential_files, lazy_deps, prompt_builder,
cli, gateway/run
- `AI_GATEWAY_BASE_URL` constant, `_AI_GATEWAY_HEADERS` auxiliary-client
header set, run_agent base-URL header/reasoning special-cases
- `[vercel]` pyproject extra and `vercel`/`vercel-workers` from uv.lock
- env vars: `AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY`, `AI_GATEWAY_BASE_URL`, `VERCEL_TOKEN`,
`VERCEL_PROJECT_ID`, `VERCEL_TEAM_ID`, `VERCEL_OIDC_TOKEN`,
`TERMINAL_VERCEL_RUNTIME`
- Tests: deletes test_ai_gateway_models.py and
test_vercel_sandbox_environment.py; scrubs references across 23
surviving test files (no entire tests deleted unless they were
dedicated to AI Gateway / Sandbox)
- Docs: provider tables, env-var reference, setup guides, security
notes, tool config, terminal-backend tables — English plus zh-Hans
i18n parity
- `hermes-agent` skill: provider table entry and remote-backend list
What stays (intentional):
- `popular-web-designs/templates/vercel.md` — CSS design reference,
unrelated to Vercel-the-AI-product
- `x-vercel-id` in `stream_diag.py` headers — generic Vercel CDN
response header, useful diag signal on any Vercel-hosted endpoint
- `vercel-labs/agent-browser` URL in browser config — lightpanda
browser project, different OSS effort
- `userStories.json` historical contributor entry mentioning Vercel
Sandbox — archive, not active docs
Validation:
- 1153 tests in the 22 targeted files pass (`scripts/run_tests.sh`)
- Full repo `py_compile` clean
- Live import of every touched module + invariant check (no
`ai-gateway` in `PROVIDER_REGISTRY`, no `_AI_GATEWAY_HEADERS`, no
`vercel_sandbox` in `_REMOTE_TERMINAL_BACKENDS`)
* test: convert profile-count check from change-detector to invariant
The hardcoded "== 34" assertion broke when ai-gateway was removed.
Per AGENTS.md change-detector-test guidance, assert the relationship
(registry count >= number of plugin dirs) instead of a literal count.
Counts shift when providers are added/removed; that's expected.
`terminal(background=true)` without `notify_on_complete=true` or
`watch_patterns` runs the process SILENTLY — the agent has no way
to learn it finished short of calling `process(action='poll')`
explicitly. That's correct for genuine long-lived processes (servers,
watchers, daemons) but is a footgun for every bounded task (tests,
builds, deploys, CI pollers, batch jobs), which is the vast majority
of background uses.
Hit on May 23, 2026 (PR #31231 incident): agent launched a CI-watch
loop with `background=true` only. The poller ran fine, exited green
6 minutes later, agent never noticed. User had to surface 'we are
green CI, you can merge.' Memory and skill docs said *what* to do
(poll in background) but not *how* to receive the result. The
`notify_on_complete=true` flag exists and works, but is easy to
forget when bg seems sufficient on its own.
Two changes here, mutually reinforcing:
1. Runtime nudge: tool result for `background=true` w/o notify or
watch_patterns now includes a `hint` field explaining the silent-
process failure mode and pointing at the corrective flag. Agent
sees it on the same turn and self-corrects without needing the
user to surface anything. Cost for legitimate server cases is one
ignored read (~50 tokens); cost for forgot-notify cases is
prevented blindness (potentially many turns, or a user nudge).
False positives << false negatives.
2. Schema/description rewrite: top-level TERMINAL_TOOL_DESCRIPTION
and the `background` field description now lead with 'Almost
always pair with notify_on_complete=true' instead of presenting
it as one of two equally-likely patterns. The two legitimate
non-notify shapes (long-lived servers; watch_patterns mid-process
signals) are still documented, but as the minority case.
Tests cover all four shapes: bg-only emits hint, bg+notify doesn't,
bg+watch_patterns doesn't, foreground doesn't. 4 new tests; full
suite of background/process tests stays green (160/160 across the
relevant 6 test files).
Background-process completion notifications (notify_on_complete) and
watch-pattern notifications were always delivered to the Telegram main
chat instead of the originating private-chat topic.
Hermes-created Telegram DM topic lanes only render a send when it carries
both message_thread_id and a reply anchor. The synthetic MessageEvent
injected on process completion had no message_id, so _reply_anchor_for_event
returned None and _thread_kwargs_for_send dropped message_thread_id
entirely — routing the notification to the main chat.
Capture the triggering message id at spawn time and thread it through to
the synthetic event so it can be reply-anchored back into the topic:
- session_context: add HERMES_SESSION_MESSAGE_ID context var
- telegram adapter: populate SessionSource.message_id on inbound messages
- terminal tool: persist watcher_message_id on the process session
- process registry: carry/persist message_id on watcher dicts + checkpoint
- gateway: set MessageEvent.message_id on injected notifications
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
When a tool call requires user approval in the non-blocking gateway path,
the LLM previously received a result that was indistinguishable from a
failed tool call (exit_code=-1, error=message). The LLM could not tell
whether the tool was pending approval, had returned empty results, or had
failed silently — causing it to burn context on wrong hypotheses.
Fix changes the result format to include:
- status: pending_approval (clear state name)
- approval_pending: True (explicit boolean for LLMs to detect)
- error: cleared to empty string (removes misleading error signal)
This lets the LLM reason about approval latency vs actual errors,
short-circuiting the previous silent failure mode.
Fixes#14806
Build on @aydnOktay's cronjob fix by routing the cronjob check through
the shared 'env_var_enabled' helper in utils.py (same truthy set:
1/true/yes/on) and applying the same semantics to the 8 sibling call
sites that read HERMES_INTERACTIVE / HERMES_GATEWAY_SESSION /
HERMES_EXEC_ASK / HERMES_CRON_SESSION with bare os.getenv() truthy
checks:
- tools/approval.py: _is_gateway_approval_context (2), check_command_safety (2),
check_all_command_guards (3) -- 7 sites total
- tools/terminal_tool.py: _handle_sudo_failure, sudo password prompt -- 2 sites
- tools/skills_tool.py: _is_gateway_surface -- 1 site
Without this, a user who exports HERMES_INTERACTIVE=0 in their shell
still gets interactive sudo prompts, approval prompts, and gateway
skill-install paths -- only the cronjob tool was hardened. Now all
consumers agree on the same false-like values.
Also drops the duplicate _is_truthy_env helper from cronjob_tools.py
in favour of the existing canonical utils.env_var_enabled.
Tests: extend the parametrized regression coverage to all three
session env vars (HERMES_INTERACTIVE / HERMES_GATEWAY_SESSION /
HERMES_EXEC_ASK) symmetrically. tests/tools/test_cronjob_tools.py:
60/60 pass; tests/tools/{approval,terminal_tool,skills_tool,
cron_approval_mode,hardline_blocklist}.py: 378/378 pass.
The _foreground_background_guidance() function matched background-wrapper
keywords (nohup/disown/setsid) anywhere in the command text, including
inside quoted strings, Python -c code, commit messages, and PR body text.
Two-layer fix:
1. Strip single-quoted, double-quoted, and backtick-quoted content before
pattern matching via _strip_quotes() helper.
2. Tighten the regex to only match keywords at command-start positions
(after ^, ;, &, &&, ||, or $() — not mid-argument.
Both layers are needed: quote stripping handles the common case of keywords
in string literals, and the position-aware regex handles unquoted cases
like 'export FOO=setsid' (word boundary match, wrong position).
Fixes#20064
Replace with for all literal-tuple
membership tests. Set lookup is O(1) vs O(n) for tuple — consistent
micro-optimization across the codebase.
608 instances fixed via `ruff --fix --unsafe-fixes`, 0 remaining.
133 files, +626/-626 (net zero).
Two independent opt-in QoL toggles, both off by default.
terminal.docker_extra_args:
- List of extra flags appended verbatim to docker run after security
defaults. Useful for adding capabilities (e.g. --cap-add SETUID) or
other docker run options not exposed by existing config keys.
- Non-string entries are logged and skipped.
- Also available via TERMINAL_DOCKER_EXTRA_ARGS='[...]' env var.
display.timestamps:
- Appends [HH:MM] to user input bullet and the assistant response box
header. Single hub in _format_submitted_user_message_preview()
covers both single-line and multi-line user previews; assistant
response label gets the timestamp at box-open time.
Closes#1569 (timestamps).
Co-authored-by: Mibayy <Mibayy@users.noreply.github.com>
Problem: terminal.docker_env set in config.yaml was silently ignored.
Docker containers never received the user-specified env vars.
Root cause: docker_env was missing from all three config→env bridging
maps (cli.py env_mappings, gateway/run.py _terminal_env_map,
hermes_cli/config.py _config_to_env_sync) and from the terminal_tool
_get_env_config() reader. _create_environment() consumed the key from
container_config correctly, but it was always {} because TERMINAL_DOCKER_ENV
was never set.
Also extend the list-serialisation branches in cli.py and gateway/run.py
to handle dict values via json.dumps (lists already used json.dumps;
plain str() on a dict produces undecodable output).
Fix:
- cli.py: add "docker_env": "TERMINAL_DOCKER_ENV" to env_mappings;
serialise dict values with json.dumps alongside existing list path
- gateway/run.py: same additions to _terminal_env_map and serialisation
- hermes_cli/config.py: add "terminal.docker_env": "TERMINAL_DOCKER_ENV"
to _config_to_env_sync so `hermes config set terminal.docker_env …`
persists to .env correctly
- tools/terminal_tool.py: add docker_env key to _get_env_config() reading
TERMINAL_DOCKER_ENV via _parse_env_var with default "{}"
Tests: add test_docker_env_is_bridged_everywhere to
tests/tools/test_terminal_config_env_sync.py — stash-verified: fails on
origin/main, passes with fix.
Fixes#20537
When running on a host with sudoers NOPASSWD configured for the current
user, interactive Hermes sessions were unnecessarily entering the
password prompt path before executing sudo commands. Outside Hermes,
`sudo -n true` exits 0 for that user.
Add `_sudo_nopasswd_works()` that probes `sudo -n true` and, when it
succeeds, lets `_transform_sudo_command()` return the command unchanged
with no stdin password. The probe:
- Is scoped to the `local` terminal backend only, so Docker/SSH/Modal
and other remote backends do not inherit host sudo state.
- Re-probes every call (no process-lifetime cache) so an expired sudo
timestamp cannot silently make a later command block waiting for a
password that Hermes never prompts for.
- Is bypassed entirely when `SUDO_PASSWORD` is configured or a cached
password already exists, preserving existing explicit-password flows.
Co-authored-by: Junting Wu <juntingpublic@gmail.com>
Adds Vercel Sandbox as a supported Hermes terminal backend alongside
existing providers (Local, Docker, Modal, SSH, Daytona, Singularity).
Uses the Vercel Python SDK to create/manage cloud microVMs, supports
snapshot-based filesystem persistence keyed by task_id, and integrates
with the existing BaseEnvironment shell contract and FileSyncManager
for credential/skill syncing.
Based on #17127 by @scotttrinh, cherry-picked onto current main.
Add opt-in terminal.docker_run_as_host_user config flag that passes
--user $(id -u):$(id -g) to the Docker backend so files written into
bind-mounted directories (/workspace, /root, docker_volumes entries) are
owned by the host user instead of root.
When enabled on POSIX platforms, also drops SETUID/SETGID caps since the
container no longer needs gosu/su to switch users. Falls back cleanly on
platforms without os.getuid (e.g. native Windows Docker) with a warning.
Wired through all three config.yaml -> TERMINAL_* env-var bridges:
- cli.py env_mappings (CLI + TUI startup)
- gateway/run.py _terminal_env_map (gateway / messaging platforms)
- hermes_cli/config.py _config_to_env_sync (`hermes config set`)
Also fixes docker_mount_cwd_to_workspace silently failing in gateway
mode -- it was missing from gateway/run.py's _terminal_env_map.
Adds tests/tools/test_terminal_config_env_sync.py to guard against
future drift between the three bridges (same bug class shipped twice
in one month).
Bundled Hermes image won't work with this flag since its entrypoint
expects to start as root for the usermod/gosu hermes flow; works with
the default nikolaik/python-nodejs image and plain Debian/Ubuntu.
Commit 3c42064e made config.yaml the single source of truth for
TERMINAL_CWD, but the config bridge passes cwd values verbatim to
os.environ. When a user sets terminal.cwd: ~/ in config.yaml, the
literal string '~/'' reaches subprocess.Popen, which the kernel
rejects because it does not expand shell tilde syntax.
This patch adds three defensive layers:
1. gateway/run.py — expanduser at config bridge time so TERMINAL_CWD
is always an absolute path.
2. tools/terminal_tool.py — expanduser when reading TERMINAL_CWD in
_get_env_config(), guarding against stale or manually-set env vars.
3. tools/environments/local.py — expanduser in LocalEnvironment before
passing cwd to subprocess.Popen, the final safety net.
Includes regression tests in test_config_cwd_bridge.py for nested
terminal.cwd, top-level cwd alias, and precedence ordering.
Refs: 3c42064e
On macOS (bash 3.2 and some Homebrew bash builds) `source`ing a file that
contains `declare -x` statements prints each declaration to stdout. The
persistent-shell wrapper in tools/environments/base.py was only redirecting
stderr when sourcing the session snapshot, so ~60 lines of env vars leaked
into every terminal tool response — blowing out context and triggering
HTTP 400s on context-limited providers.
Fix: redirect both stdout and stderr when sourcing the snapshot. Linux
bash is silent here, so the redirect is harmless there; macOS no longer
leaks.
Closes#15459
Co-authored-by: Sanjays2402 <51058514+Sanjays2402@users.noreply.github.com>
Before: delegate_task children each allocated their own terminal
sandbox keyed by child task_id. Starting extra containers (or Modal
sandboxes / Daytona workspaces) is expensive, and the subagent's work
is invisible to the parent — files written by the child in its
container don't exist in the parent's when the subagent returns.
After: a single `_resolve_container_task_id` helper maps any
tool-call task_id to "default" UNLESS an env override is registered
for it. The parent agent and all delegate_task children therefore
share one long-lived sandbox — installed packages, cwd, /workspace
files, and /tmp scratch carry over freely between them.
RL and benchmark environments (TerminalBench2, HermesSweEnv, ...)
opt in to isolation via `register_task_env_overrides(task_id, {...})`;
those task_ids survive the collapse and get their own sandbox,
preserving the per-task Docker image behavior these benchmarks rely on.
file_state / active-subagents registry / TUI events still key off the
original child task_id, so the 'subagent wrote a file the parent read'
warning and UI per-subagent panels keep working.
Tradeoff: parallel delegate_task children (tasks=[...]) now share one
bash/container. Concurrent cd, env-var mutations, and writes to the
same path will collide. If that bites a specific workflow, the
subagent can opt back into isolation via register_task_env_overrides.
Applied at four lookup sites:
- tools/terminal_tool.py terminal_tool() and get_active_env()
- tools/file_tools.py _get_file_ops() and _get_live_tracking_cwd()
- tools/code_execution_tool.py _get_or_create_environment()
Docs: website/docs/user-guide/configuration.md updated to reflect the
shared-container reality and document the RL/benchmark carve-out.
Tests: tests/tools/test_shared_container_task_id.py (9 cases).
* fix(terminal): three-layer defense against watch_patterns notification spam
Background processes that stack notify_on_complete=True with watch_patterns
can flood the user with duplicate, delayed notifications — matches deliver
asynchronously via the completion queue and continue arriving minutes after
the process has exited. The docstring warning against this (PR #12113) has
proven insufficient; agents still misuse the combination.
Three layered defenses, each sufficient on its own:
1. Mutual exclusion (terminal_tool.py): When both flags are set on a
background process, drop watch_patterns with a warning. notify_on_complete
wins because 'let me know when it's done' is the more useful signal and
fires exactly once. Extracted as _resolve_notification_flag_conflict() so
the rule is testable in isolation.
2. Suppress-after-exit (process_registry.py): _check_watch_patterns() now
bails the moment session.exited is True. Post-exit chunks (buffered reads
draining after the process is gone) no longer produce notifications. This
is the fix flagged as future work in session 20260418_020302_79881c.
3. Global circuit breaker (process_registry.py): Per-session rate limits don't
catch the sibling-flood case — N concurrent processes can each stay under
8/10s and still collectively spam. New WATCH_GLOBAL_MAX_PER_WINDOW=15 cap
trips a 30-second cooldown across ALL sessions, emits a single
watch_overflow_tripped event, silently counts dropped events, and emits a
watch_overflow_released summary when the cooldown ends.
Also updates the tool schema + docstring to document the new behavior.
Tests: 8 new tests covering all three fixes (suppress-after-exit x2,
mutual-exclusion resolver x4, global breaker trip/cooldown/release x2).
All 60 tests across test_watch_patterns.py, test_notify_on_complete.py,
test_terminal_tool.py pass.
Real-world trigger: self-inflicted in session 20260425_051924 — three
concurrent hermes-sweeper review subprocesses each set watch_patterns=
['failed validation', 'errored'] AND notify_on_complete=True, then iterated
over multiple items, producing enough matches per process to defeat the
per-session cap while staying under the global cap that didn't yet exist.
* fix(terminal): aggressive 1-per-15s watch_patterns rate limit + strike-3 promotion
Per Teknium's direction, the watch_patterns rate limit is now much more
aggressive and self-healing.
## New rule — per session
- HARD cap: 1 watch-match notification per 15 seconds per process.
- Any match arriving inside the cooldown window is dropped and counts as
ONE strike for that window (many drops in the same window still = 1 strike).
- After 3 consecutive strike windows, watch_patterns is permanently disabled
for the session and the session is auto-promoted to notify_on_complete
semantics — exactly one notification when the process actually exits.
- A cooldown window that expires with zero drops resets the consecutive
strike counter — healthy cadence is forgiven.
## Schema + docstring rewritten
The tool schema description now gives the model explicit guidance:
- notify_on_complete is 'the right choice for almost every long-running task'
- watch_patterns is for RARE one-shot signals on LONG-LIVED processes
- Do NOT use watch_patterns with loops/batch jobs — error patterns fire every
iteration and will hit the strike limit fast
- Mutual exclusion is stated on both parameter descriptions
- 1/15s cooldown and 3-strike promotion are stated in the watch_patterns
description so the model sees the contract every turn
## Removed
- WATCH_MAX_PER_WINDOW (8/10s) and WATCH_OVERLOAD_KILL_SECONDS (45) — the
new 1/15s limit subsumes both; keeping them would double-count.
- _watch_window_hits / _watch_window_start / _watch_overload_since fields
on ProcessSession. Replaced by _watch_last_emit_at / _watch_cooldown_until
/ _watch_strike_candidate / _watch_consecutive_strikes.
## Kept
- Global circuit breaker across all sessions (15/10s → 30s cooldown) as a
secondary safety net for concurrent siblings. Still valuable when 20
short-lived processes each fire once — none individually violates the
per-session limit.
- Suppress-after-exit guard.
- Mutual exclusion resolver at the tool entry point.
## Tests
- 6 new tests in TestPerSessionRateLimit covering: first match delivers,
second in cooldown suppressed, multi-drop = single strike, 3 strikes
disables + promotes, clean window resets counter, suppressed count
carried to next emit.
- Global circuit breaker tests rewritten to use fresh sessions instead of
hacking removed per-window fields.
- 50/50 watch_patterns + notify_on_complete tests pass.
- 60/60 including test_terminal_tool.py pass.
* feat(config): make tool output truncation limits configurable
Port from anomalyco/opencode#23770: expose a new `tool_output` config
section so users can tune the hardcoded truncation caps that apply to
terminal output and read_file pagination.
Three knobs under `tool_output`:
- max_bytes (default 50_000) — terminal stdout/stderr cap
- max_lines (default 2000) — read_file pagination cap
- max_line_length (default 2000) — per-line cap in line-numbered view
All three keep their existing hardcoded values as defaults, so behaviour
is unchanged when the section is absent. Power users on big-context
models can raise them; small-context local models can lower them.
Implementation:
- New `tools/tool_output_limits.py` reads the section with defensive
fallback (missing/invalid values → defaults, never raises).
- `tools/terminal_tool.py` MAX_OUTPUT_CHARS now comes from
get_max_bytes().
- `tools/file_operations.py` normalize_read_pagination() and
_add_line_numbers() now pull the limits at call time.
- `hermes_cli/config.py` DEFAULT_CONFIG gains the `tool_output` section
so `hermes setup` writes defaults into fresh configs.
- Docs page `user-guide/configuration.md` gains a "Tool Output
Truncation Limits" section with large-context and small-context
example configs.
Tests (18 new in tests/tools/test_tool_output_limits.py):
- Default resolution with missing / malformed / non-dict config.
- Full and partial user overrides.
- Coercion of bad values (None, negative, wrong type, str int).
- Shortcut accessors delegate correctly.
- DEFAULT_CONFIG exposes the section with the right defaults.
- Integration: normalize_read_pagination clamps to the configured
max_lines.
* feat(skills): add design-md skill for Google's DESIGN.md spec
Built-in skill under skills/creative/ that teaches the agent to author,
lint, diff, and export DESIGN.md files — Google's open-source
(Apache-2.0) format for describing a visual identity to coding agents.
Covers:
- YAML front matter + markdown body anatomy
- Full token schema (colors, typography, rounded, spacing, components)
- Canonical section order + duplicate-heading rejection
- Component property whitelist + variants-as-siblings pattern
- CLI workflow via 'npx @google/design.md' (lint/diff/export/spec)
- Lint rule reference including WCAG contrast checks
- Common YAML pitfalls (quoted hex, negative dimensions, dotted refs)
- Starter template at templates/starter.md
Package verified live on npm (@google/design.md@0.1.1).
The container_config builder in terminal_tool.py was missing
docker_forward_env and docker_env keys, causing config.yaml's
docker_forward_env setting to be silently ignored. Environment
variables listed in docker_forward_env were never injected into
Docker containers.
This fix adds both keys to the container_config dict so they are
properly passed to _create_environment().
Two related ACP approval issues:
GHSA-96vc-wcxf-jjff — ACP's _run_agent never set HERMES_INTERACTIVE
(or any other flag recognized by tools.approval), so check_all_command_guards
took the non-interactive auto-approve path and never consulted the
ACP-supplied approval callback (conn.request_permission). Dangerous
commands executed in ACP sessions without operator approval despite
the callback being installed. Fix: set HERMES_INTERACTIVE=1 around
the agent run so check_all_command_guards routes through
prompt_dangerous_approval(approval_callback=...) — the correct shape
for ACP's per-session request_permission call. HERMES_EXEC_ASK would
have routed through the gateway-queue path instead, which requires a
notify_cb registered in _gateway_notify_cbs (not applicable to ACP).
GHSA-qg5c-hvr5-hjgr — _approval_callback and _sudo_password_callback
were module-level globals in terminal_tool. Concurrent ACP sessions
running in ThreadPoolExecutor threads each installed their own callback
into the same slot, racing. Fix: store both callbacks in threading.local()
so each thread has its own slot. CLI mode (single thread) is unaffected;
gateway mode uses a separate queue-based approval path and was never
touched.
set_approval_callback is now called INSIDE _run_agent (the executor
thread) rather than before dispatching — so the TLS write lands on the
correct thread.
Tests: 5 new in tests/acp/test_approval_isolation.py covering
thread-local isolation of both callbacks and the HERMES_INTERACTIVE
callback routing. Existing tests/acp/ (159 tests) and tests/tools/
approval-related tests continue to pass.
Fixes GHSA-96vc-wcxf-jjff
Fixes GHSA-qg5c-hvr5-hjgr
Sweep ~74 redundant local imports across 21 files where the same module
was already imported at the top level. Also includes type fixes and lint
cleanups on the same branch.
bash parses `A && B &` with `&&` tighter than `&`, so it forks a subshell
for the compound and backgrounds the subshell. Inside the subshell, B
runs foreground, so the subshell waits for B. When B is a process that
doesn't naturally exit (`python3 -m http.server`, `yes > /dev/null`, a
long-running daemon), the subshell is stuck in `wait4` forever and leaks
as an orphan reparented to init.
Observed in production: agents running `cd X && python3 -m http.server
8000 &>/dev/null & sleep 1 && curl ...` as a "start a local server, then
verify it" one-liner. Outer bash exits cleanly; the subshell never does.
Across ~3 days of use, 8 unique stuck-terminal events and 7 leaked
bash+server pairs accumulated on the fleet, with some sessions appearing
hung from the user's perspective because the subshell's open stdout pipe
kept the terminal tool's drain thread blocked.
This is distinct from the `set +m` fix in 933fbd8f (which addressed
interactive-shell job-control waiting at exit). `set +m` doesn't help
here because `bash -c` is non-interactive and job control is already
off; the problem is the subshell's own internal wait for its foreground
B, not the outer shell's job-tracking.
The fix: walk the command shell-aware (respecting quotes, parens, brace
groups, `&>`/`>&` redirects), find `A && B &` / `A || B &` at depth 0
and rewrite the tail to `A && { B & }`. Brace groups don't fork a
subshell — they run in the current shell. `B &` inside the group is a
simple background (no subshell wait). The outer `&` is absorbed into
the group, so the compound no longer needs an explicit subshell.
`&&` error-propagation is preserved exactly: if A fails, `&&`
short-circuits and B never runs.
- Skips quoted strings, comment lines, and `(…)` subshells
- Handles `&>/dev/null`, `2>&1`, `>&2` without mistaking them for `&`
- Resets chain state at `;`, `|`, and newlines
- Tracks brace depth so already-rewritten output is idempotent
- Walks using the existing `_read_shell_token` tokenizer, matching the
pattern of `_rewrite_real_sudo_invocations`
Called once from `BaseEnvironment.execute` right after
`_prepare_command`, so it runs for every backend (local, ssh, docker,
modal, etc.) with no per-backend plumbing.
34 new tests covering rewrite cases, preservation cases, redirect
edge-cases, quoting/parens/backticks, idempotency, and empty/edge
inputs. End-to-end verified on a test VM: the exact vela-incident
command now returns in ~1.3s with no leaked bash, only the intentional
backgrounded server.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Stacking both features on the same event produces duplicate, delayed
notifications — delivery is async and continues firing after the process
exits, so matches on end-of-run markers (SUMMARY, DONE, PASS) arrive
after the agent has already polled/waited and moved on.
Updates both the terminal tool JSON schema description and the
terminal_tool() function docstring to make the split explicit:
- watch_patterns: mid-process signals only (errors, readiness markers,
intermediate steps you want to react to before the process exits)
- notify_on_complete: end-of-run completion signal
No behavioural change.
Replace the HERMES_ENABLE_NOUS_MANAGED_TOOLS env-var feature flag with
subscription-based detection. The Tool Gateway is now available to any
paid Nous subscriber without needing a hidden env var.
Core changes:
- managed_nous_tools_enabled() checks get_nous_auth_status() +
check_nous_free_tier() instead of an env var
- New use_gateway config flag per tool section (web, tts, browser,
image_gen) records explicit user opt-in and overrides direct API
keys at runtime
- New prefers_gateway(section) shared helper in tool_backend_helpers.py
used by all 4 tool runtimes (web, tts, image gen, browser)
UX flow:
- hermes model: after Nous login/model selection, shows a curses
prompt listing all gateway-eligible tools with current status.
User chooses to enable all, enable only unconfigured tools, or skip.
Defaults to Enable for new users, Skip when direct keys exist.
- hermes tools: provider selection now manages use_gateway flag —
selecting Nous Subscription sets it, selecting any other provider
clears it
- hermes status: renamed section to Nous Tool Gateway, added
free-tier upgrade nudge for logged-in free users
- curses_radiolist: new description parameter for multi-line context
that survives the screen clear
Runtime behavior:
- Each tool runtime (web_tools, tts_tool, image_generation_tool,
browser_use) checks prefers_gateway() before falling back to
direct env-var credentials
- get_nous_subscription_features() respects use_gateway flags,
suppressing direct credential detection when the user opted in
Removed:
- HERMES_ENABLE_NOUS_MANAGED_TOOLS env var and all references
- apply_nous_provider_defaults() silent TTS auto-set
- get_nous_subscription_explainer_lines() static text
- Override env var warnings (use_gateway handles this properly now)
- Populate watcher_* routing fields for watch-only processes (not just
notify_on_complete), so watch-pattern events carry direct metadata
instead of relying solely on session_key parsing fallback
- Extract _parse_session_key() helper to dedupe session key parsing
at two call sites in gateway/run.py
- Add negative test proving cross-thread leakage doesn't happen
- Add edge-case tests for _build_process_event_source returning None
(empty evt, invalid platform, short session_key)
- Add unit tests for _parse_session_key helper
The terminal and execute_code tool schemas unconditionally mentioned
'cloud sandboxes' in their descriptions sent to the model. This caused
agents running on local backends to believe they were in a sandboxed
environment, refusing networking tasks and other operations. Worse,
agents sometimes saved this false belief to persistent memory, making
it persist across sessions.
Reported by multiple users (XLion, 林泽).
The check_interval parameter on terminal_tool sent periodic output
updates to the gateway chat, but these were display-only — the agent
couldn't see or act on them. This added schema bloat and introduced
a bug where notify_on_complete=True was silently dropped when
check_interval was also set (the not-check_interval guard skipped
fast-watcher registration, and the check_interval watcher dict
was missing the notify_on_complete key).
Removing check_interval entirely:
- Eliminates the notify_on_complete interaction bug
- Reduces tool schema size (one fewer parameter for the model)
- Simplifies the watcher registration path
- notify_on_complete (agent wake-on-completion) still works
- watch_patterns (output alerting) still works
- process(action='poll') covers manual status checking
Closes#7947 (root cause eliminated rather than patched).
Background process watchers (notify_on_complete, check_interval) created
synthetic SessionSource objects without user_id/user_name. While the
internal=True bypass (1d8d4f28) prevented false pairing for agent-
generated notifications, the missing identity caused:
- Garbage entries in pairing rate limiters (discord:None, telegram:None)
- 'User None' in approval messages and logs
- No user identity available for future code paths that need it
Additionally, platform messages arriving without from_user (Telegram
service messages, channel forwards, anonymous admin actions) could still
trigger false pairing because they are not internal events.
Fix:
1. Propagate user_id/user_name through the full watcher chain:
session_context.py → gateway/run.py → terminal_tool.py →
process_registry.py (including checkpoint persistence/recovery)
2. Add None user_id guard in _handle_message() — silently drop
non-internal messages with no user identity instead of triggering
the pairing flow.
Salvaged from PRs #7664 (kagura-agent, ContextVar approach),
#6540 (MestreY0d4-Uninter, tests), and #7709 (guang384, None guard).
Closes#6341, #6485, #7643
Relates to #6516, #7392
* feat: add watch_patterns to background processes for output monitoring
Adds a new 'watch_patterns' parameter to terminal(background=true) that
lets the agent specify strings to watch for in process output. When a
matching line appears, a notification is queued and injected as a
synthetic message — triggering a new agent turn, similar to
notify_on_complete but mid-process.
Implementation:
- ProcessSession gets watch_patterns field + rate-limit state
- _check_watch_patterns() in ProcessRegistry scans new output chunks
from all three reader threads (local, PTY, env-poller)
- Rate limited: max 8 notifications per 10s window
- Sustained overload (45s) permanently disables watching for that process
- watch_queue alongside completion_queue, same consumption pattern
- CLI drains watch_queue in both idle loop and post-turn drain
- Gateway drains after agent runs via _inject_watch_notification()
- Checkpoint persistence + crash recovery includes watch_patterns
- Blocked in execute_code sandbox (like other bg params)
- 20 new tests covering matching, rate limiting, overload kill,
checkpoint persistence, schema, and handler passthrough
Usage:
terminal(
command='npm run dev',
background=true,
watch_patterns=['ERROR', 'WARN', 'listening on port']
)
* refactor: merge watch_queue into completion_queue
Unified queue with 'type' field distinguishing 'completion',
'watch_match', and 'watch_disabled' events. Extracted
_format_process_notification() in CLI and gateway to handle
all event types in a single drain loop. Removes duplication
across both CLI drain sites and the gateway.
When two gateway messages arrived concurrently, _set_session_env wrote
HERMES_SESSION_PLATFORM/CHAT_ID/CHAT_NAME/THREAD_ID into the process-global
os.environ. Because asyncio tasks share the same process, Message B would
overwrite Message A's values mid-flight, causing background-task notifications
and tool calls to route to the wrong thread/chat.
Replace os.environ with Python's contextvars.ContextVar. Each asyncio task
(and any run_in_executor thread it spawns) gets its own copy, so concurrent
messages never interfere.
Changes:
- New gateway/session_context.py with ContextVar definitions, set/clear/get
helpers, and os.environ fallback for CLI/cron/test backward compatibility
- gateway/run.py: _set_session_env returns reset tokens, _clear_session_env
accepts them for proper cleanup in finally blocks
- All tool consumers updated: cronjob_tools, send_message_tool, skills_tool,
terminal_tool (both notify_on_complete AND check_interval blocks), tts_tool,
agent/skill_utils, agent/prompt_builder
- Tests updated for new contextvar-based API
Fixes#7358
Co-authored-by: teknium1 <127238744+teknium1@users.noreply.github.com>
Change behavior from silent clamping to returning an error when the
model requests a foreground timeout exceeding FOREGROUND_MAX_TIMEOUT.
This forces the model to use background=true for long-running commands
rather than silently changing its intent.
- Config default timeouts above the cap are NOT rejected (user's choice)
- Only explicit model-requested timeouts trigger rejection
- Added boundary test for timeout exactly at the limit
When the model calls terminal() in foreground mode without background=true
(e.g. to start a server), the tool call blocks until the command exits or
the timeout expires. Without an upper bound the model can request arbitrarily
high timeouts (the schema had minimum=1 but no maximum), blocking the entire
agent session for hours until the gateway idle watchdog kills it.
Changes:
- Add FOREGROUND_MAX_TIMEOUT (600s, configurable via
TERMINAL_MAX_FOREGROUND_TIMEOUT env var) that caps foreground timeout
- Clamp effective_timeout to the cap when background=false and timeout
exceeds the limit
- Include a timeout_note in the tool result when clamped, nudging the
model to use background=true for long-running processes
- Update schema description to show the max timeout value
- Remove dead clamping code in the background branch that could never
fire (max_timeout was set to effective_timeout, so timeout > max_timeout
was always false)
- Add 7 tests covering clamping, no-clamping, config-default-exceeds-cap
edge case, background bypass, default timeout, constant value, and
schema content
Self-review fixes:
- Fixed bug where timeout_note said 'Requested timeout Nones' when
clamping fired from config default exceeding cap (timeout param is
None). Now uses unclamped_timeout instead of the raw timeout param.
- Removed unused pytest import from test file
- Extracted test config dict into _make_env_config() helper
- Fixed tautological test_default_value assertion
- Added missing test for config default > cap with no model timeout
`_cleanup_task_resources` was unconditionally calling `cleanup_vm()` at
the end of every `run_conversation` (i.e. every user turn), tearing down
the docker/daytona/modal sandbox container regardless of its
`persistent_filesystem` setting. This contradicted the documented intent
of `terminal.lifetime_seconds` (idle reaper) and `container_persistent`,
and caused per-turn loss of `/workspace`, `~/.config`, agent CLI auth
state, and any other content living inside the sandbox.
The unconditional teardown was introduced in fbd3a2fd ("prevent leakage
of morph instances between tasks", 2025-11-04) to plug a Morph backend
leak, two days after `lifetime_seconds` shipped in faecbddd. It was
later refactored into `_cleanup_task_resources` in 70dd3a16 without
changing semantics. Code and docs have disagreed since.
Fix: introduce `terminal_tool.is_persistent_env(task_id)` and skip the
per-turn `cleanup_vm` when the active env is persistent. The idle reaper
(`_cleanup_inactive_envs`) still tears persistent envs down once
`terminal.lifetime_seconds` is exceeded. Non-persistent backends (Morph)
are unchanged — still torn down per turn, preserving the original
leak-prevention intent.
