Weak judge models (e.g. deepseek-v4-flash) return empty strings or prose
when asked for the strict {done, reason} JSON verdict. The old code
failed-open to continue on every such turn, burning the entire turn
budget with log lines like
judge returned empty response
judge reply was not JSON: "Let me analyze whether the goal..."
and /goal clear could not stop it mid-loop without /stop.
After N=3 consecutive *parse* failures (transport/API errors don't
count — those are transient), the loop auto-pauses and prints:
⏸ Goal paused — the judge model (3 turns) isn't returning the
required JSON verdict. Route the judge to a stricter model in
~/.hermes/config.yaml:
auxiliary:
goal_judge:
provider: openrouter
model: google/gemini-3-flash-preview
Then /goal resume to continue.
The counter resets on any usable reply (both "done"/"continue" and
API errors) and persists across GoalManager reloads so cross-session
resumes carry the correct state.
Also fixes test_goal_verdict_send.py sharing a hardcoded session_id
across tests — the shared id only worked because the previous
_post_turn_goal_continuation was a never-awaited coroutine. Now that
PR #19160 made it properly awaited, the xdist test-leakage bug
surfaced. Each test gets a unique session_id via uuid suffix.
Add a standing-goal slash command that keeps Hermes working toward a
user-stated objective across turns until it is achieved, paused, or
the turn budget runs out. Our take on the Ralph loop — cf. Codex CLI
0.128.0's /goal.
After each turn, a lightweight auxiliary-model judge call asks 'is
this goal satisfied by the assistant's last response?'. If not, and
we're under the turn budget (default 20), Hermes feeds a continuation
prompt back into the same session as a normal user message. Any real
user message preempts the continuation loop automatically.
Judge failures fail OPEN (continue) so a flaky judge never wedges
progress — the turn budget is the real backstop.
### Commands
- `/goal <text>` — set a standing goal (kicks off the first turn)
- `/goal` or `/goal status` — show current state
- `/goal pause` — pause the continuation loop
- `/goal resume` — resume (resets turn counter)
- `/goal clear` — drop the goal
Works on both CLI and gateway platforms via the central CommandDef
registry.
### Design invariants preserved
- **Prompt cache**: continuation prompts are regular user-role
messages appended to history. No system-prompt mutation, no toolset
swap.
- **Role alternation**: continuation is a user turn, never injected
mid-tool-loop.
- **Session persistence**: goal state lives in SessionDB.state_meta
keyed by `goal:<session_id>`, so `/resume` picks it up.
- **Mid-run safety**: on the gateway, `/goal status|pause|clear` are
allowed mid-run (control-plane only); setting a new goal requires
`/stop` first so we don't race a second continuation prompt against
the current turn.
### Files
- `hermes_cli/goals.py` (new, 380 lines) — GoalManager + judge + state
- `hermes_cli/commands.py` — CommandDef entry
- `hermes_cli/config.py` — `goals.max_turns` default
- `hermes_cli/web_server.py` — dashboard category merge
- `cli.py` — /goal handler + post-turn continuation hook in
process_loop
- `gateway/run.py` — /goal handler + post-turn continuation hook
wrapping _handle_message_with_agent
- `tests/hermes_cli/test_goals.py` (new, 26 tests) — judge parsing,
fail-open semantics, lifecycle, persistence, budget exhaustion
- `website/docs/reference/slash-commands.md` — docs entry
