Models that enforce required-only constraints (e.g. kimi-k2.x) were
omitting old_string/new_string for replace mode and patch for patch mode
because the schema only declared required: ["mode"].
Add explicit "REQUIRED when mode='X'" markers to each conditionally-required
property description and a top-level "REQUIRED PARAMETERS: ..." summary for
each mode. Avoids anyOf/oneOf which break Anthropic, Fireworks, and
Kimi/Moonshot providers. Add TestPatchSchemaShape to lock the shape.
Fixes#15524
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Interactive `hermes` launch drops from ~21s to ~2.5s. Three independent
fixes, each targets a distinct hot spot in the banner / tool-registration
path that fires on every CLI invocation.
1. `get_external_skills_dirs()` in-process mtime cache (~10s saved)
The function re-read + YAML-parsed the full ~/.hermes/config.yaml on
every call. Banner build invokes it once per skill to resolve the
category column, which on a 120-skill install meant ~120 reparses of
a 15 KB config (~85 ms each). Added a
`(config_path, mtime_ns) -> list[Path]` memo; stat() is ~2 us vs
~85 ms for the parse. Edits to config.yaml invalidate the cache on
the next call via mtime.
2. Feishu availability probe uses `importlib.util.find_spec` (~5.2s saved)
`tools/feishu_doc_tool.py::_check_feishu` and the identical helper in
`feishu_drive_tool.py` were calling `import lark_oapi` purely to
detect whether the SDK was installed. Executing the real import pulls
in websockets + dispatcher + every v2 API model — ~5 seconds of work
that fires at every tool-registry bootstrap. `find_spec` answers the
same question ("is lark_oapi importable?") without executing the
module. The actual tool handlers still do the real import on invoke,
so runtime behavior is unchanged.
3. `_web_requires_env` no longer triggers Nous portal refresh (~800ms saved)
`tools/web_tools.py::_web_requires_env` used
`managed_nous_tools_enabled()` to gate four gateway env-var names in
the returned list. The gate called `get_nous_auth_status()` ->
`resolve_nous_runtime_credentials()` -> live HTTP POST to the portal
on every tool-registry bootstrap. But the list is pure metadata — if
the env var is set at runtime, the tool lights up; otherwise it
doesn't. Including the four names unconditionally is harmless for
unsubscribed users (vars just aren't set) and eliminates the sync
HTTP round trip from startup.
Test:
- tests/agent/test_external_skills_dirs_cache.py (new, 6 cases):
returns config'd dir, caches on second call (yaml_load patched to
raise — never invoked), invalidates on mtime bump, empty when config
missing, returned list is a defensive copy, per-HERMES_HOME cache key
isolation.
- Existing tests/agent/test_external_skills.py and tests/tools/
continue to pass modulo pre-existing flakes on main (test_delegate,
test_send_message — unrelated, pass in isolation).
Measured: bare `hermes` (cold → REPL ready) 21,519ms -> 2,618ms on
Teknium's install (119 skills, 15 KB config.yaml, Nous auth logged in,
lark_oapi installed). 8x faster.
## Why
Hermes supports Linux, macOS, and native Windows, but the codebase grew up
POSIX-first and has accumulated patterns that silently break (or worse,
silently kill!) on Windows:
- `os.kill(pid, 0)` as a liveness probe — on Windows this maps to
CTRL_C_EVENT and broadcasts Ctrl+C to the target's entire console
process group (bpo-14484, open since 2012).
- `os.killpg` — doesn't exist on Windows at all (AttributeError).
- `os.setsid` / `os.getuid` / `os.geteuid` — same.
- `signal.SIGKILL` / `signal.SIGHUP` / `signal.SIGUSR1` — module-attr
errors at runtime on Windows.
- `open(path)` / `open(path, "r")` without explicit encoding= — inherits
the platform default, which is cp1252/mbcs on Windows (UTF-8 on POSIX),
causing mojibake round-tripping between hosts.
- `wmic` — removed from Windows 10 21H1+.
This commit does three things:
1. Makes `psutil` a core dependency and migrates critical callsites to it.
2. Adds a grep-based CI gate (`scripts/check-windows-footguns.py`) that
blocks new instances of any of the above patterns.
3. Fixes every existing instance in the codebase so the baseline is clean.
## What changed
### 1. psutil as a core dependency (pyproject.toml)
Added `psutil>=5.9.0,<8` to core deps. psutil is the canonical
cross-platform answer for "is this PID alive" and "kill this process
tree" — its `pid_exists()` uses `OpenProcess + GetExitCodeProcess` on
Windows (NOT a signal call), and its `Process.children(recursive=True)`
+ `.kill()` combo replaces `os.killpg()` portably.
### 2. `gateway/status.py::_pid_exists`
Rewrote to call `psutil.pid_exists()` first, falling back to the
hand-rolled ctypes `OpenProcess + WaitForSingleObject` dance on Windows
(and `os.kill(pid, 0)` on POSIX) only if psutil is somehow missing —
e.g. during the scaffold phase of a fresh install before pip finishes.
### 3. `os.killpg` migration to psutil (7 callsites, 5 files)
- `tools/code_execution_tool.py`
- `tools/process_registry.py`
- `tools/tts_tool.py`
- `tools/environments/local.py` (3 sites kept as-is, suppressed with
`# windows-footgun: ok` — the pgid semantics psutil can't replicate,
and the calls are already Windows-guarded at the outer branch)
- `gateway/platforms/whatsapp.py`
### 4. `scripts/check-windows-footguns.py` (NEW, 500 lines)
Grep-based checker with 11 rules covering every Windows cross-platform
footgun we've hit so far:
1. `os.kill(pid, 0)` — the silent killer
2. `os.setsid` without guard
3. `os.killpg` (recommends psutil)
4. `os.getuid` / `os.geteuid` / `os.getgid`
5. `os.fork`
6. `signal.SIGKILL`
7. `signal.SIGHUP/SIGUSR1/SIGUSR2/SIGALRM/SIGCHLD/SIGPIPE/SIGQUIT`
8. `subprocess` shebang script invocation
9. `wmic` without `shutil.which` guard
10. Hardcoded `~/Desktop` (OneDrive trap)
11. `asyncio.add_signal_handler` without try/except
12. `open()` without `encoding=` on text mode
Features:
- Triple-quoted-docstring aware (won't flag prose inside docstrings)
- Trailing-comment aware (won't flag mentions in `# os.kill(pid, 0)` comments)
- Guard-hint aware (skips lines with `hasattr(os, ...)`,
`shutil.which(...)`, `if platform.system() != 'Windows'`, etc.)
- Inline suppression with `# windows-footgun: ok — <reason>`
- `--list` to print all rules with fixes
- `--all` / `--diff <ref>` / staged-files (default) modes
- Scans 380 files in under 2 seconds
### 5. CI integration
A GitHub Actions workflow that runs the checker on every PR and push is
staged at `/tmp/hermes-stash/windows-footguns.yml` — not included in this
commit because the GH token on the push machine lacks `workflow` scope.
A maintainer with `workflow` permissions should add it as
`.github/workflows/windows-footguns.yml` in a follow-up. Content:
```yaml
name: Windows footgun check
on:
push:
branches: [main]
pull_request:
branches: [main]
jobs:
check:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: actions/setup-python@v5
with: {python-version: "3.11"}
- run: python scripts/check-windows-footguns.py --all
```
### 6. CONTRIBUTING.md — "Cross-Platform Compatibility" expansion
Expanded from 5 to 16 rules, each with message, example, and fix.
Recommends psutil as the preferred API for PID / process-tree operations.
### 7. Baseline cleanup (91 → 0 findings)
- 14 `open()` sites → added `encoding='utf-8'` (internal logs/caches) or
`encoding='utf-8-sig'` (user-editable files that Notepad may BOM)
- 23 POSIX-only callsites in systemd helpers, pty_bridge, and plugin
tool subprocess management → annotated with
`# windows-footgun: ok — <reason>`
- 7 `os.killpg` sites → migrated to psutil (see §3 above)
## Verification
```
$ python scripts/check-windows-footguns.py --all
✓ No Windows footguns found (380 file(s) scanned).
$ python -c "from gateway.status import _pid_exists; import os
> print('self:', _pid_exists(os.getpid())); print('bogus:', _pid_exists(999999))"
self: True
bogus: False
```
Proof-of-repro that `os.kill(pid, 0)` was actually killing processes
before this fix — see commit `1cbe39914` and bpo-14484. This commit
removes the last hand-rolled ctypes path from the hot liveness-check
path and defers to the best-maintained cross-platform answer.
On Windows, Python's ``os.kill(pid, 0)`` is NOT a no-op. CPython's
implementation (``Modules/posixmodule.c::os_kill_impl``) treats sig=0
as ``CTRL_C_EVENT`` because the two integer values collide at the C
layer, and routes it through ``GenerateConsoleCtrlEvent(0, pid)`` —
which sends a Ctrl+C to the ENTIRE console process group containing
the target PID, not just the PID itself. Any caller that wanted to
check "is PID X alive" via the classic POSIX ``os.kill(pid, 0)``
idiom was silently killing that process (and often unrelated
processes in the same console group) on Windows. Long-standing
Python Windows quirk; see bpo-14484 (open since 2012).
This manifested in Hermes as: every ``hermes gateway status``
invocation would read the gateway's PID from the PID file, call
``os.kill(pid, 0)`` via ``gateway.status.get_running_pid()`` as a
"liveness check", and instantly terminate the gateway it was trying
to report on. No shutdown log, no traceback, no atexit hook fire,
no exit-diag entry — just silent termination of the detached pythonw
process. "Bot answered one message then stopped typing" was the
characteristic end-user symptom because `os.kill(pid, 0)` fires
mid-response-send and kills the gateway between logs.
Reproduction (verified in this branch before the fix):
$ hermes gateway start # gateway alive, PID 37520
$ hermes gateway status # reports "No gateway process detected"
$ tasklist /FI "PID eq 37520" # INFO: No tasks are running
# — gateway terminated silently
Root-cause fix is a new ``gateway.status._pid_exists(pid)`` helper:
- On Windows: Win32 ``OpenProcess(PROCESS_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION |
SYNCHRONIZE, False, pid)`` + ``WaitForSingleObject(handle, 0)``
via ctypes. Zero signal delivery, zero console-group side effects.
Pins ctypes return types to avoid DWORD-vs-signed-int parse bugs
on WAIT_TIMEOUT (0x102). Distinguishes ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER
(PID gone) from ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED (alive but another user).
- On POSIX: the canonical ``os.kill(pid, 0)`` idiom that actually is
a no-op there.
Then patch every ``os.kill(pid, 0)`` liveness-check callsite to
route through ``_pid_exists`` instead. Total 14 callsites across
11 files; every single one was a latent silent-kill on Windows:
gateway/run.py:2810 — /restart watcher (inline subprocess)
gateway/run.py:15195 — --replace wait loop
gateway/status.py:572 — acquire_gateway_runtime_lock stale check
gateway/status.py:828 — get_running_pid (THE killer for status)
gateway/platforms/whatsapp.py:111
hermes_cli/gateway.py:228, 522, 1012 — gateway-related drain loops
hermes_cli/kanban_db.py:2826 — _pid_alive was claiming to
be cross-platform but used
os.kill(pid, 0) on Windows
hermes_cli/main.py:5792 — CLI process-kill polling
hermes_cli/profiles.py:782 — profile stop wait loop
plugins/google_meet/process_manager.py:74
tools/browser_tool.py:1215, 1255 — browser daemon ownership probes
tools/mcp_tool.py:1255, 3374 — MCP stdio orphan tracking
The watcher source in gateway/run.py:2810 is a multi-line string
that gets spawned as an inline ``python -c "..."`` subprocess, so
it can't import gateway.status. The fix for that callsite inlines
the same ctypes probe directly into the watcher source.
Tested on Windows 10 with the hermes gateway + Telegram bot:
- gateway start → alive
- 5 consecutive ``hermes gateway status`` invocations → gateway
alive after every one, same PID reported each time (37520, 21952)
- gateway.log shows uninterrupted operation; no spurious shutdown
entries; cron ticker and kanban dispatcher still running on
their 60-second cadence
- bot continues answering Telegram messages throughout
Ships alongside an exit-path diagnostic wrapper in
``hermes_cli/gateway.py::run_gateway()`` that captures every way
``asyncio.run(start_gateway(...))`` can return (success, SystemExit,
KeyboardInterrupt, BaseException, atexit) with full traceback to
``logs/gateway-exit-diag.log``. This was used to prove the gateway
was being hard-killed externally (no exit event fired) and should
be kept for future Windows debugging.
Refs: https://bugs.python.org/issue14484
See also: references/windows-subprocess-sigint-storm.md in
the hermes-agent skill.
Three related Windows-only fixes that together make the browser toolset
actually usable on Windows. Symptom chain: user invokes browser_navigate
-> tool returns {"success": false, "error": "Daemon process exited
during startup with no error output"} and the CLI exits mid-turn with
the session summary.
Root cause (3 layers):
1. tools/browser_tool.py::_find_agent_browser() resolved
node_modules/.bin/agent-browser to the extensionless POSIX shell
shim via Path.exists(). On Windows, CreateProcessW cannot execute
that script (WinError 193 "not a valid Win32 application"). Fix:
delegate to shutil.which with path=node_modules/.bin so PATHEXT
picks up agent-browser.CMD on Windows and the extensionless shim
stays correct on POSIX.
2. Windows Terminal / Win32 delivers a spurious CTRL_C_EVENT to the
parent hermes.exe whenever a background thread spawns a .cmd
subprocess. Python 3.11's default SIGINT handler raises
KeyboardInterrupt in MainThread, which unwinds prompt_toolkit's
app.run() -> cli.py::run()'s finally block calls _run_cleanup()
-> _emergency_cleanup_all_sessions -> spawns a concurrent
_run_browser_command("close", ...) on the same session the agent
thread just opened. Two agent-browser processes race on the same
--session name, the daemon startup loses, and the tool returns
the "Daemon process exited during startup" error. Fix: install a
Windows-only SIGINT handler that absorbs the signal silently.
Real user Ctrl+C still routes through prompt_toolkit's own c-c
keybinding at the TUI layer, which is how Claude Code handles the
same quirk (driving cancellation via the TUI key handler, not
signals).
3. In tools/browser_tool.py, both Popen sites now pass
creationflags=CREATE_NO_WINDOW | STARTF_USESTDHANDLES with
close_fds=True on Windows. CREATE_NO_WINDOW suppresses the .cmd
console flash; STARTF_USESTDHANDLES + close_fds ensures the child
inherits only our three chosen handles (DEVNULL stdin, temp-file
stdout/stderr) and no leaked parent console handles that could
confuse agent-browser's native daemon spawn. Notably we do NOT
add CREATE_NEW_PROCESS_GROUP - on Python 3.11 Windows the flag
interacts badly with asyncio's ProactorEventLoop and makes things
worse.
Verified end-to-end on Windows 10 / Windows Terminal / PowerShell:
browser_navigate to https://example.com returns
{"success": true, "title": "Example Domain"} and the CLI stays alive
for follow-up tool calls and assistant turns.
Refs: earlier Windows quirks commits 1cebb3bad (Ctrl+Enter newline),
26f5af52a (environment hints), aefd1a37f (Playwright Chromium).
Closes the last Python-on-Windows UTF-8 exposure by making every
text-mode open() call explicit about its encoding.
Before: on Windows, bare open(path, 'r') defaults to the system
locale encoding (cp1252 on US-locale installs). That means reading
any config/yaml/markdown/json file with non-ASCII content either
crashes with UnicodeDecodeError or silently mis-decodes bytes.
After: all 89 affected call sites in production code now pass
encoding='utf-8' explicitly. Works identically on every platform
and every locale, no surprise behavior.
Mechanical sweep via:
ruff check --preview --extend-select PLW1514 --unsafe-fixes --fix --exclude 'tests,venv,.venv,node_modules,website,optional-skills, skills,tinker-atropos,plugins' .
All 89 fixes have the same shape: open(x) or open(x, mode) became
open(x, encoding='utf-8') or open(x, mode, encoding='utf-8'). Nothing
else changed. Every modified file still parses and the Windows/sandbox
test suite is still green (85 passed, 14 skipped, 0 failed across
tests/tools/test_code_execution_windows_env.py +
tests/tools/test_code_execution_modes.py + tests/tools/test_env_passthrough.py +
tests/test_hermes_bootstrap.py).
Scope notes:
- tests/ excluded: test fixtures can use locale encoding intentionally
(exercising edge cases). If we want to tighten tests later that's
a separate PR.
- plugins/ excluded: plugin-specific conventions may differ; plugin
authors own their code.
- optional-skills/ and skills/ excluded: skill scripts are user-authored
and we don't want to mass-edit them.
- website/ and tinker-atropos/ excluded: vendored / generated content.
46 files touched, 89 +/- lines (symmetric replacement). No behavior
change on POSIX or on Windows when the file is ASCII; bug fix on
Windows when the file contains non-ASCII.
Third Windows-specific sandbox bug (after WinError 10106 and the UTF-8
file-write bug): user scripts that print non-ASCII to stdout crash with
UnicodeEncodeError: 'charmap' codec can't encode character '\u2192'
in position N: character maps to <undefined>
Root cause: Python's sys.stdout on Windows is bound to the console code
page (cp1252 on US-locale installs) when the process is attached to a
pipe without PYTHONIOENCODING set. LLM-generated scripts routinely
print em-dashes, arrows, accented chars, and emoji — all of which cp1252
can't encode.
Fix: spawn the sandbox child with:
PYTHONIOENCODING=utf-8 # sys.stdin/stdout/stderr all UTF-8
PYTHONUTF8=1 # PEP 540 UTF-8 mode — open() defaults to UTF-8 too
PYTHONUTF8 is the belt-and-suspenders half: LLM scripts that call
open(path, 'w') without encoding= in user code will now produce UTF-8
files by default, matching what the sandbox already does for its own
staging files.
The parent side already decodes child stdout/stderr as UTF-8 with
errors='replace' (lines 1345-1347) so the end-to-end chain is clean.
On POSIX these values usually match the locale default already, so
setting them is harmless belt-and-suspenders for C/POSIX-locale
containers and minimal base images.
Tests added (4) — total file now at 28 passed, 1 skipped on Windows:
- test_popen_env_sets_pythonioencoding_utf8 (source grep)
- test_popen_env_sets_pythonutf8_mode (source grep)
- test_live_child_can_print_non_ascii (cross-platform live test)
- test_windows_child_without_utf8_env_would_fail (Windows negative
control — actually reproduces the bug without our env overrides,
proving the fix is load-bearing on this system)
Second Windows-specific sandbox bug (WinError 10106 was the first):
after the env-scrub fix let the child start, it immediately failed to
import hermes_tools with:
SyntaxError: (unicode error) 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0x97
in position 154: invalid start byte
Root cause: _execute_local wrote the generated hermes_tools.py stub and
the user's script.py via open(path, 'w') without encoding=. On Windows
the default text-mode encoding is cp1252 (system locale), which encodes
em-dashes (used in the stub's docstrings) as 0x97. Python then decodes
source files as UTF-8 (PEP 3120) on import, chokes on 0x97, and the
sandbox dies before any tool call.
Fix: pass encoding='utf-8' to all four file opens in the code_execution
path — the two staging writes in _execute_local (hermes_tools.py +
script.py) and the two RPC file-transport reads/writes in the generated
remote stub. JSON is ASCII-safe for most payloads but tool results
(terminal output, web_extract content) routinely carry non-ASCII.
Tests added (4):
- test_stub_and_script_writes_specify_utf8 — source grep guard
- test_file_rpc_stub_uses_utf8 — generated remote stub check
- test_stub_source_roundtrips_through_utf8 — concrete round-trip
- test_windows_default_encoding_would_have_failed — negative control
(skips on modern Python builds where default is already UTF-8
compatible, but retained for platforms where the regression could
return)
24/25 tests pass on Windows 3.11 (negative control skips because this
Python build handles em-dashes via cp1252 subset — the fix is still
correct, just the corruption path isn't always triggerable).
The sandbox's env scrubbing was dropping SYSTEMROOT, WINDIR, COMSPEC,
APPDATA, etc. On Windows this broke the child process before any RPC
could happen:
OSError: [WinError 10106] The requested service provider could not
be loaded or initialized
Python's socket module uses SYSTEMROOT to locate mswsock.dll during
Winsock initialization. Without it, socket.socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM)
fails — and the existing loopback-TCP fallback for Windows couldn't work.
Fix: add a small Windows-only allowlist (_WINDOWS_ESSENTIAL_ENV_VARS)
matched by exact uppercase name, after the existing secret-substring
block. The secret block still runs first, so the allowlist cannot be
used to exfiltrate credentials. Also extract the env scrubber into a
testable helper (_scrub_child_env) that takes is_windows as a parameter,
so the logic can be unit-tested on any OS.
Live Winsock smoke test verifies that a child spawned with the scrubbed
env can now create an AF_INET socket on a real Windows host; the test
is guarded by sys.platform == 'win32' so POSIX CI stays green.
teknium1 noticed execute_code was missing from his enabled tools on Windows.
Root cause: tools/code_execution_tool.py set ``SANDBOX_AVAILABLE =
sys.platform != \"win32\"`` as a module-level constant, originally because
the RPC transport required AF_UNIX. We added loopback TCP fallback for
the sandbox in commit eeb723fff (and covered it in the Windows TCP tests),
but forgot to lift the availability gate. So execute_code was still
invisible via the check_fn path on Windows.
- SANDBOX_AVAILABLE is now True unconditionally (it's still checked — a
future platform could flip it off via monkeypatch/env if needed).
- Error message when disabled no longer mentions Windows specifically,
just says 'sandbox is unavailable in this environment'.
- test_windows_returns_error updated: patches SANDBOX_AVAILABLE=False
directly (which was always its real intent) and asserts on 'unavailable'
instead of 'Windows'.
Tests: 171 code-execution + windows-compat tests pass, no regressions.
Three bugs from teknium1's successful install + diagnostic chat on Windows:
1. **Start-Process -FilePath npm.cmd fails with "%1 is not a valid Win32
application".** Start-Process bypasses cmd.exe and PATHEXT to call
CreateProcessW directly, which refuses .cmd batch shims. Switched
Install-NodeDeps to use PowerShell's invocation operator (``& $npmExe
install --silent *> $log``) which DOES honour PATHEXT. Extracted a
``_Run-NpmInstall`` helper so the browser + TUI paths share the same
logic. Captures $LASTEXITCODE correctly, still surfaces the real
stderr on failure with a log-file pointer for the full output.
2. **patch tool returns false-negative on Windows due to CRLF round-trip.**
Root cause was upstream of patch: ``subprocess.Popen(..., text=True,
stdin=PIPE)`` on Windows translates ``\\n`` → ``\\r\\n`` when data flows
through the stdin pipe. ``_pipe_stdin()`` was writing the patch's
new_content string through a text-mode pipe, bash then wrote those
CRLF bytes to disk, and patch's post-write verify compared the
on-disk CRLF bytes against the original LF-only string — fail.
Fixed in two places for defense in depth:
- ``_pipe_stdin()`` now writes through ``proc.stdin.buffer`` with
explicit UTF-8 encoding, bypassing Python's newline translation on
every platform. No behaviour change on POSIX (bytes are identical)
but stops the CRLF injection on Windows.
- ``patch_replace``'s post-write verify normalizes CRLF→LF on both
sides before comparing, so even if some future backend still
translates newlines the patch tool won't report a bogus failure.
3. **SOUL.md gets a UTF-8 BOM on Windows PowerShell 5.1.** ``Set-Content
-Encoding UTF8`` on PS5.1 writes UTF-8 WITH a byte-order-mark (changed
in PS7 via ``utf8NoBOM``). Hermes's prompt-injection scanner sees
the BOM (U+FEFF invisible char) and refuses to load the file, so
SOUL.md's persona instructions never get applied.
Fixed by writing the file via ``[System.IO.File]::WriteAllText``
with an explicit ``UTF8Encoding($false)`` — BOM-free on every
PowerShell version.
All POSIX behaviour verified unchanged: 198 tests pass across
test_file_operations, test_local_env_cwd_recovery, test_code_execution,
test_windows_native_support, test_windows_compat.
Three interrelated bugs from teknium1's first interactive chat on Windows:
1. **Snapshot/cwd file paths unquoted in bash command strings.** The session
bootstrap and per-command wrapper interpolated
``self._snapshot_path`` / ``self._cwd_file`` unquoted into bash commands
like ``export -p > C:/Users/ryanc/.../hermes-snap-xxx.sh``. Git Bash's
MSYS2 layer handles ``C:/...`` paths correctly ONLY when quoted; unquoted,
the colon and forward-slash get glob-parsed and the redirect targets a
bogus path. Symptom: every terminal command emitted two
``C:/Users/.../hermes-snap-*.sh (No such file or directory)`` lines that
bled into stdout (``stderr=STDOUT`` on the local backend) and corrupted
file contents when the agent wrote to scratch paths via the terminal
tool. Fix: ``shlex.quote()`` every interpolation of ``_snapshot_path``
and ``_cwd_file`` in base.py — no-op on POSIX (the paths contain no
shell-metachars), critical on Windows.
2. **Stale PATH on first hermes launch after install.** ``install.ps1``
adds the PortableGit ``cmd`` / ``bin`` / ``usr\bin`` directories to the
Windows **User** PATH via ``SetEnvironmentVariable(..., "User")``. That
write propagates to newly *spawned* processes only — already-running
shells (including the one the user types ``hermes`` into immediately
after install) retain their old PATH. So hermes starts with a PATH that
doesn't include bash, rg, grep, ssh — and ``search_files`` reports
"rg/find not available" when the user clearly just installed them.
Fix: new ``_augment_path_with_known_tools()`` helper called from
``configure_windows_stdio()`` on startup. Prepends the Hermes-managed
Git directories + the WinGet Links directory (where ripgrep lands) to
``os.environ['PATH']`` if they exist on disk but aren't already in
PATH. Subsequent subprocess calls (including bash spawns via
``_find_bash()``) inherit the augmented PATH and find everything.
No-op on POSIX and when the directories don't exist.
3. **Root cause of "file content corruption".** #1 was the proximate cause.
Errors like ``C:/Users/.../hermes-snap-xxx.sh: No such file or directory``
were emitted on stderr by the failed redirect, captured into stdout via
``stderr=subprocess.STDOUT``, and if the agent used terminal commands
like ``cat > file`` the leaked error bytes became part of the file.
Fixing #1 eliminates this entirely.
## Tests
All 77 Windows-compat tests still pass on Linux (POSIX path is
shlex.quote('/tmp/foo.sh') → '/tmp/foo.sh' — unchanged).
## Not addressed here (would need a bigger design)
- Python file tools (``write_file``, ``read_file``) and the bash-backed
terminal tool see DIFFERENT views of ``/tmp`` on Windows. Python treats
``/tmp`` as ``C:\tmp`` (drive-relative), Git Bash's MSYS2 treats it as
a virtual mount to the PortableGit install's ``tmp\``. Would need a
translation shim in the Python tools to resolve bash-virtual paths to
their native-Windows equivalents. Workaround for users today: use
absolute native paths (``C:\Users\you\...``) instead of ``/tmp/...``
when crossing between terminal and Python file tools.
Three real bugs from teknium1's first Windows install run:
1. **MinGit has no bash.exe.** MinGit is the minimal-automation Git for Windows
distribution — it ships git.exe but deliberately strips bash and the POSIX
coreutils. Installer logged "Could not locate bash.exe" and Hermes would
fail to run any shell command. Switched to PortableGit — the full Git for
Windows minus the installer UI. PortableGit ships bash.exe at
<root>\bin\bash.exe plus sh, awk, sed, grep, curl, ssh in usr\bin\. ARM64
variant is detected separately (PortableGit-*-arm64.7z.exe). 32-bit falls
back to MinGit-32-bit with a warning (PortableGit is 64-bit only).
PortableGit ships as a 7z self-extractor (56MB vs MinGit's 38MB). We
invoke it with `-o<target> -y` to extract silently — no 7z install needed,
it's self-contained.
Updated tools/environments/local.py::_find_bash candidate order to prefer
the PortableGit layout (<root>\bin\bash.exe) with the MinGit layout
(<root>\usr\bin\bash.exe) as a fallback so existing installs keep working.
2. **os.execvp "Exec format error" on Windows.** Setup wizard's "Launch
hermes chat now? Y" called `os.execvp(["hermes", "chat"])` which on
Windows can only swap to real Win32 .exe files — chokes with OSError(8)
on .cmd batch shims and Python console-script wrappers. Added a
win32 branch in hermes_cli/relaunch.py::relaunch() that uses
subprocess.run + sys.exit — functionally identical (user sees "hermes
exited, then new hermes started") with one extra PID in play. POSIX
path is UNCHANGED — still uses os.execvp for in-place replacement.
Catches OSError in the Windows branch and surfaces a "open a new
terminal so PATH picks up, then re-run hermes" hint instead of a
cryptic traceback.
3. **npm install failures silent on Windows.** The install.ps1 was invoking
`npm install --silent 2>&1 | Out-Null` inside a try/catch. PowerShell's
try/catch does NOT trigger on non-zero process exit codes — only on
unhandled .NET exceptions — so npm failing printed a generic "npm
install failed" with zero information about WHY. The silent pipe ate
the stderr.
Rewrote Install-NodeDeps to:
- Resolve npm.cmd via Get-Command (respects PATHEXT) instead of
relying on bare `npm` name resolution.
- Use Start-Process with -PassThru to capture the actual exit code.
- Redirect stderr to a temp log and surface the first ~800 chars of
the real npm error when install fails, plus the log path for the
full text.
- Fail loudly with the right exit code instead of a misleading success.
- Bail cleanly with a helpful message when npm isn't on PATH at all.
4. **"True" printing to console after Node check.** `Test-Node` returns $true;
installer called it as a bare statement (no assignment, no cast). PowerShell
prints bare return values. Wrapped the call in `[void](Test-Node)`.
## Tests
- Added 3 new tests in tests/hermes_cli/test_relaunch.py covering the
Windows branch: subprocess is called (not execvp), child exit code
propagates, OSError surfaces a helpful message. All 23 tests pass
(20 existing + 3 new).
- 77 Windows-compat tests still pass, POSIX behaviour unchanged.
Second pass on native Windows support, driven by a systematic audit across
five areas: POSIX-only primitives (signal.SIGKILL/SIGHUP/SIGPIPE, os.WNOHANG,
os.setsid), path translation bugs (/c/Users → C:\Users), subprocess patterns
(npm.cmd batch shims, start_new_session no-op on Windows), subsystem health
(cron, gateway daemon, update flow), and module-level import guards.
Every change is platform-gated — POSIX (Linux/macOS) behaviour is preserved
bit-identical. Explicit "do no harm" test: test_posix_path_preserved_on_linux,
test_posix_noop, test_windows_detach_popen_kwargs_is_posix_equivalent_on_posix.
## New module
- hermes_cli/_subprocess_compat.py — shared helpers (resolve_node_command,
windows_detach_flags, windows_hide_flags, windows_detach_popen_kwargs).
All no-ops on non-Windows.
## CRITICAL fixes (would crash or silently break on Windows)
- tui_gateway/entry.py: SIGPIPE/SIGHUP referenced at module top level would
AttributeError on import on Windows, breaking `hermes --tui` entirely (it
spawns this module as a subprocess). Guard each signal.signal() call with
hasattr() and add SIGBREAK as Windows' SIGHUP equivalent.
- hermes_cli/kanban_db.py: os.waitpid(-1, os.WNOHANG) in dispatcher tick was
unguarded. os.WNOHANG doesn't exist on Windows. Gate the whole reap loop
behind `os.name != "nt"` — Windows has no zombies anyway.
- tools/code_execution_tool.py: AF_UNIX socket for execute_code RPC fails on
most Windows builds. Fall back to loopback TCP (AF_INET on 127.0.0.1:0
ephemeral port) when _IS_WINDOWS. HERMES_RPC_SOCKET env var now accepts
either a filesystem path (POSIX) or `tcp://127.0.0.1:<port>` (Windows).
Generated sandbox client parses both.
- cron/scheduler.py: `argv = ["/bin/bash", str(path)]` hardcoded. Use
shutil.which("bash") so Windows (Git Bash via MinGit) works, with a
readable error when bash is genuinely absent.
- 6 bare npm/npx spawn sites: tools_config.py x2, doctor.py, whatsapp.py
(npm install + node version probe), browser_tool.py x2. On Windows npm
is npm.cmd / npx is npx.cmd (batch shims); subprocess.Popen(["npm", ...])
fails with WinError 193. shutil.which(...) returns the absolute .cmd
path which CreateProcessW accepts because the extension routes through
cmd.exe /c. POSIX behaviour unchanged (shutil.which still returns the
same path subprocess would resolve itself).
## HIGH fixes (silent misbehaviour on Windows)
- tools/environments/local.py get_temp_dir: hardcoded /tmp returned on
Windows meant `_cwd_file = "/tmp/hermes-cwd-*.txt"`, which bash wrote
via MSYS2's virtual /tmp but native Python couldn't open. Result: cwd
tracking silently broken — `cd` in terminal tool did nothing. Windows
branch now returns `%HERMES_HOME%/cache/terminal` with forward slashes
(works in both bash and Python, guaranteed no spaces).
- tools/environments/local.py _make_run_env PATH injection: `/usr/bin not
in split(":")` heuristic mangles Windows PATH (";" separator). Gate
the injection behind `not _IS_WINDOWS`.
- hermes_cli/gateway.py launch_detached_profile_gateway_restart: outer
Popen + watcher-script Popen both used start_new_session=True, which
Windows silently ignores. Watcher stayed attached to CLI's console,
died when user closed terminal after `hermes update`, left gateway
stale. Now branches through windows_detach_popen_kwargs() helper
(CREATE_NEW_PROCESS_GROUP | DETACHED_PROCESS | CREATE_NO_WINDOW on
Windows, start_new_session=True on POSIX — identical to main).
## MEDIUM fixes
- gateway/run.py /restart and /update handlers: hardcoded bash/setsid
chain crashes on Windows when user triggers /update in-gateway. Now
has sys.platform=="win32" branch using sys.executable + a tiny
Python watcher with proper detach flags. POSIX path is unchanged.
- cli.py _git_repo_root: Git on Windows sometimes returns /c/Users/...
style paths that break subprocess.Popen(cwd=...) and Path().resolve().
Added _normalize_git_bash_path() helper that translates /c/Users,
/cygdrive/c, /mnt/c variants to native C:\Users form. POSIX no-op.
_git_repo_root() now routes every result through it.
- cli.py worktree .worktreeinclude: os.symlink on directories failed
hard on Windows (requires admin or Developer Mode). Falls back to
shutil.copytree with a warning log.
## Tests
- 29 new tests in tests/tools/test_windows_native_support.py covering:
subprocess_compat helpers, TUI entry signal guards, kanban waitpid
guard, code_execution TCP fallback source-level invariants, cron bash
resolution, npm/npx bare-spawn lint per-file, local env Windows temp
dir, PATH injection gating, git bash path normalization, symlink
fallback, gateway detached watcher flags.
- One existing test assertion adjusted in test_browser_homebrew_paths:
it compared captured Popen argv to the BARE `"npx"` literal; after the
shutil.which() change argv[0] is the absolute path. New assertion
checks the shape (two items, second is `agent-browser`) rather than
the exact first-item string. Behaviour unchanged; test was too strict.
All 56 tests pass on Linux (30 from previous commits + 26 new).
267 tests from the affected files/dirs (browser, code_exec, local_env,
process_registry, kanban_db, windows_compat) all pass — zero regressions.
tests/hermes_cli/ (3909 pass) and tests/gateway/ (5021 pass) unchanged;
all pre-existing test failures confirmed unrelated via `git stash` re-run.
## What's still deferred (LOW priority)
- Visible cmd-window flashes on short-lived console apps (~14 sites) —
cosmetic, needs a follow-up pass once we have user reports.
- agent/file_safety.py POSIX-only security deny patterns — separate
hardening task.
- tools/process_registry.py returning "/tmp" as fallback — theoretical;
reachable only when all env-var candidates fail.
User hit a real failure case: their system Git was in a half-installed state
(can neither uninstall nor reinstall) and winget refused to work around it.
We were one step away from shipping an installer that would have left users
with exactly the problem he already had.
What other agents do (reality check):
- Claude Code: requires pre-installed Git; breaks if user doesn't have it.
- OpenCode, Codex: don't need bash at all — PowerShell-first design.
- Cline: uses whatever shell VSCode is configured with; installs nothing.
None of them solve the "broken system Git" problem. We need to own our Git.
Changes:
- scripts/install.ps1::Install-Git: dropped winget path entirely. Now:
(1) use existing git if present; (2) download portable MinGit from the
official git-for-windows GitHub release to %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes\git.
No winget, no admin, no Windows installer registry, no system impact.
- Added %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes\git\{cmd,usr\bin} to User PATH so git + bash
+ POSIX coreutils (which, env, grep, …) resolve in fresh shells.
- tools/environments/local.py::_find_bash: reorder so Hermes' portable
MinGit install is checked BEFORE falling through to shutil.which("bash")
or system install locations. This way a broken system Git can't
hijack the bash lookup.
- README + installation docs reworded to reflect the new story: "portable
Git Bash, isolated from any system install, recoverable via rm -rf if it
ever breaks."
Recoverability: if Hermes' Git install ever breaks, ``Remove-Item %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes\git``
and re-run the installer — no system impact, no uninstall drama, no winget
to fight with.
Native Windows (with Git for Windows installed) can now run the Hermes CLI
and gateway end-to-end without crashing. install.ps1 already existed and
the Git Bash terminal backend was already wired up — this PR fills the
remaining gaps discovered by auditing every Windows-unsafe primitive
(`signal.SIGKILL`, `os.kill(pid, 0)` probes, bare `fcntl`/`termios`
imports) and by comparing hermes against how Claude Code, OpenCode, Codex,
and Cline handle native Windows.
## What changed
### UTF-8 stdio (new module)
- `hermes_cli/stdio.py` — single `configure_windows_stdio()` entry point.
Flips the console code page to CP_UTF8 (65001), reconfigures
`sys.stdout`/`stderr`/`stdin` to UTF-8, sets `PYTHONIOENCODING` + `PYTHONUTF8`
for subprocesses. No-op on non-Windows. Opt out via `HERMES_DISABLE_WINDOWS_UTF8=1`.
- Called early in `cli.py::main`, `hermes_cli/main.py::main`, and
`gateway/run.py::main` so Unicode banners (box-drawing, geometric
symbols, non-Latin chat text) don't `UnicodeEncodeError` on cp1252
consoles.
### Crash sites fixed
- `hermes_cli/main.py:7970` (hermes update → stuck gateway sweep): raw
`os.kill(pid, _signal.SIGKILL)` → `gateway.status.terminate_pid(pid, force=True)`
which routes through `taskkill /T /F` on Windows.
- `hermes_cli/profiles.py::_stop_gateway_process`: same fix — also
converted SIGTERM path to `terminate_pid()` and widened OSError catch
on the intermediate `os.kill(pid, 0)` probe.
- `hermes_cli/kanban_db.py:2914, 3041`: raw `signal.SIGKILL` →
`getattr(signal, "SIGKILL", signal.SIGTERM)` fallback (matches the
pattern already used in `gateway/status.py`).
### OSError widening on `os.kill(pid, 0)` probes
Windows raises `OSError` (WinError 87) for a gone PID instead of
`ProcessLookupError`. Widened the catch at:
- `gateway/run.py:15101` (`--replace` wait-for-exit loop — without this,
the loop busy-spins the full 10s every Windows gateway start)
- `hermes_cli/gateway.py:228, 460, 940`
- `hermes_cli/profiles.py:777`
- `tools/process_registry.py::_is_host_pid_alive`
- `tools/browser_tool.py:1170, 1206`
### Dashboard PTY graceful degradation
`hermes_cli/pty_bridge.py` depends on `fcntl`/`termios`/`ptyprocess`,
none of which exist on native Windows. Previously a Windows dashboard
would crash on `import hermes_cli.web_server` because of a top-level
import. Now:
- `hermes_cli/web_server.py` wraps the pty_bridge import in
`try/except ImportError` and sets `_PTY_BRIDGE_AVAILABLE=False`.
- The `/api/pty` WebSocket handler returns a friendly "use WSL2 for
this tab" message instead of exploding.
- Every other dashboard feature (sessions, jobs, metrics, config
editor) runs natively on Windows.
### Dependency
- `pyproject.toml`: add `tzdata>=2023.3; sys_platform == 'win32'` so
Python's `zoneinfo` works on Windows (which has no IANA tzdata
shipped with the OS). Credits @sprmn24 (PR #13182).
### Docs
- README.md: removed "Native Windows is not supported"; added
PowerShell one-liner and Git-for-Windows prerequisite note.
- `website/docs/getting-started/installation.md`: new Windows section
with capability matrix (everything native except the dashboard
`/chat` PTY tab, which is WSL2-only).
- `website/docs/user-guide/windows-wsl-quickstart.md`: reframed as
"WSL2 as an alternative to native" rather than "the only way".
- `website/docs/developer-guide/contributing.md`: updated
cross-platform guidance with the `signal.SIGKILL` / `OSError`
rules we enforce now.
- `website/docs/user-guide/features/web-dashboard.md`: acknowledged
native Windows works for everything except the embedded PTY pane.
## Why this shape
Pulled from a survey of how other agent codebases handle native
Windows (Claude Code, OpenCode, Codex, Cline):
- All four treat Git Bash as the canonical shell on Windows, same as
hermes already does in `tools/environments/local.py::_find_bash()`.
- None of them force `SetConsoleOutputCP` — but they don't have to,
Node/Rust write UTF-16 to the Win32 console API. Python does not get
that for free, so we flip CP_UTF8 via ctypes.
- None of them ship PowerShell-as-primary-shell (Claude Code exposes
PS as a secondary tool; scope creep for this PR).
- All of them use `taskkill /T /F` for force-kill on Windows, which
is exactly what `gateway.status.terminate_pid(force=True)` does.
## Non-goals (deliberate scope limits)
- No PowerShell-as-a-second-shell tool — worth designing separately.
- No terminal routing rewrite (#12317, #15461, #19800 cluster) — that's
the hardest design call and needs a separate doc.
- No wholesale `open()` → `open(..., encoding="utf-8")` sweep (Tianworld
cluster) — will do as follow-up if users hit actual breakage; most
modern code already specifies it.
## Validation
- 28 new tests in `tests/tools/test_windows_native_support.py` — all
platform-mocked, pass on Linux CI. Cover:
- `configure_windows_stdio` idempotency, opt-out, env-preservation
- `terminate_pid` taskkill routing, failure → OSError, FileNotFoundError fallback
- `getattr(signal, "SIGKILL", …)` fallback shape
- `_is_host_pid_alive` OSError widening (Windows-gone-PID behavior)
- Source-level checks that all entry points call `configure_windows_stdio`
- pty_bridge import-guard present in `web_server.py`
- README no longer says "not supported"
- 12 pre-existing tests in `tests/tools/test_windows_compat.py` still pass.
- `tests/hermes_cli/` ran fully (3909 passed, 9 failures — all confirmed
pre-existing on main by stash-test).
- `tests/gateway/` ran fully (5021 passed, 1 pre-existing failure).
- `tests/tools/test_process_registry.py` + `test_browser_*` pass.
- Manual smoke: `import hermes_cli.stdio; import gateway.run;
import hermes_cli.web_server` — all clean, `_PTY_BRIDGE_AVAILABLE=True`
on Linux (as expected).
## Files
- New: `hermes_cli/stdio.py`, `tests/tools/test_windows_native_support.py`
- Modified: `cli.py`, `gateway/run.py`, `hermes_cli/main.py`,
`hermes_cli/profiles.py`, `hermes_cli/gateway.py`,
`hermes_cli/kanban_db.py`, `hermes_cli/pty_bridge.py`,
`hermes_cli/web_server.py`, `tools/browser_tool.py`,
`tools/process_registry.py`, `pyproject.toml`, `README.md`, and 4
docs pages.
Credits to everyone whose prior PR work informed these fixes — see
the co-author trailers. All of the PRs listed in
`~/.hermes/plans/windows-support-prs.md` fixing `os.kill` / `signal.SIGKILL`
/ UTF-8 stdio / tzdata / README patterns found the same issues; this PR
consolidates them.
Co-authored-by: Philip D'Souza <9472774+PhilipAD@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Arecanon <42595053+ArecaNon@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: XiaoXiao0221 <263113677+XiaoXiao0221@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Lars Hagen <1360677+lars-hagen@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Luan Dias <65574834+luandiasrj@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Ruzzgar <ruzzgarcn@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: sprmn24 <oncuevtv@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: adybag14-cyber <252811164+adybag14-cyber@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Prasanna28Devadiga <54196612+Prasanna28Devadiga@users.noreply.github.com>
Extends the cua-driver computer-use backend to drive backgrounded macOS
windows without stealing keyboard or mouse focus from the foreground app.
All changes target the cua-driver MCP backend and the shared dispatcher.
## cua_backend.py
**Window-aware capture**: capture() now calls list_windows + get_window_state
instead of the removed capture tool. Prefers structuredContent.windows
(MCP 2024-11-05+ cua-driver) for zero-parse window enumeration; falls back
to regex-parsed text for older builds. Stores the selected (pid, window_id)
as sticky context so subsequent action calls do not need a redundant round-trip.
**Action routing**: click/scroll/type_text/key all carry the sticky pid
(and window_id for element-indexed clicks). type_text routes through
type_text_chars (individual key events) rather than AX attribute write --
WebKit AXTextFields reject attribute writes from backgrounded processes.
**Key parsing**: _parse_key_combo splits cmd+s-style strings into
(key, [modifiers]) and routes to hotkey (modifier present) or
press_key (bare key) -- cua-driver actual tool names.
**set_value method**: new set_value(value, element) calls the cua-driver
set_value MCP tool. For AXPopUpButton / HTML select in a backgrounded Safari,
AXPress opens the native macOS popup which closes immediately when the app is
non-frontmost; set_value AX-presses the matching child option directly
(no menu required, no focus steal).
**focus_app**: reimplemented as a pure window-selector (enumerates
list_windows, sets sticky pid/window_id) without ever raising the window
or stealing focus.
**list_apps**: fixed tool name from listApps to list_apps; handles plain-text
response via regex when structured data is absent.
**Structured-content extraction**: _extract_tool_result now surfaces
structuredContent from MCP results, enabling the list_windows window array
without text parsing.
**Helpers**: _parse_windows_from_text, _parse_elements_from_tree,
_split_tree_text, _parse_key_combo extracted as module-level functions.
## schema.py
Added set_value to the action enum with a description explaining when to
prefer it over click (select/popup elements, sliders, no focus steal).
Added value field for set_value payloads.
## tool.py
Routed set_value action through _dispatch to backend.set_value.
Added set_value to _DESTRUCTIVE_ACTIONS (approval-gated).
Fixed MIME-type detection in _capture_response: cua-driver may return
JPEG; detect from base64 magic bytes (/9j/ -> image/jpeg, else image/png)
rather than hardcoding image/png.
## agent/display.py + run_agent.py
Guard _detect_tool_failure and result-preview logic against non-string
function_result values: multimodal tool results (dicts with _multimodal=True)
are not string-sliceable; treat them as successes and fall back to str()
for length/preview.
Background macOS desktop control via cua-driver MCP — does NOT steal the
user's cursor or keyboard focus, works with any tool-capable model.
Replaces the Anthropic-native `computer_20251124` approach from the
abandoned #4562 with a generic OpenAI function-calling schema plus SOM
(set-of-mark) captures so Claude, GPT, Gemini, and open models can all
drive the desktop via numbered element indices.
- `tools/computer_use/` package — swappable ComputerUseBackend ABC +
CuaDriverBackend (stdio MCP client to trycua/cua's cua-driver binary).
- Universal `computer_use` tool with one schema for all providers.
Actions: capture (som/vision/ax), click, double_click, right_click,
middle_click, drag, scroll, type, key, wait, list_apps, focus_app.
- Multimodal tool-result envelope (`_multimodal=True`, OpenAI-style
`content: [text, image_url]` parts) that flows through
handle_function_call into the tool message. Anthropic adapter converts
into native `tool_result` image blocks; OpenAI-compatible providers
get the parts list directly.
- Image eviction in convert_messages_to_anthropic: only the 3 most
recent screenshots carry real image data; older ones become text
placeholders to cap per-turn token cost.
- Context compressor image pruning: old multimodal tool results have
their image parts stripped instead of being skipped.
- Image-aware token estimation: each image counts as a flat 1500 tokens
instead of its base64 char length (~1MB would have registered as
~250K tokens before).
- COMPUTER_USE_GUIDANCE system-prompt block — injected when the toolset
is active.
- Session DB persistence strips base64 from multimodal tool messages.
- Trajectory saver normalises multimodal messages to text-only.
- `hermes tools` post-setup installs cua-driver via the upstream script
and prints permission-grant instructions.
- CLI approval callback wired so destructive computer_use actions go
through the same prompt_toolkit approval dialog as terminal commands.
- Hard safety guards at the tool level: blocked type patterns
(curl|bash, sudo rm -rf, fork bomb), blocked key combos (empty trash,
force delete, lock screen, log out).
- Skill `apple/macos-computer-use/SKILL.md` — universal (model-agnostic)
workflow guide.
- Docs: `user-guide/features/computer-use.md` plus reference catalog
entries.
44 new tests in tests/tools/test_computer_use.py covering schema
shape (universal, not Anthropic-native), dispatch routing, safety
guards, multimodal envelope, Anthropic adapter conversion, screenshot
eviction, context compressor pruning, image-aware token estimation,
run_agent helpers, and universality guarantees.
469/469 pass across tests/tools/test_computer_use.py + the affected
agent/ test suites.
- `model_tools.py` provider-gating: the tool is available to every
provider. Providers without multi-part tool message support will see
text-only tool results (graceful degradation via `text_summary`).
- Anthropic server-side `clear_tool_uses_20250919` — deferred;
client-side eviction + compressor pruning cover the same cost ceiling
without a beta header.
- macOS only. cua-driver uses private SkyLight SPIs
(SLEventPostToPid, SLPSPostEventRecordTo,
_AXObserverAddNotificationAndCheckRemote) that can break on any macOS
update. Pin with HERMES_CUA_DRIVER_VERSION.
- Requires Accessibility + Screen Recording permissions — the post-setup
prints the Settings path.
Supersedes PR #4562 (pyautogui/Quartz foreground backend, Anthropic-
native schema). Credit @0xbyt4 for the original #3816 groundwork whose
context/eviction/token design is preserved here in generic form.
The prior implementation routed download_to_file through the shared
_request() path, which uses httpx.AsyncClient.request() inside a
context manager that closes before aiter_bytes() iterates. The body
was read into memory first and the chunked write loop replayed it
from buffer. On small test payloads this was invisible; on real
Teams meeting recordings (hundreds of MB) it would force the full
artifact into RAM per download.
Rewrites download_to_file to open its own AsyncClient and use
client.stream(), keeping the context open across the aiter_bytes
iteration so the body is actually streamed chunk-by-chunk to disk.
Retry/token-refresh/Retry-After semantics are preserved by handling
them inline on the stream path. Partial .part files are cleaned up
on transport errors and on exhausted retries.
Adds three tests: large-payload streaming verifies the chunk loop
runs multiple times (discriminator: 512 KiB at chunk_size=65536
yields 8 chunks under streaming, 1 under buffering), transient-5xx
retry recovers after a single retry, and exhausted-retry cleans up
the partial file.
The new _is_gateway_approval_context() widened the gateway classification
to any call with HERMES_SESSION_PLATFORM bound via contextvars. But
cron/scheduler.py binds that same contextvar for delivery routing on
cron jobs that originate from a gateway platform (telegram/discord/etc.),
so those jobs were getting routed through submit_pending with no
listener — blocking indefinitely instead of honoring approvals.cron_mode.
Short-circuit on HERMES_CRON_SESSION before any gateway check. Cron is
always governed by cron_mode config, regardless of where the job was
scheduled from.
Adds regression coverage in TestCronWithGatewayOrigin and records the
contributor email mapping for scripts/release.py.
Adds one reserved token to the cron `deliver` field:
- `all` — expand to every platform with a configured home channel
Resolves at fire time, not create time, so a job created before Telegram
was wired up picks it up once `TELEGRAM_HOME_CHANNEL` is set. Composes
with existing targets: `origin,all`, `all,telegram:-100:17`.
Inspired by Vellum Assistant's reminder routing-intent system.
## Changes
- cron/scheduler.py: _expand_routing_tokens + integrate into _resolve_delivery_targets
- tools/cronjob_tools.py: schema description updated
- tests/cron/test_scheduler.py: TestRoutingIntents (5 cases)
- website/docs/user-guide/features/cron.md: docs + table rows
## Validation
- tests/cron/test_scheduler.py -k 'Routing or Deliver' → 57 passed
Both implement WebSearchProvider via tools/web_providers/ — matching the
existing SearXNG pattern (PR #5c906d702). Search-only; pair with any
extract provider via web.extract_backend.
- tools/web_providers/brave_free.py — Brave Search API (free tier, 2k
queries/mo). Uses BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY as X-Subscription-Token.
- tools/web_providers/ddgs.py — DuckDuckGo via the ddgs Python package.
No API key; gated on package importability.
- tools/web_tools.py: both backends added to _get_backend() config list
and auto-detect chain (trails paid providers), _is_backend_available,
web_search_tool dispatch, web_extract_tool + web_crawl_tool search-only
refusals, check_web_api_key, and the __main__ diagnostic. Introduces
_ddgs_package_importable() helper so tests can monkeypatch a single
symbol for the ddgs availability check.
- hermes_cli/tools_config.py: picker entries for both providers; ddgs
gets a post_setup handler that runs `pip install ddgs`.
- hermes_cli/config.py: BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY in OPTIONAL_ENV_VARS.
- scripts/release.py: AUTHOR_MAP entry for @Abd0r.
- tests: 14 new tests (brave-free) + 15 new tests (ddgs) covering
provider unit behavior, backend wiring, and search-only refusals.
Salvages the brave-free + ddgs portion of PR #19796. Not included: the
in-line helpers in web_tools.py (replaced with provider modules to match
the shipped architecture), the lynx-based extract path (these backends
should refuse extract with a clear error — users pair with a real
extract provider), and scripts/start-llama-server.sh (unrelated).
Co-authored-by: Abd0r <223003280+Abd0r@users.noreply.github.com>
For every connected MCP server we register four "utility" tool schemas
(mcp_<server>_list_resources, read_resource, list_prompts, get_prompt).
The existing gate was `hasattr(server.session, method)` — but
`mcp.ClientSession` defines all four methods on the class regardless of
what the remote server supports, so the gate never filtered anything.
Tools-only servers (e.g. @upstash/context7-mcp which advertises only
`tools`) ended up with 4 dead stubs; every model call to them returned
JSON-RPC -32601 Method not found, which made the model conclude the
server was broken even when the real tools worked.
Capture the `InitializeResult` returned by `await session.initialize()`
on the `MCPServerTask`, then gate each utility schema on the
corresponding `capabilities` sub-object (resources / prompts). A
legacy `hasattr` fallback runs when `initialize_result` is missing
(older test fixtures / not-yet-captured code paths) so pre-existing
behavior is preserved.
Verified against real `mcp.types.InitializeResult` pydantic models:
- Context7 shape (tools only) → 0 utility stubs registered (was 4)
- Resources-only server → 2 stubs (list_resources, read_resource)
- Prompts-only server → 2 stubs (list_prompts, get_prompt)
- Fully capable server → all 4 stubs
Closes#18051.
Co-authored-by: nikolay-bratanov <nikolay-bratanov@users.noreply.github.com>
MCP tool results can include ImageContent blocks (screenshots from
Playwright/Blockbench/Puppeteer etc). The tool result handler only
extracted block.text, so image blocks were silently dropped and the
agent saw an empty or text-only response — losing the actual payload.
Add _cache_mcp_image_block() that base64-decodes the block, validates
the bytes via gateway.platforms.base.cache_image_from_bytes (which
sniffs for PNG/JPEG/WebP signatures and rejects non-images), writes to
the shared `~/.hermes/cache/images/` dir, and returns a MEDIA:<path>
tag. The handler appends that tag to the result parts so downstream
gateway adapters render the image inline.
Logs and drops on malformed base64 / non-image payload rather than
raising — a single bad block shouldn't kill the tool call.
Distilled from #17915 (c3115644151) and #10848 (gnanirahulnutakki), both
too stale to cherry-pick (branches diverged enough to revert dozens of
unrelated fixes). Went with #10848's approach of plumbing through
Hermes' existing MEDIA tag / cache_image_from_bytes infrastructure
rather than #17915's raw tempfile path, because it integrates with the
remote-backend mount system and messaging adapters that already handle
MEDIA tags natively.
Co-authored-by: c3115644151 <c3115644151@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: gnanirahulnutakki <gnanirahulnutakki@users.noreply.github.com>
* fix(mcp): re-raise CancelledError explicitly in MCPServerTask.run
On Python 3.11+, `asyncio.CancelledError` inherits from `BaseException`
(not `Exception`), so the broad `except Exception as exc:` in
`MCPServerTask.run`'s transport loop did NOT catch it. Task cancellation
from gateway restart / explicit `task.cancel()` silently escaped past
the reconnect logic — the MCP server task died without going through
the shutdown/reconnect code paths that check `_shutdown_event`.
Add an explicit `except asyncio.CancelledError: raise` before the broad
catch so cancellation propagation is self-documenting rather than an
accident of exception hierarchy, and future sibling-site work (e.g.
distinguishing shutdown-cancel from transport-cancel) has an obvious
hook. Behavior on pre-3.8 Pythons where CancelledError WAS an Exception
subclass is also corrected: the old path would have caught it and
treated it as a connection failure worth retrying.
Closes#9930.
* fix(mcp): forward OAuth auth and bump sse_read_timeout on SSE transport
Two surgical correctness bugs in the SSE branch of MCPServerTask._run_http,
distilled from @amiller's PR #5981 that couldn't be cherry-picked wholesale
(branch too stale).
1. sse_read_timeout was set to the tool timeout (default 60s). That's the
wrong dimension — it governs how long sse_client will wait between
events on the SSE stream, not per-call latency. SSE servers routinely
hold the stream idle for minutes between events; a 60s read timeout
drops the connection after the first slow stretch (Router Teamwork,
Supermemory on Cloudflare Workers idle-disconnect at ~60s). Bump to
300s to match the Streamable HTTP path's httpx read timeout.
2. OAuth auth was built via get_manager().get_or_build_provider() but
never forwarded to sse_client. SSE MCP servers behind OAuth 2.1 PKCE
would silently fail with 401s on every request.
Keepalive (the other half of #5981) intentionally left for a follow-up —
it's a real improvement but a bigger change, and these two are obvious
corrections to ship now. Credits to @amiller.
Co-authored-by: Andrew Miller <socrates1024@gmail.com>
---------
Co-authored-by: Andrew Miller <socrates1024@gmail.com>
On Python 3.11+, `asyncio.CancelledError` inherits from `BaseException`
(not `Exception`), so the broad `except Exception as exc:` in
`MCPServerTask.run`'s transport loop did NOT catch it. Task cancellation
from gateway restart / explicit `task.cancel()` silently escaped past
the reconnect logic — the MCP server task died without going through
the shutdown/reconnect code paths that check `_shutdown_event`.
Add an explicit `except asyncio.CancelledError: raise` before the broad
catch so cancellation propagation is self-documenting rather than an
accident of exception hierarchy, and future sibling-site work (e.g.
distinguishing shutdown-cancel from transport-cancel) has an obvious
hook. Behavior on pre-3.8 Pythons where CancelledError WAS an Exception
subclass is also corrected: the old path would have caught it and
treated it as a connection failure worth retrying.
Closes#9930.
PR #21238 introduced top-level `allOf: [{if/then/required}]` blocks in the
built-in memory tool's parameters schema as conditional-required hints.
Two problems:
1. OpenAI's Codex backend (chatgpt.com/backend-api/codex, gpt-5.x) rejects
top-level `allOf`/`anyOf`/`oneOf`/`enum`/`not` outright with a
non-retryable 400 — affected every user on openai-codex/gpt-5.x.
2. The `if/then` hints were silently ignored by every other provider
(Chat Completions doesn't honour them on function schemas), so they
never actually enforced anything anywhere.
The runtime handler in `memory_tool()` already validates the per-action
required fields and returns actionable error messages, so removing the
block changes nothing behaviourally.
Paired with the defense-in-depth sanitizer in the previous commit, this
closes the bug both at the source (schema no longer emits the forbidden
form) and at the wire boundary (sanitizer strips it if anything else
re-introduces it).
- Rewrites `tests/tools/test_memory_tool_schema.py` to guard against
regressing the forbidden-combinator shape instead of asserting it.
- Adds AUTHOR_MAP entry for @hrkzogw (author of the sanitizer fix).
When the parent agent uses a composite toolset like hermes-cli, calling
delegate_task with individual toolsets (e.g. web, terminal) resulted in
zero tools because the name-based intersection failed: 'web' != 'hermes-cli'.
Add _expand_parent_toolsets() which collects all tool names from parent
toolsets, then recognises any individual toolset whose tools are a subset
of the parent's available tools. This allows delegate_task(toolsets=['web'])
to work correctly when the parent has hermes-cli enabled.
Fixes#19447
Some exception classes (e.g. anyio.ClosedResourceError) are raised without
a message argument, so str(exc) returns an empty string. The existing error
format f'{type(exc).__name__}: {exc}' would produce messages like
'MCP call failed: ClosedResourceError: ' with nothing after the colon.
Add _exc_str() helper that falls back to repr(exc) when str(exc) is empty,
and apply it to all 6 MCP error formatting sites (5 tool/prompt/resource
handlers + 1 sampling handler).
Fixes#19417
Treat closed-resource, closed-transport, broken-pipe, and EOF MCP failures as stale session equivalents so the existing reconnect/retry-once path can recover. Add regression coverage for the stale-pipe marker variants.\n\nChecks:\n- python -m py_compile tools/mcp_tool.py tests/tools/test_mcp_tool_session_expired.py\n- python -m pytest tests/tools/test_mcp_tool_session_expired.py -q -o addopts=\n- selected secret scan over touched files
Track elapsed wall time in _run_on_mcp_loop, cancel the in-flight future when a timeout expires, and raise a descriptive TimeoutError that includes the elapsed and configured timeout. Add regression coverage for the new timeout diagnostics.
Fixes#9930
When an agent session is interrupted (Ctrl+C or gateway timeout), the
current thread's interrupt flag is set in _interrupted_threads. asyncio
executor threads are pooled and reused across sessions, so a thread that
carried an interrupt flag from a prior session will immediately cancel
any new asyncio work dispatched to it — including MCP server discovery.
Fix: in register_mcp_servers(), temporarily clear the interrupt flag on
the current thread before running _discover_all(), then restore it
afterward in a finally block so the original interrupt state is not lost.
Image generation plugins were dispatched without a model name, leaving
the plugin to pick its default. Users on OpenRouter, ComfyUI, or custom
backends had no way to select a specific model through config — they
had to fork the plugin or patch the tool.
Add _read_configured_image_model() that reads image_gen.model from the
active profile's config.yaml and forwards it into
_dispatch_to_plugin_provider(). When model is set, the plugin call
gains a 'model' kwarg; when unset, the plugin falls back to its own
default, so single-model users see no behavior change.
Example config:
image_gen:
provider: openrouter
model: flux-pro
Tests: all 170 image tool tests pass. The new code path is opt-in via
config and no existing test exercises it, so the change is strictly
additive.
Two fixes for the local terminal backend on Windows (Git Bash):
1. `_drain()` in base.py: `select.select()` only works on sockets on
Windows, not pipe file descriptors. On Windows, use blocking
`os.read()` in the daemon thread instead. EOF arrives promptly
when bash exits, so this is safe.
2. `_run_bash()` in local.py: When `self.cwd` is updated from `pwd`
output, it contains Git Bash-style paths (`/c/Users/...`).
`subprocess.Popen(cwd=...)` needs a native Windows path
(`C:\Users\...`). Added a conversion before Popen.
Without these fixes, all terminal() calls on Windows return empty
output (exit code 126), and cwd tracking breaks.
Tested on Windows 11 with Git for Windows + Python 3.13.
Fixes#14638
Lists the skills sitting in ~/.hermes/skills/.archive/ so users have
something to pass to `hermes curator restore`. `curator status` already
shows counts; this fills the name-discovery gap.
Archive layout is flat (`archive_skill` writes to `.archive/<skill>/`),
so the directory name IS the skill name — no frontmatter parsing
needed. Timestamped collision directories (`<skill>-<ts>`) are listed
literally; user can still pass them to `restore`.
Reshape of @EvilDrag0n's #20651, simplified: drop the frontmatter
rglob + preamble/trailer output + duplicate subcommand registration.
Co-authored-by: EvilDrag0n <lxl694522264@gmail.com>
Cloud metadata endpoints (169.254.169.254 etc.) are now always blocked
by browser_navigate regardless of hybrid routing, allow_private_urls,
or backend.
Bug: commit 42c076d3 (#16136) added hybrid routing that flips
auto_local_this_nav=True for private URLs and short-circuits
_is_safe_url(). IMDS endpoints are technically private (169.254/16
link-local), so the sidecar happily routed them to a local Chromium,
and the agent could read IAM credentials via browser_snapshot. On
EC2/GCP/Azure this is a full SSRF-to-credential-theft.
Fix: new is_always_blocked_url() in url_safety.py — a narrow floor
that checks _BLOCKED_HOSTNAMES, _ALWAYS_BLOCKED_IPS,
_ALWAYS_BLOCKED_NETWORKS only. Applied as an independent gate in
browser_navigate's pre-nav and post-redirect checks, BEFORE
auto_local_this_nav gets a chance to short-circuit. Ordinary private
URLs (localhost, 192.168.x, 10.x, .local, CGNAT) still route to the
local sidecar as the #16136 feature intends.
Secondary fix (reporter's finding): _url_is_private() now explicitly
checks 172.16.0.0/12. ipaddress.is_private only covers that range on
Python ≥3.11 (bpo-40791), so on 3.10 runtimes those URLs were routed
to cloud instead of the local sidecar. No security impact — just a
correctness fix for the hybrid-routing feature.
Closes#16234.
Add support for MCP servers using the SSE transport protocol
(SseServerTransport) alongside the existing Streamable HTTP and stdio
transports. Many MCP servers use SSE (GET /sse + POST /messages/)
which was previously unsupported -- the client silently fell back to
Streamable HTTP, causing 10s connection timeouts.
Changes:
- Import mcp.client.sse.sse_client with graceful fallback
- Check config.get('transport') == 'sse' in _run_http() to select
the SSE transport path with proper timeout handling
- Read transport type from config in get_mcp_status() instead of
hardcoding 'http' for URL-based servers
- Update docstring, example config, and feature list
The MCP SDK discovers OAuth server metadata (token_endpoint, etc.) on
demand and keeps it in memory only. Without disk persistence, a restart
with valid cached refresh tokens forces the SDK to fall back to the
guessed '{server_url}/token' path — which returns 404 on most real
providers (Notion, Atlassian, GitHub remote MCP, etc.) and triggers a
full browser re-authorization even though the refresh token is fine.
Add a .meta.json file next to the existing tokens/client_info files:
HERMES_HOME/mcp-tokens/<server>.json -- tokens (existing)
HERMES_HOME/mcp-tokens/<server>.client.json -- client info (existing)
HERMES_HOME/mcp-tokens/<server>.meta.json -- oauth metadata (new)
Changes:
- HermesTokenStorage.save_oauth_metadata / load_oauth_metadata / _meta_path
— disk layer for the discovered OAuthMetadata.
- HermesTokenStorage.remove() now also clears .meta.json so
'hermes mcp remove <name>' and the manager's remove() path clean up fully.
- HermesMCPOAuthProvider._initialize cold-restores from disk before the
existing pre-flight discovery runs. If disk has metadata we skip the
discovery HTTP round-trips entirely.
- HermesMCPOAuthProvider._prefetch_oauth_metadata now persists ASM as
soon as it's discovered, so even the first pre-flight run seeds disk.
- HermesMCPOAuthProvider._persist_oauth_metadata_if_changed() is called
at the end of async_auth_flow so metadata discovered via the SDK's
lazy 401-branch (not pre-flight) is also saved for next time.
Tests cover the storage roundtrip (save/load/missing/corrupt/remove) and
the manager provider path (cold-load restore, skip-when-in-memory,
persist-on-discover, noop-when-unchanged, end-to-end async_auth_flow).
Co-authored-by: nocturnum91 <50326054+nocturnum91@users.noreply.github.com>
Skills that produce large/lossless images (e.g. info-graph, where a
rendered JPG is 1-2 MB) currently lose quality in Telegram delivery
because `_IMAGE_EXTS` membership routes the file through
`send_multiple_images` → `sendMediaGroup`, which Telegram's server
re-encodes to JPEG @ 1280px max edge. The original bytes only survive
when the file goes through `send_document`, which the dispatch tables
in three places (`_process_message_background`, `_deliver_media_from_response`,
and the `send_message` tool's telegram path) only reach for files
whose extension is NOT in `_IMAGE_EXTS`.
This commit adds an `[[as_document]]` directive that mirrors the
existing `[[audio_as_voice]]` shape: a skill emits the directive once
in its response, and every image-extension MEDIA: file in that response
is delivered via `send_document` instead of `send_multiple_images` /
`sendPhoto`. The directive is detected at the dispatch sites (which see
the raw response) and the directive string is stripped from the
user-visible cleaned text in `extract_media` so it never leaks.
Granularity is intentionally all-or-nothing per response, matching
[[audio_as_voice]]'s scope. Skills that need fine control can split into
two responses.
Verified the targeted use case: info-graph emits
信息图已生成（...）
[[as_document]]
MEDIA:/tmp/info-graph-x/infographic.jpg
→ Telegram receives `infographic.jpg` via sendDocument, original 1MB
JPEG bytes preserved, no recompression. Forwarding and download
filenames stay clean (`infographic.jpg`).
Tests: +3 cases in TestExtractMedia covering directive strip, isolation
from voice flag, and coexistence with [[audio_as_voice]]. All
113 pre-existing media/extract/send tests pass.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The delegate_task tool schema descriptions referenced 'claude --acp --stdio'
as an example, but Claude Code CLI does not support --acp or --stdio flags.
The ACP subprocess transport (agent/copilot_acp_client.py) is specifically
built for GitHub Copilot CLI ('copilot --acp --stdio').
Changes:
- Per-task acp_command example: 'claude' → 'copilot'
- Top-level acp_command description: remove 'Claude Code' reference,
clarify requirement for ACP-compatible CLI (currently Copilot only)
- acp_args description: remove misleading claude-opus-4-6 example
Fixes#19055
The kanban_heartbeat tool called heartbeat_worker but never
heartbeat_claim, so a worker that loops the tool while a single tool
call blocks the agent for >DEFAULT_CLAIM_TTL_SECONDS still got
reclaimed by release_stale_claims. The function name and
heartbeat_claim's own docstring imply otherwise:
"Workers that know they'll exceed 15 minutes should call this
every few minutes to keep ownership."
But there was no caller in the worker tool path. Workers couldn't
invoke heartbeat_claim themselves either — it isn't exposed as a tool.
Fix: _handle_heartbeat now calls heartbeat_claim first, reading
HERMES_KANBAN_CLAIM_LOCK from the worker env (the dispatcher pins
this in _default_spawn). Falls back to _claimer_id() for locally-
driven workers that didn't go through dispatcher spawn.
Test: tests/tools/test_kanban_tools.py::test_heartbeat_extends_claim_expires
rewinds claim_expires into the past, calls the tool, and asserts the
new value is at least now + DEFAULT_CLAIM_TTL_SECONDS // 2. Verified to
fail against the unfixed code (claim_expires stays at the rewound
value).
Closes the root cause underlying the symptom in #21141 (15-min
respawns of long-running workers). #21141 separately addresses
post-reclaim cleanup; this fixes the upstream "shouldn't have been
reclaimed in the first place" half.
When terminal.backend is docker, inbound documents uploaded via messaging
platforms (Telegram, Slack, Discord, Feishu, Email, etc.) are cached at a host
path under ~/.hermes/cache/documents, but the container sandbox only sees them
at the auto-mounted /root/.hermes/cache/documents path.
This PR adds to_agent_visible_cache_path() in tools/credential_files.py (the
natural sibling to get_cache_directory_mounts()) and calls it at the
document-context-injection site in gateway/run.py so the agent always receives
a path it can open directly, matching the mount layout already established
by get_cache_directory_mounts() (#4846).
Scope: only Docker backend for now; other backends use different mount
semantics and are left unchanged until verified.
Fixes#18787
