Salvages #26431 by @LeonSGP43. Dashboard plugin_api list_diagnostics
was using exact-match (severity == filter), so '--severity warning'
hid 'error' and 'critical' diagnostics. Adds severity_at_or_above()
helper to kanban_diagnostics and uses it in the dashboard endpoint
(CLI already used SEVERITY_ORDER comparison correctly).
Adds a 'triage_aux_unavailable' diagnostic for tasks stuck in triage when
neither the active aux helper slot nor the main-model auto fallback is usable.
Auto-decompose aware:
- kanban.auto_decompose=True (default): primary is auxiliary.kanban_decomposer,
triage_specifier is the fanout=false fallback.
- kanban.auto_decompose=False: primary is auxiliary.triage_specifier (manual
'hermes kanban specify' path).
Default aux slots use 'provider: auto' which falls back to the main model, so
this rule only fires when both the explicit slot config AND the main-model
auto fallback are absent. Quiet by default; informative when there is a real
config gap.
Also adds kd.config_from_runtime_config() that carries kanban + auxiliary +
model keys through to diagnostics, and updates CLI/dashboard call sites to
use it. config_from_kanban_config() is preserved for back-compat.
Reworks the original PR #25640 idea (@qWaitCrypto) to align with the new
auto-decompose dispatcher path landed in #27572. The original PR pointed only
at auxiliary.triage_specifier, which is now the fallback rather than the
primary helper.
Co-authored-by: qWaitCrypto <axmaiqiu@gmail.com>
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).
Surface ready tasks that nobody claims within a threshold (default
30 min) regardless of why. One identity-agnostic signal that catches:
- Operator typo'd the assignee
- Profile was deleted, leaving its tasks stranded
- External worker pool (Codex CLI lane, custom daemon) is down
- Dispatcher misconfigured (wrong board / wrong HERMES_HOME)
Today the dispatcher correctly skips these (no respawn loop, good)
but nothing surfaces the fact that operator-actionable work is
accumulating. The new `stranded_in_ready` rule does that without
requiring a manual lane registry — it reads the most recent ready-
transition event (`created` / `promoted` / `reclaimed` / `unblocked`)
and fires when (now - last_ready_ts) > threshold.
Severity escalates with age: warning at threshold, error at 2x,
critical at 6x. The cli_hint and reassign actions point operators
at the right next step.
Out of scope deliberately:
- Lane registry (#20157 closed) — this signal supersedes it.
- Pushing the diagnostic into messaging gateways — diagnostics
are pull-only via 'hermes kanban diagnostics' for now; gateway
push is a separate UX decision.
Tests: 10 new + 461 existing kanban tests pass. E2E verified end-
to-end via 'hermes kanban diagnostics --json' against a 2h-old
stranded task — surfaces as error severity with correct actions.
The dispatcher's circuit breaker only protected against spawn-side
failures (profile missing, workspace mount error, exec failure).
Workers that successfully spawned but then timed out or crashed
re-queued to ``ready`` with no counter increment, so the next tick
re-spawned them — loops forever until someone noticed. Reported
externally on Twitter (Forbidden Seeds) and confirmed by walking the
kernel: ``enforce_max_runtime`` flipped the task back to ready, emitted
a ``timed_out`` event, and never touched ``spawn_failures``; same for
``detect_crashed_workers``.
Fix: unify the counter across all non-success outcomes.
Schema
------
* ``tasks.spawn_failures`` → ``tasks.consecutive_failures``
* ``tasks.last_spawn_error`` → ``tasks.last_failure_error``
* Migration renames the columns in-place on existing DBs (``ALTER
TABLE RENAME COLUMN`` — SQLite >= 3.25) so historical counter
values are preserved. Row mappers fall through to the legacy names
if both column renames and a migration somehow got out of sync.
Counter lifecycle
-----------------
New helper ``_record_task_failure(conn, task_id, error, *, outcome,
release_claim, end_run, event_payload_extra)`` is the single point
every non-success outcome funnels through:
* ``spawn_failed`` → ``_record_spawn_failure`` (kept as alias)
calls it with ``release_claim=True, end_run=True`` — transitions
running→ready, clears claim, closes run.
* ``timed_out`` → ``enforce_max_runtime`` already does the status
transition + run close + event emission, then calls
``_record_task_failure`` with ``release_claim=False, end_run=False``
just to bump the counter (and trip the breaker if needed).
* ``crashed`` → ``detect_crashed_workers`` same pattern, but the
counter increment runs after the main write_txn closes (SQLite
doesn't nest write transactions).
If the counter hits the breaker threshold (``DEFAULT_FAILURE_LIMIT=5``,
same as before), the task transitions to ``blocked`` with a ``gave_up``
event on top of whatever outcome-specific event was already emitted.
Reset semantics changed: the counter now clears only on successful
``complete_task`` (and operator ``reclaim_task`` — an explicit "I've
looked at this, try again with a fresh budget"). Previously
``_clear_spawn_failures`` ran on every successful spawn, which would
have wiped the counter before a timeout could accumulate past threshold
— exactly the loop this fix prevents.
Diagnostics
-----------
* ``_rule_repeated_spawn_failures`` → ``_rule_repeated_failures``. Now
fires regardless of which outcome is at fault. Classifies the most
recent failure (spawn_failed / timed_out / crashed) from the run
history so the title ("Agent timeout x3", "Agent crash x4", "Agent
spawn x5") and suggested action (``doctor`` for spawn, ``log`` for
timeout/crash) stay outcome-specific without N duplicate rules.
* ``_rule_repeated_crashes`` kept as a narrower early-warning at
threshold 2 (vs 3 for the unified rule), but now suppresses itself
when the unified rule would also fire — avoids double-flagging.
* Diagnostic ``data`` payload now carries
``{consecutive_failures, most_recent_outcome, last_error}`` instead
of spawn-specific keys.
CLI
---
* ``Task.consecutive_failures`` / ``Task.last_failure_error`` are the
public fields now. Existing callers that referenced the old names
get migrated (tests updated in this commit).
* Backward-compat: ``DEFAULT_SPAWN_FAILURE_LIMIT``,
``_clear_spawn_failures``, ``_record_spawn_failure`` stay as aliases.
Tests
-----
* 6 new kernel tests: timeout increments counter, 3 consecutive
timeouts trip the breaker (was the reported gap), crash increments
counter, reclaim clears counter, completion clears counter, spawn
success does NOT clear counter.
* Diagnostic tests: updated ``repeated_spawn_failures`` cases to use
the new kind name and add a timeout-loop test.
* Dashboard API test: spawn_failures column update → consecutive_failures.
389/389 kanban-suite tests pass.
Live verification
-----------------
Seeded 4 tasks in an isolated HERMES_HOME: 3 timeouts, 4 crashes,
2-spawn-failed + 2-timed-out, and a task that had prior failures but
completed successfully. Board correctly shows "!! 3 tasks need
attention" (the successful one has no badge because the counter
reset). Drawer for the timeout-loop task renders "Agent timeout x3"
with most_recent_outcome=timed_out and the "Check logs" suggested
action (not the spawn-flavoured "Verify profile"). The successful
task has zero diagnostics.
Closes the Forbidden-Seeds-reported gap.
* feat(kanban): generic diagnostics engine for task distress signals
Replaces the hallucination-specific ``warnings`` / ``RecoverySection``
surface (shipped in PR #20232) with a reusable diagnostic-rule engine
that covers five distress kinds in v1 and can be extended without
touching UI code. The "something's wrong with this task" signal is
no longer limited to phantom card ids.
Closes the follow-up from #20232 discussion.
New module
----------
``hermes_cli/kanban_diagnostics.py`` — stateless, no-side-effect rule
engine. Each rule is a pure function of
``(task, events, runs, now, config) -> list[Diagnostic]``. Registry
is a simple list; adding a new distress kind is one function + one
import, no UI or API changes required.
v1 rule set
-----------
* ``hallucinated_cards`` (error) — folds the existing
``completion_blocked_hallucination`` event into the new surface.
* ``prose_phantom_refs`` (warning) — folds
``suspected_hallucinated_references``.
* ``repeated_spawn_failures`` (error → critical at 2x threshold) —
fires when ``tasks.spawn_failures >= 3``; suggests
``hermes -p <profile> doctor`` / ``auth``.
* ``repeated_crashes`` (error → critical) — fires after N consecutive
``crashed`` run outcomes with no successful completion between;
suggests ``hermes kanban log <id>``.
* ``stuck_in_blocked`` (warning) — fires after 24h in ``blocked``
state with no comments / unblock attempts; suggests commenting.
Every diagnostic carries structured ``actions`` (reclaim, reassign,
unblock, cli_hint, comment, open_docs) that render consistently in
both CLI and dashboard. Suggested actions are highlighted; generic
recovery actions (reclaim / reassign) are available on every kind as
fallbacks.
Diagnostics auto-clear when the underlying failure resolves — a
clean ``completed``/``edited`` event drops hallucination diagnostics,
a successful run drops crash diagnostics, a comment drops
stuck-blocked diagnostics. Audit events persist; the badge goes away.
API
---
``plugin_api.py``:
* ``/board`` now attaches ``diagnostics`` (full list) and
``warnings`` (compact summary with ``highest_severity``) per task.
* ``/tasks/{id}`` attaches diagnostics so the drawer's Diagnostics
section auto-opens on flagged tasks.
* NEW ``/diagnostics`` endpoint — fleet-wide listing, filterable by
severity, sorted critical-first.
CLI
---
* NEW ``hermes kanban diagnostics [--severity X] [--task id]
[--json]`` — fleet view or single-task view, matches dashboard rule
output so CLI users see the same picture.
* ``hermes kanban show <id>`` now renders a Diagnostics section near
the top with severity markers + suggested actions.
Dashboard
---------
* Card badge is severity-coloured (⚠ amber warning, !! orange error,
!!! red critical) using ``warnings.highest_severity``.
* Attention strip above the toolbar counts EVERY task with active
diagnostics (not just hallucinations), severity-coloured, lists
affected tasks with Open buttons when expanded.
* Drawer's old ``RecoverySection`` replaced with generic
``DiagnosticsSection`` rendering a card per active diagnostic:
title + detail + structured data (task-id chips when payload keys
look like id lists) + action buttons. Reassign profile picker is
inline per-diagnostic. Clipboard fallback uses ``.catch()`` for
environments where writeText rejects.
* Three-rung severity palette; amber for warning, orange for error,
red for critical. Uses CSS variables so theming is straightforward.
Tests
-----
* NEW ``tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_diagnostics.py`` — 14 unit tests
covering each rule's positive/negative/threshold paths, severity
sorting, broken-rule isolation, and sqlite3.Row integration.
* Dashboard plugin tests extended: ``/diagnostics`` endpoint (empty,
populated, severity-filtered), ``/board`` exposes both diagnostic
list and compact summary with ``highest_severity``.
* Existing hallucination-specific test (``test_board_surfaces_
warnings_field_for_hallucinated_completions``) updated to reflect
the new contract: warning summary keys by diagnostic kind
(``hallucinated_cards``) not event kind.
379 kanban-suite tests pass (+16 net from this PR).
Live verification
-----------------
Seeded all 5 diagnostic kinds + one clean + one plain-running task
(7 total) into an isolated HERMES_HOME, spun up the dashboard, and
verified:
* Attention strip: shows ``!! 5 tasks need attention`` in the
error-severity orange; Show expands to a list of 5 rows ordered
critical > error > warning.
* Card badges: error tasks render ``!!`` orange, warning tasks
render ``⚠`` amber, clean and plain-running tasks render no badge.
* Each of the 5 rules opens a correctly-coloured, correctly-styled
diagnostic card in the drawer with its specific suggested action.
* Live reassign from a diagnostic card flipped
``broken-ml-worker → alice`` and the drawer refreshed with the
new assignee + the same diagnostic still firing (correct:
spawn_failures counter hasn't reset yet).
* CLI ``hermes kanban diagnostics`` prints all 5 in severity order;
``--severity error`` narrows to 3; ``kanban show <id>`` includes
the Diagnostics block at the top with suggested action hint.
Migration note
--------------
The old ``warnings`` shape (``{count, kinds, latest_at}``) is
preserved on the API but ``kinds`` now keys by diagnostic kind
(``hallucinated_cards``) instead of event kind
(``completion_blocked_hallucination``). ``highest_severity`` is a
new required field. The dashboard was the only consumer and has
been updated in the same commit; external API consumers of the
``warnings`` field will need to update their kind-match logic.
* feat(kanban/diagnostics): lead titles with the actual error text
The generic 'Worker crashed N runs in a row' / 'Worker failed to spawn
N times' titles buried the actual cause in the data section. Operators
had to open logs or expand the diagnostic to see WHY the worker is
stuck — rate-limit vs insufficient quota vs bad auth vs context
overflow vs network blip all looked identical at a glance.
New titles:
Agent crashed 3x: openai: 429 Too Many Requests - rate limit reached
Agent crashed 3x: anthropic: 402 insufficient_quota - credit balance
Agent crashed 3x: provider auth error: 401 Unauthorized
Agent spawn failed 4x: insufficient_quota: You exceeded your current
Detail keeps the full error snippet (capped at 500 chars + ellipsis
for tracebacks). Title takes the first line capped at 160 chars.
Fallback title if no error recorded stays honest ('no error recorded').
Tests: 4 new cases covering 429/billing/spawn/truncation. 383 total
pass (+4).
Live-verified on dashboard with 6 seeded scenarios
(rate-limit, billing, auth, context, network, spawn-billing) —
each card title leads with the actionable error text.
