Two related dispatcher behaviors that have been missing for a while.
## kanban.default_assignee (#27145)
Reporter (@agarzon): dashboard creates a task without an assignee, task
parks in 'ready' forever even though the operator's intent ('default')
is perfectly clear. The dispatcher already had a 'skipped_unassigned'
bucket but no fallback routing — users had to manually type 'default'
in the assignee field every time.
Behavior: when 'kanban.default_assignee' is set in config.yaml, the
dispatcher applies that assignee to any unassigned ready task before
deciding whether to spawn. The row is mutated (assignee column + an
'assigned' event with source='kanban.default_assignee' for the audit
trail). Empty/whitespace config value = no fallback, preserving the
existing skipped_unassigned behavior.
Dry-run mode reports what WOULD happen via the new
'auto_assigned_default' bucket on DispatchResult, but does NOT mutate
the DB — operators using 'hermes kanban dispatch --dry-run' see the
routing decision before committing.
## kanban.max_in_progress_per_profile (#21582)
Reporter (@edwardchenchen, @simlu, 4 reactions): fan-out workloads
saturate one profile's local model / API quota / browser pool while
other profiles sit idle. The existing global 'max_in_progress' caps
total workers but doesn't balance across profiles.
Behavior: when 'kanban.max_in_progress_per_profile' is set to a
positive int, the dispatcher tracks per-assignee running counts (one
query at tick start) and refuses to spawn for any assignee already at
the cap. Tasks blocked this way go to a new
'skipped_per_profile_capped' bucket on DispatchResult as
(task_id, assignee, current_running_count) tuples — NOT an
operator-actionable failure, just 'try again next tick when the
profile has capacity'.
Pre-existing 'running' tasks count against the cap (verified via
regression test). The cap respects dry_run mode by incrementing
its in-memory counter on each would-be spawn so dry_run reports
the same balanced subset that a real tick would.
Invalid cap values (0, negative, non-int, None) are treated as 'no
cap', preserving the existing behavior. Backward-compatible for
installs that don't set the config.
## Surfaces
- 'hermes kanban dispatch' CLI now prints 'Auto-assigned to
kanban.default_assignee=X: ...' and 'Deferred (X at per-profile cap,
N running): ...' lines, plus matching JSON keys in --json output.
- Gateway dispatcher logs the configured values at startup
('default_assignee=X', 'max_in_progress_per_profile=N').
- 'kanban.max_in_progress_per_profile' added to DEFAULT_CONFIG with
inline docs.
## Validation
- tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_default_assignee.py (6 cases): no-cap
baseline, auto-assign + DB mutation, dry-run reports without
mutating, whitespace treated as None, explicit assignees untouched,
DispatchResult field schema.
- tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_per_profile_cap.py (9 cases including
4 parametrized): no-cap baseline, balanced 2-profile fan-out,
pre-existing running counts against cap, invalid cap values
(0/-1/'abc'/None), capped tasks dispatched on next tick after
running task completes, DispatchResult field schema.
- Broader kanban suite: 464/464 pass (was 449 baseline; +15 new
regression tests across both features).
## Credit
#27145 — Jimmy Johansson reported the dispatcher skipped-unassigned
gap; @agarzon scoped the simpler 'honor kanban.default_assignee' fix
that matches the existing config knob.
#21582 — @edwardchenchen filed the per-profile cap ask after hitting
model 429s on fan-out research projects; @simlu confirmed the same
pain on local-model setups.
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