hermes-agent/website/docs
Teknium 9de893e3b0 feat(windows): close native-Windows install gaps — crash-free startup, UTF-8 stdio, tzdata dep, docs
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>
2026-05-08 14:27:40 -07:00
..
developer-guide feat(windows): close native-Windows install gaps — crash-free startup, UTF-8 stdio, tzdata dep, docs 2026-05-08 14:27:40 -07:00
getting-started feat(windows): close native-Windows install gaps — crash-free startup, UTF-8 stdio, tzdata dep, docs 2026-05-08 14:27:40 -07:00
guides docs(teams-pipeline): cron renewal recipe, sidebar wiring, skill rewrite 2026-05-08 12:41:41 -07:00
integrations docs: refresh stale platform/LOC/test counts; clarify gateway vs plugin platforms 2026-05-05 13:45:47 -07:00
reference docs(teams): meeting summary delivery section + env var reference 2026-05-08 12:00:09 -07:00
user-guide feat(windows): close native-Windows install gaps — crash-free startup, UTF-8 stdio, tzdata dep, docs 2026-05-08 14:27:40 -07:00
index.md docs: add Microsoft Teams to platform lists across docs 2026-05-04 20:59:18 -07:00
user-stories.mdx docs(website): add User Stories and Use Cases collage page (#18282) 2026-04-30 23:56:59 -07:00