hermes-agent/hermes_cli
snav e84fe483bc feat(discord): channel history backfill for multi-user sessions
Adds optional channel-context backfill for Discord shared-channel sessions
so the agent can see recent messages it missed between its own turns
(typically when require_mention=true filters out most traffic).

Previously the agent only saw the @mention message that triggered it, which
led to disorienting replies in active multi-user channels where the
conversation context was invisible. With backfill enabled, a configurable
number of recent messages are fetched per-turn and prepended to the trigger
message as a context block, kept separate from sender-prefix logic so
attribution remains clean.

This re-opens the work from #13063 (approved by @OutThisLife on 2026-04-20,
closed when I closed the branch to address the simpolism:main head-branch
issue plus an ordering bug I caught later in live use). Filing against the
freshly-rewritten problem statement in #13054 so the design is grounded in
the failure mode rather than the implementation shape.

The implementation follows the **push-mode last-self-anchored** design from
the two options laid out in #13054. See the issue for the trade-off
discussion vs pull-mode (#13120 was an earlier closed PR using that shape).
Treating this as a reference implementation — happy to rewrite as
last-trigger anchoring or as a hybrid with #13120 if maintainers prefer.

Changes:

- gateway/platforms/discord.py:
  - new `_discord_history_backfill()` / `_discord_history_backfill_limit()`
    helpers (config.extra > env > default), mirroring the existing
    `_discord_require_mention()` shape
  - new `_fetch_channel_context()` that scans `channel.history()` backwards
    from the trigger to the bot's last message (or limit), formats as
    `[Recent channel messages] / [name] msg / ...`, respects DISCORD_ALLOW_BOTS,
    skips system messages
  - per-channel `_last_self_message_id` cache to narrow the fetch window
    on hot paths (avoids full history scan when the bot has spoken recently)
  - **IMPORTANT**: passes `oldest_first=False` explicitly to `channel.history()`.
    discord.py 2.x silently flips the default to True when `after=` is supplied,
    which would select the EARLIEST N messages after our last response instead
    of the LATEST N before the trigger. In high-traffic windows this would
    return stale tool traces and drop the actual final answer the user is
    asking about. See regression test below. Caught in live use during a
    Codex tool-trace burst on May 13 2026.
- gateway/config.py: discord_history_backfill + discord_history_backfill_limit
  settings + yaml→env bridge
- gateway/platforms/base.py: channel_context field on MessageEvent
- gateway/run.py: prepend channel_context after sender-prefix so the
  [sender name] tag applies to the trigger message alone, not to the backfill
- hermes_cli/config.py: defaults for new discord.history_backfill and
  discord.history_backfill_limit keys
- cli-config.yaml.example: documented defaults
- tests/gateway/test_discord_free_response.py: 7 new tests covering
  cold-start backfill, self-message stop boundary, other-bot filtering,
  cache hot-path narrowing, stale-cache fallback, shared-channel +
  per-user backfill paths, and the ordering regression test
  (`test_fetch_channel_context_cache_uses_latest_window_when_after_set`)
- tests/gateway/test_config.py: yaml→env bridge tests
- tests/gateway/test_session.py: prefix-order edge cases
- website/docs/user-guide/messaging/discord.md: env vars + config keys +
  usage docs

Tested on Ubuntu 24.04 — empirically validated in my own multi-bot Discord
research server for the past three weeks.

Fixes #13054
Supersedes #13063 (closed)
2026-05-14 15:50:57 -07:00
..
proxy feat(proxy): local OpenAI-compatible proxy for OAuth providers (#25969) 2026-05-14 15:40:48 -07:00
__init__.py chore: release v0.13.0 (2026.5.7) (#21406) 2026-05-07 09:22:48 -07:00
_parser.py fix: add dashboard to CLI help epilogue and Docker CI smoke test 2026-05-07 06:16:23 -07:00
_subprocess_compat.py feat(windows): close remaining POSIX-only landmines — TUI crash, kanban waitpid, AF_UNIX sandbox, /bin/bash, npm .cmd shims, cwd tracking, detach flags 2026-05-08 14:27:40 -07:00
auth.py perf(tools): cache get_nous_auth_status() and load_env() to fix slow hermes tools menus (#25341) 2026-05-13 18:40:14 -07:00
auth_commands.py fix(minimax): harden OAuth dashboard and runtime 2026-05-11 22:15:16 -07:00
azure_detect.py chore: remove unused imports and dead locals (ruff F401, F841) (#17010) 2026-04-28 06:46:45 -07:00
backup.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
banner.py feat(codex-runtime): optional codex app-server runtime for OpenAI/Codex models (#24182) 2026-05-13 17:18:15 -07:00
browser_connect.py fix(browser): address Copilot review on /browser connect 2026-04-28 22:11:10 -07:00
callbacks.py fix: ESC cancels secret/sudo prompts, clearer skip messaging (#9902) 2026-04-14 16:11:37 -07:00
checkpoints.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
claw.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
cli_output.py refactor: remove dead code — 1,784 lines across 77 files (#9180) 2026-04-13 16:32:04 -07:00
clipboard.py fix(clipboard): only read PNG signature bytes, not entire file 2026-05-13 22:54:21 -07:00
codex_models.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
codex_runtime_plugin_migration.py feat(codex-runtime): skip unavailable plugins during migration (#25437) 2026-05-13 22:20:27 -07:00
codex_runtime_switch.py feat(codex-runtime): optional codex app-server runtime for OpenAI/Codex models (#24182) 2026-05-13 17:18:15 -07:00
colors.py
commands.py feat(goals): /subgoal — user-added criteria appended to active /goal (#25449) 2026-05-13 22:55:09 -07:00
completion.py test(cli): strengthen zsh completion regression coverage 2026-05-13 09:34:15 -07:00
config.py feat(discord): channel history backfill for multi-user sessions 2026-05-14 15:50:57 -07:00
copilot_auth.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
cron.py feat(cron): add no_agent mode for script-only cron jobs (watchdog pattern) (#19709) 2026-05-04 12:31:01 -07:00
curator.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
curses_ui.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
debug.py fix(debug): redact log content at upload time in hermes debug share 2026-05-03 11:42:20 -07:00
default_soul.py
dingtalk_auth.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
doctor.py fix(doctor): skip /models health check for providers that don't support it 2026-05-12 17:12:25 -07:00
dump.py refactor(env): use shared Hermes dotenv loader 2026-05-05 10:13:13 -07:00
env_loader.py feat(cross-platform): psutil for PID/process management + Windows footgun checker 2026-05-08 14:27:40 -07:00
fallback_cmd.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
gateway.py fix(gateway): reduce systemd restart delay 2026-05-12 17:11:25 -07:00
gateway_windows.py fix(gateway): preserve Ctrl+C for Windows foreground runs 2026-05-09 14:34:18 -07:00
goals.py feat(goals): /subgoal — user-added criteria appended to active /goal (#25449) 2026-05-13 22:55:09 -07:00
hooks.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
inventory.py refactor(inventory): extract shared ConfigContext + build_models_payload 2026-05-13 22:31:11 -07:00
kanban.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
kanban_db.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
kanban_diagnostics.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
kanban_specify.py feat(nous): unified client=hermes-client-v<version> tag on every Portal request (#24779) 2026-05-12 20:49:20 -07:00
logs.py
main.py feat(proxy): local OpenAI-compatible proxy for OAuth providers (#25969) 2026-05-14 15:40:48 -07:00
mcp_config.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
memory_setup.py fix: restrict .env file permissions to 0600 2026-05-14 07:59:38 -07:00
model_catalog.py codebase: add encoding='utf-8' to all bare open() calls (PLW1514) 2026-05-08 14:27:40 -07:00
model_normalize.py fix(opencode-go): keep users on opencode-go instead of hijacking to native providers (#20802) 2026-05-06 09:08:33 -07:00
model_switch.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
models.py docs: update NovitaAI provider positioning (#25532) 2026-05-14 01:31:12 -07:00
nous_subscription.py feat(web): add SearXNG as a native search-only backend 2026-05-06 10:05:29 -07:00
oneshot.py fix: make session search initialize session db 2026-05-09 14:36:58 -07:00
pairing.py fix(pairing): enforce lockout on approve_code, not just generate_code (#10195) (#21325) 2026-05-07 07:18:21 -07:00
platforms.py feat: complete plugin platform parity — all 12 integration points 2026-04-29 21:56:51 -07:00
plugins.py feat(plugins): add ctx.register_web_search_provider() facade 2026-05-13 22:31:28 -07:00
plugins_cmd.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
profile_distribution.py feat(profile): shareable profile distributions via git (#20831) 2026-05-08 10:04:32 -07:00
profiles.py refactor(profiles): remove dead generate_bash_completion / generate_zsh_completion 2026-05-13 09:34:15 -07:00
providers.py feat: add NovitaAI as LLM provider 2026-05-13 23:51:15 -07:00
pt_input_extras.py fix(cli): make Ctrl+Enter insert newline on WSL/SSH/Windows Terminal (#22777) 2026-05-09 12:48:14 -07:00
pty_bridge.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
relaunch.py fix(windows): prefer npm.cmd over npm.ps1, skip .py argv0 in relaunch 2026-05-08 14:27:40 -07:00
runtime_provider.py feat(codex-runtime): optional codex app-server runtime for OpenAI/Codex models (#24182) 2026-05-13 17:18:15 -07:00
security_advisories.py feat(security): supply-chain advisory checker + lazy-install framework + tiered install fallback (#24220) 2026-05-12 01:02:25 -07:00
setup.py feat(video_gen): unified video_generate tool with pluggable provider backends (#25126) 2026-05-13 16:39:41 -07:00
skills_config.py refactor(config): migrate remaining 33 cfg_get call sites (#17311) 2026-04-29 04:03:03 -07:00
skills_hub.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
skin_engine.py fix(cli): harden skin yaml parsing for invalid section types 2026-05-13 22:55:52 -07:00
slack_cli.py fix(slack): enable writable app home DMs in manifest 2026-05-08 17:01:12 -07:00
status.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
stdio.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
timeouts.py refactor(timeouts): drop redundant ImportError in except clause 2026-04-26 20:48:20 -07:00
tips.py feat: Ctrl+Enter inserts newline on Windows Terminal 2026-05-08 14:27:40 -07:00
tools_config.py refactor(tools): drop hardcoded web picker rows + skiplist; plugins are sole source 2026-05-13 22:31:28 -07:00
uninstall.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00
vercel_auth.py feat: add Vercel Sandbox backend 2026-04-29 07:22:33 -07:00
voice.py fix(tui): restore voice push-to-talk parity (#20897) 2026-05-06 15:49:59 -07:00
web_server.py refactor(inventory): extract shared ConfigContext + build_models_payload 2026-05-13 22:31:11 -07:00
webhook.py chore: ruff auto-fix PLR6201 — tuple → set in membership tests (#23937) 2026-05-11 11:13:25 -07:00