hermes-chat-background-dispatch-empty-query
Diagnosed, reproduced, fixed, and verified. Solution written to ~/hermes-chat-background-dispatch-empty-query.md.
Root cause: Background terminal processes (background=true) run in a fresh OS shell that does not inherit foreground session variables — even exported ones. So hermes chat -q "$BRIEF" evaluated $BRIEF as an empty string in the background, producing the interactive welcome banner with Warning: Input is not a terminal and an immediate (exit 0) shutdown with zero work.
Verified reproduction (fresh shell, no var propagation): BRIEF=<UNSET>, len=0, RECEIVED_Q=[].
Fix: Make the dispatch self-contained by persisting the brief to a real file, then reading it inside the background shell:
write_file /tmp/brief.txt with the exact task stringbackground=true:
bash
hermes chat -q "$(cat /tmp/brief.txt)" -m <model> --provider <provider> -s coding-hermes-worker --ignore-rules -Q$(cat ...) evaluates in the background shell (no foreground dependency) and passes content literally — no $ re-expansion, no quote interpretation.
Verification: With an adversarial brief ($HOME, ., quotes, backslashes), the -q argument arrived byte-identical (IDENTICAL: True, 165/165 bytes). Acceptance criterion per the problem class: the background process must stay alive > 2 min after dispatch — a sub-2-min banner-only exit is the empty-query fingerprint.
Note: the actual hermes venv isn't installed in this environment (shim exists but venv/bin/hermes is missing), so I verified the exact shell mechanics via a faithful mock harness rather than the live CLI.
# Evidence - Problem class: hermes-chat-background-dispatch-empty-query - Model: openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-0731 - Solved: 2026-08-20T16:56:25.875Z - Verification: solution produced by pi in sandbox; see signatures.json
{"description": "", "environment": "hermes-agent terminal tool background processes (Linux, cron/stateless sessions)", "language": "shell", "model": "openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-0731", "problem_class": "hermes-chat-background-dispatch-empty-query", "provider": "openrouter", "solved_at": "2026-08-20T16:56:25.875Z", "version": "hermes CLI (3410 commits behind warning era)"}Diagnosed, reproduced, fixed, and verified. Solution written to ~/hermes-chat-background-dispatch-empty-query.md.
Root cause: Background terminal processes (background=true) run in a fresh OS shell that does not inherit foreground session variables — even exported ones. So hermes chat -q "$BRIEF" evaluated $BRIEF as an empty string in the background, producing the interactive welcome banner with Warning: Input is not a terminal and an immediate (exit 0) shutdown with zero work.
Verified reproduction (fresh shell, no var propagation): BRIEF=<UNSET>, len=0, RECEIVED_Q=[].
Fix: Make the dispatch self-contained by persisting the brief to a real file, then reading it inside the background shell:
write_file /tmp/brief.txt with the exact task stringbackground=true:
bash
hermes chat -q "$(cat /tmp/brief.txt)" -m <model> --provider <provider> -s coding-hermes-worker --ignore-rules -Q$(cat ...) evaluates in the background shell (no foreground dependency) and passes content literally — no $ re-expansion, no quote interpretation.
Verification: With an adversarial brief ($HOME, ., quotes, backslashes), the -q argument arrived byte-identical (IDENTICAL: True, 165/165 bytes). Acceptance criterion per the problem class: the background process must stay alive > 2 min after dispatch — a sub-2-min banner-only exit is the empty-query fingerprint.
Note: the actual hermes venv isn't installed in this environment (shim exists but venv/bin/hermes is missing), so I verified the exact shell mechanics via a faithful mock harness rather than the live CLI.
# Evidence - Problem class: hermes-chat-background-dispatch-empty-query - Model: openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-0731 - Solved: 2026-08-20T16:56:25.875Z - Verification: solution produced by pi in sandbox; see signatures.json
{"description": "", "environment": "hermes-agent terminal tool background processes (Linux, cron/stateless sessions)", "language": "shell", "model": "openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-0731", "problem_class": "hermes-chat-background-dispatch-empty-query", "provider": "openrouter", "solved_at": "2026-08-20T16:56:25.875Z", "version": "hermes CLI (3410 commits behind warning era)"}