fix(tests): dedupe toolcall regex, fix mocks returning wrong type

there were two copies of the STALE_TOOL_CALL_MARKER_RE, and the reason
was given that module A couldn't import B without causing some test
failure.

the tests that failed have been changed to mock get_hermes_home()
correctly, as a Path, not a str, and the module import order has been
reversed, so B now imports A to get the regex.

agent/conversation_loop.py

@@ -58,11 +58,9 @@ from agent.message_sanitization import (
     _strip_images_from_messages,
     _strip_non_ascii,
 )
-# Must mirror _STALE_TOOL_CALL_MARKER_RE in hermes_state.py — kept local
-# to avoid importing hermes_state at module load time (its module-level
-# DEFAULT_DB_PATH = get_hermes_home() / "state.db" breaks tests that
-# monkeypatch get_hermes_home to return a str).
-_STALE_MARKER_RE = re.compile(r"^\[[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_.-]*\]$")
+# Matches a bare protocol/tool-name marker such as "[memory]" or "[skill_manage]".
+STALE_TOOL_CALL_MARKER_RE = re.compile(r"^\[[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_.-]*\]$")
+
 from agent.model_metadata import (
     MINIMUM_CONTEXT_LENGTH,
     _estimate_tools_tokens_rough,
@@ -6739,7 +6737,7 @@ def run_conversation(
                 # post-tool fallback replay that token forever after compaction (#78148).
                 if (
                     assistant_message.tool_calls
-                    and _STALE_MARKER_RE.fullmatch(turn_content.strip())
+                    and STALE_TOOL_CALL_MARKER_RE.fullmatch(turn_content.strip())
                 ):
                     logger.warning(
                         "Discarding bare tool-call marker from assistant content: %s",

hermes_state.py

@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ from agent.skill_commands import (
     SKILL_SCAFFOLD_SQL_LIKE,
     describe_skill_invocation,
 )
+from agent.conversation_loop import STALE_TOOL_CALL_MARKER_RE
 from hermes_constants import get_hermes_home
 from hermes_cli.sqlite_runtime import (
     is_sqlite_wal_reset_vulnerable as _is_sqlite_wal_reset_vulnerable,
@@ -663,10 +664,6 @@ def _strip_background_review_harness(
     return out
 
 
-# Matches a bare protocol/tool-name marker such as "[memory]" or "[skill_manage]".
-_STALE_TOOL_CALL_MARKER_RE = re.compile(r"^\[[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_.-]*\]$")
-
-
 def _is_stale_tool_call_marker_message(msg: Dict[str, Any]) -> bool:
     """True when ``msg`` is a persisted assistant turn whose content is a bare
     bracketed marker (e.g. ``[memory]``) left over from a tool-call turn.
@@ -686,7 +683,7 @@ def _is_stale_tool_call_marker_message(msg: Dict[str, Any]) -> bool:
     content = msg.get("content")
     if not isinstance(content, str):
         return False
-    return bool(_STALE_TOOL_CALL_MARKER_RE.fullmatch(content.strip()))
+    return bool(STALE_TOOL_CALL_MARKER_RE.fullmatch(content.strip()))
 
 
 def _strip_stale_tool_call_markers(
@@ -10651,7 +10648,7 @@ class SessionDB(SessionSearchMixin, SessionSchemaMixin, SessionPortabilityMixin)
             affected: List[int] = []
             for row in cursor.fetchall():
                 content = row["content"]
-                if isinstance(content, str) and _STALE_TOOL_CALL_MARKER_RE.fullmatch(content.strip()):
+                if isinstance(content, str) and STALE_TOOL_CALL_MARKER_RE.fullmatch(content.strip()):
                     affected.append(row["id"])
             return affected
 

tests/tui_gateway/test_compaction_status.py

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ silently reset mid-turn.
 """
 
 from __future__ import annotations
+from pathlib import Path
 
 import importlib
 
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ def server():
         "sys.modules",
         {
             "hermes_constants": MagicMock(
-                get_hermes_home=MagicMock(return_value="/tmp/hermes_test_compaction")
+                get_hermes_home=MagicMock(return_value=Path("/tmp/hermes_test_compaction"))
             ),
             "hermes_cli.env_loader": MagicMock(),
             "hermes_cli.banner": MagicMock(),

tests/tui_gateway/test_inline_rpc_gil_starvation.py

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import json
 import sys
 import threading
 import time
+from pathlib import Path
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 
 import pytest
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ def server():
     # the whole test would poison modules first imported inside test bodies
     # (see tests/tui_gateway/test_protocol.py for the full rationale).
     with patch.dict("sys.modules", {
-        "hermes_constants": MagicMock(get_hermes_home=MagicMock(return_value="/tmp/hermes_test")),
+        "hermes_constants": MagicMock(get_hermes_home=MagicMock(return_value=Path("/tmp/hermes_test"))),
         "hermes_cli.env_loader": MagicMock(),
         "hermes_cli.banner": MagicMock(),
         "hermes_state": MagicMock(),

tests/tui_gateway/test_moa_reference_emit.py

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ thinking block tagged with its source model.
 """
 
 from __future__ import annotations
+from pathlib import Path
 
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 
@@ -22,7 +23,7 @@ def server():
         "sys.modules",
         {
             "hermes_constants": MagicMock(
-                get_hermes_home=MagicMock(return_value="/tmp/hermes_test_moa_emit")
+                get_hermes_home=MagicMock(return_value=Path("/tmp/hermes_test_moa_emit"))
             ),
             "hermes_cli.env_loader": MagicMock(),
             "hermes_cli.banner": MagicMock(),

tests/tui_gateway/test_protocol.py

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import sys
 import threading
 import time
 import types
+from pathlib import Path
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 
 import pytest
@@ -28,7 +29,7 @@ def server():
     # (a fixed shared path) forever, leaking active-session registry entries
     # across every later test in the process. Scope the patch to the import.
     with patch.dict("sys.modules", {
-        "hermes_constants": MagicMock(get_hermes_home=MagicMock(return_value="/tmp/hermes_test")),
+        "hermes_constants": MagicMock(get_hermes_home=MagicMock(return_value=Path("/tmp/hermes_test"))),
         "hermes_cli.env_loader": MagicMock(),
         "hermes_cli.banner": MagicMock(),
         "hermes_state": MagicMock(),

tests/tui_gateway/test_review_summary_callback.py

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ transcript line.
 """
 
 from __future__ import annotations
+from pathlib import Path
 
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 
@@ -24,7 +25,7 @@ def server():
         "sys.modules",
         {
             "hermes_constants": MagicMock(
-                get_hermes_home=MagicMock(return_value="/tmp/hermes_test_review_summary")
+                get_hermes_home=MagicMock(return_value=Path("/tmp/hermes_test_review_summary"))
             ),
             "hermes_cli.env_loader": MagicMock(),
             "hermes_cli.banner": MagicMock(),

tests/tui_gateway/test_slash_worker_profile_home.py

@@ -12,9 +12,6 @@ import pytest
 def test_slash_worker_accepts_profile_home():
     """_SlashWorker.__init__ accepts profile_home parameter."""
     with patch.dict("sys.modules", {
-        # get_hermes_home() returns a Path in production; hermes_state.py's
-        # module-level DEFAULT_DB_PATH = get_hermes_home() / "state.db" does path
-        # division, so a str mock makes the import raise TypeError (str / str).
         "hermes_constants": MagicMock(get_hermes_home=MagicMock(return_value=Path("/tmp/hermes_test"))),
     }):
         with patch("subprocess.Popen") as mock_popen:

tests/tui_gateway/test_subagent_child_mirror.py

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ shows a real midstream turn instead of sitting silent until persistence.
 """
 
 from __future__ import annotations
+from pathlib import Path
 
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ def server():
         "sys.modules",
         {
             "hermes_constants": MagicMock(
-                get_hermes_home=MagicMock(return_value="/tmp/hermes_test_child_mirror")
+                get_hermes_home=MagicMock(return_value=Path("/tmp/hermes_test_child_mirror"))
             ),
             "hermes_cli.env_loader": MagicMock(),
             "hermes_cli.banner": MagicMock(),

tests/tui_gateway/test_subprocess_encoding.py

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ the crash class cannot silently regress.
 """
 
 from __future__ import annotations
+from pathlib import Path
 
 import subprocess
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
@@ -42,7 +43,7 @@ def test_slash_worker_popen_uses_utf8_replace():
     """
     with patch.dict("sys.modules", {
         "hermes_constants": MagicMock(
-            get_hermes_home=MagicMock(return_value="/tmp/hermes_test")
+            get_hermes_home=MagicMock(return_value=Path("/tmp/hermes_test"))
         ),
     }):
         with patch("subprocess.Popen") as mock_popen: