Replace the process-global HERMES_CRON_SESSION env var with a per-session
ContextVar so a cron tick in the gateway process cannot leak into unrelated
live gateway/API/TUI turns. The cron scheduler now sets the ContextVar
inside the job's try/finally scope and resets it on cleanup. Gateway, API
server, ACP adapter, and TUI gateway all pass cron_session='' to explicitly
mark their sessions as non-cron, masking any stale process env.
Co-authored-by: hinablue <hinablue@gmail.com>
Closes#37968
The terminal-command guard path loaded config 2-3x per invocation via
load_config(), which pays a defensive deepcopy of the entire config on
every call (~356us of the ~376us warm-cache cost measured on a real
config.yaml). All six swapped call sites were audited read-only — every
caller takes scalar reads or iterates the returned structures; none
mutate (the save path at save_permanent_allowlist keeps load_config) —
so they now use load_config_readonly(), the API built for exactly this
(precedent: #74211, #74322; the one unsafe-site lesson from #56085's
salvage is covered by the mutation audit and a cache-integrity test).
Measured (real config.yaml, warm cache): load_config 376.0us ->
load_config_readonly 19.9us (18.9x); full guard pass
check_all_command_guards('ls -la','local') 930.7us -> 241.8us (3.85x).
Tests: new test_approval_config_readonly.py drives the real functions
against a temp HERMES_HOME — readonly call counts per function, a
no-deepcopy pin for the full guard pass, and cache-identity/integrity
checks. Existing test mocks retargeted from load_config to
load_config_readonly (same injection intent). Note: 6
test_approval_mode_parity failures are pre-existing ordering flakes —
identical with the change stashed on clean main.
Second, deeper pass over tools/gateway/hermes_cli plus first pass over
the trees wave 1 missed (acp, acp_adapter, skills, computer_use, docker,
dashboard, conformance, monitoring, secret_sources, hermes_state,
providers). Same rubric as wave 1 (AGENTS.md test policy); security,
alternation/caching invariants, issue-number regressions, and E2E kept.
Real test-quality fixes found and rooted out along the way:
- tests/tools/test_command_guards.py made real auxiliary-LLM HTTPS calls
(DEFAULT_CONFIG smart-approval leaked in) — pinned approval
mode=manual via autouse fixture: 17.4s → 0.4s.
- test_model_switch_custom_providers.py / test_user_providers_model_switch.py
silently probed live provider catalogs (~2s/test) — stubbed
cached_provider_model_ids/provider_model_ids/fetch_api_models.
- test_telegram_noise_filter.py: 15-platform copy-paste matrix over
shared gateway.run logic → 3 representative platforms (55s → 3.9s).
- test_gateway_shutdown.py: stop()'s 5s interrupt-deadline loop spun on
MagicMock agents — interrupt.side_effect now clears _running_agents
(22s → 1.0s).
- test_gateway_inactivity_timeout.py poll-harness timings shrunk 3-5x
(24s → 1.1s); test_mcp_stability.py backoff/SIGTERM-grace sleeps
patched (15.4s → 2.5s); test_async_delegation.py negative-drain wait
5s → 0.5s.
- test_telegram_init_deadline.py: loop-block margin restored to 1.0s
with rationale comment — the watchdog-dump assertion needs the loop
blocked well past deadline+grace under parallel load (flaked once in
the 40-worker verification run at a 0.2s margin).
Verification: full hermetic suite via scripts/run_tests.sh —
2,438 files, 21,718 tests passed, 0 failed, 293.9s wall.
Suite totals vs original baseline: 46,820 → 19,757 test functions
(−57.8%), wall 583.5s → 293.9s (−50%), subprocess CPU 13,564s → 11,623s.
Follow-up to the salvaged #22070. The cron-deny tirith ImportError branch
was unconditionally fail-open; now it honours security.tirith_fail_open:
false by blocking (a cron session has no user to approve), mirroring the
main flow's fail-closed synthesis (#20733).
Adds regression tests: tirith-only content threat blocked in cron-deny,
plus fail-closed/fail-open ImportError behavior.
Remove unused imports (F401) and duplicate/shadowed import
redefinitions (F811) across the codebase using ruff's safe
autofixes. No behavioral changes -- imports only.
- ~1400 safe autofixes applied across 644 files (net -1072 lines)
- __init__.py re-exports preserved (excluded from F401 removal so
public re-export surfaces stay intact)
- Re-exports that are imported or monkeypatched by tests but look
unused in their defining module are kept with explicit # noqa:
F401 (gateway/run.py load_dotenv; run_agent re-exports from
agent.message_sanitization, agent.context_compressor,
agent.retry_utils, agent.prompt_builder, agent.process_bootstrap,
agent.codex_responses_adapter)
- Unsafe F841 (unused-variable) fixes deliberately skipped -- those
can change behavior when the RHS has side effects
- ruff lints remain disabled in pyproject.toml (only PLW1514 is
selected); this is a one-time cleanup, not a config change
Verification:
- python -m compileall: clean
- pytest --collect-only: all 27161 tests collect (zero import errors)
- core entry points import clean (run_agent, model_tools, cli,
toolsets, hermes_state, batch_runner, gateway)
- static scan: every name any test imports directly from an edited
module still resolves
The test set HERMES_YOLO_MODE=1 via monkeypatch.setenv, expecting
check_dangerous_command() to honor yolo and bypass cron_mode=deny. But
tools.approval._YOLO_MODE_FROZEN is intentionally frozen at module
import time (security: prevents prompt-injection runtime escalation).
When CI imports the module BEFORE the test sets the env, the frozen
value stays False and the yolo bypass never activates.
Local runs missed this because the conftest leaked a non-empty
HERMES_YOLO_MODE into the import-time env. CI's clean-env path exposed
the bug deterministically on test (3) / test (4) shards.
Fix: patch the module attribute directly via mock.patch.object so the
test simulates process-startup-with-yolo regardless of import order.
The behavior under test (yolo bypasses cron_mode=deny for non-hardline
commands) is unchanged; the security invariant (_YOLO_MODE_FROZEN can't
be set at runtime by skills) is preserved.
Reproduced locally with: env -i HOME=$HOME PATH=$PATH python3 -m pytest
tests/tools/test_cron_approval_mode.py -o 'addopts=' -v
Without the fix: 1 failed, 23 passed. With the fix: 24 passed.
The new _is_gateway_approval_context() widened the gateway classification
to any call with HERMES_SESSION_PLATFORM bound via contextvars. But
cron/scheduler.py binds that same contextvar for delivery routing on
cron jobs that originate from a gateway platform (telegram/discord/etc.),
so those jobs were getting routed through submit_pending with no
listener — blocking indefinitely instead of honoring approvals.cron_mode.
Short-circuit on HERMES_CRON_SESSION before any gateway check. Cron is
always governed by cron_mode config, regardless of where the job was
scheduled from.
Adds regression coverage in TestCronWithGatewayOrigin and records the
contributor email mapping for scripts/release.py.
Adds a floor below --yolo: a tiny set of commands so catastrophic they
should never run via the agent, regardless of --yolo, gateway /yolo,
approvals.mode=off, or cron approve mode. Opting into yolo is trusting
the agent with your files and services — not trusting it to wipe the
disk or power the box off.
The list is deliberately small (12 patterns), covering only
unrecoverable ops:
- rm -rf targeting /, /home, /etc, /usr, /var, /boot, /bin, /sbin,
/lib, ~, $HOME
- mkfs (any variant)
- dd + redirection to raw block devices (/dev/sd*, /dev/nvme*, etc.)
- fork bomb
- kill -1 / kill -9 -1
- shutdown, reboot, halt, poweroff, init 0/6, telinit 0/6,
systemctl poweroff/reboot/halt/kexec
Recoverable-but-costly commands (git reset --hard, rm -rf /tmp/x,
chmod -R 777, curl | sh) stay in DANGEROUS_PATTERNS where yolo can
still pass them through — that's what yolo is for.
Container backends (docker/singularity/modal/daytona) continue to
bypass both hardline and dangerous checks, since nothing they do can
touch the host.
Inspired by Mercury Agent's permission-hardened blocklist.
Add approvals.cron_mode config option that controls how cron jobs handle
dangerous commands. Previously, cron jobs silently auto-approved all
dangerous commands because there was no user present to approve them.
Now the behavior is configurable:
- deny (default): block dangerous commands and return a message telling
the agent to find an alternative approach. The agent loop continues —
it just can't use that specific command.
- approve: auto-approve all dangerous commands (previous behavior).
When a command is blocked, the agent receives the same response format as
a user denial in the CLI — exit_code=-1, status=blocked, with a message
explaining why and pointing to the config option. This keeps the agent
loop running and encourages it to adapt.
Implementation:
- config.py: add approvals.cron_mode to DEFAULT_CONFIG
- scheduler.py: set HERMES_CRON_SESSION=1 env var before agent runs
- approval.py: both check_command_approval() and check_all_command_guards()
now check for cron sessions and apply the configured mode
- 21 new tests covering config parsing, deny/approve behavior, and
interaction with other bypass mechanisms (yolo, containers)
kshitij
spfcraze
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