one artifact replaces three: install-stamp.json (code-scoped) subsumes
.hermes_build_info.json (same schema, different name) and .install_method
(derivable). git checkouts carry no stamp at all — .git plus location is
the fact.
detect_install_method() now delegates to runtime_tree.install_method():
stamp distribution (docker/nix/desktop-app)
-> .git at a managed install root => git
-> .git anywhere else => source (new)
-> unknown
the new 'source' method makes hermes update refuse random src checkouts
outright and point at git pull (replaces the --yes-overridable ask-first
guard). nixos dies as a method value; /nix/store sniffing and the
HERMES_MANAGED ladder step die with it. HERMES_MANAGED keeps exactly one
job: the NixOS module's declarative config-write guard.
lazy_deps drops install-method inference entirely: the read-only guard
now probes site-packages writability directly.
no backwards compat: nothing reads the legacy stamps anymore. stage2-hook
keeps deleting stale home-scoped .install_method markers left by old
images.
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.
ruff check --fix --select F541 . on current main. Pure prefix removals;
adjacent-string concatenations keep the f only on interpolating fragments.
No string content or live placeholder altered.
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