A completely unconfigured install previously booted into a working-looking
chat (banner showed model 'unknown'), accepted a message, spun ~30s, then
failed with 'Set OPENROUTER_API_KEY' — a provider the user never chose —
and never offered setup.
- HermesCLI.run() now probes provider readiness at startup (TTY only) and
offers the shared provider picker (hermes model flow, which fronts Quick
Setup / Nous Portal OAuth) when nothing is configured. Decline is
respected; picker state re-syncs into the live CLI so the next turn works
without a restart.
- New silent probe _runtime_credentials_ready(): no printing, no state
mutation; handles keyless local endpoints and callable bearer providers.
- The empty-api-key error is provider-aware: names the actual resolved
provider and points at 'hermes model' / 'hermes setup' instead of
hardcoding OPENROUTER_API_KEY.
- Banner: unconfigured installs render 'no model configured — run /model'
in red instead of the silent 'unknown' model slug.
Consumer-onboarding audit finding #2 (sev 5), Aug 2026.
Teknium