After #1957, recallMode=tools no longer blocks the first real user turn on eager Honcho session bootstrap, which seems like the right behavior for tools mode.

I’d like to propose a follow-up feature on top of that: an optional lightweight cached startup context for tools mode.

The goal is:

• keep recallMode=tools non-blocking on the first real user turn
• still give Hermes a small amount of useful cross-session personalization at the start of a fresh Hermes session

The intended flow would be:

• on /new or automatic session refresh/reset, Hermes schedules a background Honcho prewarm
• that prewarm fetches a very small profile-like snapshot from Honcho
• Hermes stores that snapshot locally
• on the first real turn of the new Hermes session, Hermes injects that local snapshot if it is ready
• no live Honcho call happens on the critical path of that first user turn

For V1, I think this should stay intentionally small and stable:

• user representation + peer card

I would not include continuity-style recall like “what were we working on?” in this startup hint, since /new semantically means a fresh Hermes session. Lightweight personalization still makes sense; continuity recall feels like a separate behavior.

Why this seems to fit the current architecture:

• tools mode stays true to its meaning: no automatic live Honcho recall on turn startup
• gateway reset/refresh paths already exist and already do fire-and-forget work
• this can likely be built from existing Honcho retrieval primitives
• the cache likely needs to live outside HonchoSessionManager, since the manager is torn down on reset

My current preference would be:

• optional / opt-in
• specific to recallMode=tools
• keyed by stable Honcho identity rather than ephemeral Hermes session
• injected only on the first turn of a fresh Hermes session