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[Bug]: Agent tool calls freeze mid-execution — output stops at [Calling tool: ...] with no response, /goal unblocks #28834

@bsb574

Description

@bsb574

Bug Description

Description:

The agent’s tool call output consistently freezes at the [Calling tool: tool_name with arguments: {...}] marker. The response never completes — no tool result, no follow-up message, no error. The agent has made the call but the response never arrives back.

The command /goal reliably unblocks the frozen state and the agent resumes producing output within 2-5 seconds.

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

Have a normal conversation with the agent (any model, any provider).
Stop sending messages for 2-3 minutes.
Send a new request that requires tool calls (e.g., “read this file”, “run this command”).
Observe: the response stops at [Calling tool: tool_name with arguments: {...}] and never completes.
Send /goal — the agent resumes within seconds.
The issue is not sporadic — during active back-and-forth conversation, tool calls work fine. It is specifically the first tool call after a pause that hangs.

Expected Behavior

Tool call results should be returned and displayed regardless of idle time between messages.

Actual Behavior

the symptom is purely textual: the conversation wedges at the [Calling tool: ...] marker and produces no further output until /goal is sent. Such as,
[Calling tool: execute_code with arguments={“code”: “from hermes_tools import read_file\n\n# Try reading in chunks\nfor offset in range(1, 1000, 200):\n r = read_file(path="/Users/eb/.hermes/config.yaml", offset=offset, limit=200)\n print(f"— offset {offset} —")\n print(r["content"])\n if "truncated" not in r or not r["truncated"]:\n break”}]

Affected Component

CLI (interactive chat)

Messaging Platform (if gateway-related)

N/A (CLI only)

Debug Report

Debug report uploaded:
  Report       https://paste.rs/21p96
  agent.log    https://paste.rs/j2IzB
  gateway.log  https://paste.rs/OADPl

Operating System

macOS (26.3.1)

Python Version

3.9.6

Hermes Version

0.14.0

Additional Logs / Traceback (optional)

Root Cause Analysis (optional)

No response

Proposed Fix (optional)

No response

Are you willing to submit a PR for this?

  • I'd like to fix this myself and submit a PR

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    P1High — major feature broken, no workaroundcomp/agentCore agent loop, run_agent.py, prompt buildercomp/cliCLI entry point, hermes_cli/, setup wizardtype/bugSomething isn't working

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