Summary

In dispatched worker contexts, explicit kanban board overrides do not work.

Examples that should target another board:

• tool call: kanban_show(board="bryceos", task_id="...")
• tool call: kanban_list(board="bryceos")
• CLI: hermes kanban --board bryceos show <task_id>

All of them still hit the worker's pinned DB when HERMES_KANBAN_DB is set.

Repro

Worker env contains:

HERMES_KANBAN_BOARD=mordecai-v2
HERMES_KANBAN_DB=/home/.../.hermes/kanban/boards/mordecai-v2/kanban.db

Inside that env:

from hermes_cli import kanban_db as kb
print(kb.kanban_db_path(board="bryceos"))
print(kb.kanban_db_path(board="mordecai-v2"))

Observed: both resolve to the same mordecai-v2 DB path.

Tool reproduction:

from tools import kanban_tools
print(kanban_tools._handle_show({"board": "bryceos", "task_id": "<bryceos-task-id>"}))

Observed:

{"error": "task <bryceos-task-id> not found"}

But outside the worker env, raw CLI works:

env -u HERMES_KANBAN_DB -u HERMES_KANBAN_BOARD -u HERMES_KANBAN_WORKSPACES_ROOT \
  hermes kanban --board bryceos show <bryceos-task-id> --json

That returns the correct bryceos task.

Root cause

tools/kanban_tools.py passes board correctly into kb.connect(board=board), but hermes_cli/kanban_db.py::kanban_db_path() does this:

override = os.environ.get("HERMES_KANBAN_DB", "").strip()
if override:
    return Path(override).expanduser()

So the explicit board argument is ignored whenever the worker env pins HERMES_KANBAN_DB.

There is also a test codifying this behavior:

assert kb.kanban_db_path(board="ignored") == forced

Why this is a problem

The tool/docs currently imply that explicit board can override the env-pinned active board for one call. That is not true in dispatched worker envs, which is exactly where cross-board diagnostics get attempted.

Suggested fixes

Option A:

• Make explicit board / --board outrank HERMES_KANBAN_DB.
• Add regression tests for worker envs with DB pins.

Option B:

• Keep DB pin precedence, but reject explicit board overrides loudly when HERMES_KANBAN_DB is set.
• Remove or narrow docs that currently promise per-call board override in those contexts.

Extra note

This affects both tool calls and raw CLI launched from inside the worker shell, because both share the same env pins.