When Windows enters sleep mode, the gateway process is suspended but its byte-range lock (gateway.lock) persists. After wake-up, the old process may be alive but its connections are dead. The lock is mandatory on Windows (msvcrt.LK_NBLCK), so a new instance cannot start — hitting "Gateway runtime lock is already held by another instance. Exiting."

Changes in gateway/status.py:

• Add Windows-compatible process detection via kernel32.OpenProcess
  • wmic fallback (the old code relied on /proc/pid/cmdline which does not exist on Windows)
• Add force_recover_stale_gateway_lock() with three-tier detection:
  1. PID lookup (process dead → lock is stale)
  2. Gateway process identity check (not a gateway → lock is stale)
  3. Heartbeat staleness (last heartbeat > 10 min → sleep/wake)
• When any tier flags staleness, force-kill the old process and clean up the lock file so the new instance can proceed

Changes in gateway/run.py:

• On lock acquisition failure, call force_recover_stale_gateway_lock() before giving up
• Add a periodic heartbeat thread (120 s) that updates the runtime status timestamp so the staleness detection is reliable

What does this PR do?

Related Issue

Fixes #

Type of Change

• 🐛 Bug fix (non-breaking change that fixes an issue)
• ✨ New feature (non-breaking change that adds functionality)
• 🔒 Security fix
• 📝 Documentation update
• ✅ Tests (adding or improving test coverage)
• ♻️ Refactor (no behavior change)
• 🎯 New skill (bundled or hub)

Changes Made

How to Test

Checklist

Code

• I've read the Contributing Guide
• My commit messages follow Conventional Commits (fix(scope):, feat(scope):, etc.)
• I searched for existing PRs to make sure this isn't a duplicate
• My PR contains only changes related to this fix/feature (no unrelated commits)
• I've run pytest tests/ -q and all tests pass
• I've added tests for my changes (required for bug fixes, strongly encouraged for features)
• I've tested on my platform:

Documentation & Housekeeping

• I've updated relevant documentation (README, docs/, docstrings) — or N/A
• I've updated cli-config.yaml.example if I added/changed config keys — or N/A
• I've updated CONTRIBUTING.md or AGENTS.md if I changed architecture or workflows — or N/A
• I've considered cross-platform impact (Windows, macOS) per the compatibility guide — or N/A
• I've updated tool descriptions/schemas if I changed tool behavior — or N/A

For New Skills

• This skill is broadly useful to most users (if bundled) — see Contributing Guide
• SKILL.md follows the standard format (frontmatter, trigger conditions, steps, pitfalls)
• No external dependencies that aren't already available (prefer stdlib, curl, existing Hermes tools)
• I've tested the skill end-to-end: hermes --toolsets skills -q "Use the X skill to do Y"

Screenshots / Logs