fix(kanban): diagnose unavailable triage automation by qWaitCrypto · Pull Request #25640 · NousResearch/hermes-agent

qWaitCrypto · 2026-05-14T10:57:49Z

What does this PR do?

Surfaces a Kanban diagnostic when a task is stuck in triage and diagnostics can see that the active triage automation backend is not configured.

After #27572, triage can advance through two paths:

Auto orchestration mode (kanban.auto_decompose=true) uses auxiliary.kanban_decomposer.
Manual/single-task mode (kanban.auto_decompose=false) uses auxiliary.triage_specifier.

Without this, a rough triage card can sit indefinitely with no operator-facing reason. hermes kanban decompose / hermes kanban specify already return no auxiliary client configured when they cannot resolve the helper model, but board/task diagnostics did not expose that configuration gap.

Related Issue

#25641

Follow-up to #27572.

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

Added a triage_automation_unavailable diagnostic for triage tasks when config clearly lacks the backend for the active triage automation path.
Checks auxiliary.kanban_decomposer when kanban.auto_decompose=true.
Checks auxiliary.triage_specifier when kanban.auto_decompose=false.
Kept the rule conservative:
- no diagnostic when config context is unavailable
- no diagnostic when the active helper has provider: auto
- no diagnostic when a main model fallback is visible
Added suggested CLI actions to configure the active helper or run the matching hermes kanban decompose <task_id> / hermes kanban specify <task_id> command.
Passed runtime config into Kanban diagnostics from both CLI and dashboard paths.
Added focused diagnostics tests for auto-decompose mode, manual mode, main-model fallback, no-context suppression, and non-triage suppression.

Reproduction

Before the fix, a triage task with missing auto-decompose auxiliary config produced no diagnostic:

task = {'id': 't_triage', 'status': 'triage', 'title': 'rough task'}
config = {'kanban': {'auto_decompose': True}, 'auxiliary': {}}
diags = kd.compute_task_diagnostics(
    task,
    [],
    [],
    config=kd.config_from_runtime_config(config),
)
diagnostic_kinds = []

After the fix, the same state surfaces the unavailable triage automation backend:

diagnostic_kinds = ['triage_automation_unavailable']
suggested_commands = ['hermes config set auxiliary.kanban_decomposer.provider auto']

Manual mode checks the single-task specifier path instead:

config = {'kanban': {'auto_decompose': False}, 'auxiliary': {}}
diagnostic_kinds = ['triage_automation_unavailable']
suggested_commands = ['hermes config set auxiliary.triage_specifier.provider auto']

How to Test

PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1 python - <<'PY'
from hermes_cli import kanban_diagnostics as kd

task = {'id': 't_triage', 'status': 'triage', 'title': 'rough task'}
config = {'kanban': {'auto_decompose': True}, 'auxiliary': {}}
diags = kd.compute_task_diagnostics(
    task,
    [],
    [],
    config=kd.config_from_runtime_config(config),
)
print('diagnostic_kinds =', [d.kind for d in diags])
print('suggested_commands =', [a.payload.get('command') for d in diags for a in d.actions if a.suggested])
PY

Result:

diagnostic_kinds = ['triage_automation_unavailable']
suggested_commands = ['hermes config set auxiliary.kanban_decomposer.provider auto']

python -m py_compile hermes_cli/kanban_diagnostics.py hermes_cli/kanban.py plugins/kanban/dashboard/plugin_api.py tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_diagnostics.py

Result: passed.

pytest -q tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_diagnostics.py -k "triage_automation or config_from_runtime_config"

Result: 8 passed.

python -m ruff check hermes_cli/kanban.py hermes_cli/kanban_diagnostics.py plugins/kanban/dashboard/plugin_api.py tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_diagnostics.py

Result: passed.

git diff --check -- hermes_cli/kanban_diagnostics.py hermes_cli/kanban.py plugins/kanban/dashboard/plugin_api.py tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_diagnostics.py

Result: passed.

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
I've tested on my platform: Linux (WSL-style dev environment)

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)
I've updated tool descriptions/schemas if I changed tool behavior — or N/A

Screenshots / Logs

See reproduction and test logs above.

After NousResearch#27572, triage automation defaults to the kanban decomposer path instead of only the specify path. Update the diagnostic to check the active triage automation backend: kanban_decomposer when auto-decompose is enabled, triage_specifier in manual mode.

qWaitCrypto · 2026-05-18T08:11:37Z

Updated this PR after #27572 landed.

The underlying gap still exists on current main: triage tasks can remain stuck without a clear diagnostic when the active triage automation backend is unavailable.

The shape of the issue changed after #27572:

Before: triage primarily depended on auxiliary.triage_specifier, so the diagnostic checked for a missing specifier.
Now: triage defaults to orchestration / auto-decompose via auxiliary.kanban_decomposer, while manual mode still uses auxiliary.triage_specifier.

So I updated the diagnostic from the narrower triage_missing_specifier case to triage_automation_unavailable, and made it check the active path:

kanban.auto_decompose=true -> check auxiliary.kanban_decomposer
kanban.auto_decompose=false -> check auxiliary.triage_specifier

I also updated the tests to cover both modes.

@qWaitCrypto

…aware) (#27871) Adds a 'triage_aux_unavailable' diagnostic for tasks stuck in triage when neither the active aux helper slot nor the main-model auto fallback is usable. Auto-decompose aware: - kanban.auto_decompose=True (default): primary is auxiliary.kanban_decomposer, triage_specifier is the fanout=false fallback. - kanban.auto_decompose=False: primary is auxiliary.triage_specifier (manual 'hermes kanban specify' path). Default aux slots use 'provider: auto' which falls back to the main model, so this rule only fires when both the explicit slot config AND the main-model auto fallback are absent. Quiet by default; informative when there is a real config gap. Also adds kd.config_from_runtime_config() that carries kanban + auxiliary + model keys through to diagnostics, and updates CLI/dashboard call sites to use it. config_from_kanban_config() is preserved for back-compat. Reworks the original PR #25640 idea (@qWaitCrypto) to align with the new auto-decompose dispatcher path landed in #27572. The original PR pointed only at auxiliary.triage_specifier, which is now the fallback rather than the primary helper. Co-authored-by: qWaitCrypto <axmaiqiu@gmail.com>

teknium1 · 2026-05-18T08:27:09Z

Reworked and merged via #27871 onto current main. The original PR pointed only at auxiliary.triage_specifier — after #27572 added the auto-decompose dispatcher, the primary path is now auxiliary.kanban_decomposer (with the specifier as the fanout=false fallback). The new diagnostic is auto_decompose-aware and points at the right slot for both modes. You are credited via Co-authored-by on the merge commit. Thanks for surfacing this gap!

@qWaitCrypto

…aware) (NousResearch#27871) Adds a 'triage_aux_unavailable' diagnostic for tasks stuck in triage when neither the active aux helper slot nor the main-model auto fallback is usable. Auto-decompose aware: - kanban.auto_decompose=True (default): primary is auxiliary.kanban_decomposer, triage_specifier is the fanout=false fallback. - kanban.auto_decompose=False: primary is auxiliary.triage_specifier (manual 'hermes kanban specify' path). Default aux slots use 'provider: auto' which falls back to the main model, so this rule only fires when both the explicit slot config AND the main-model auto fallback are absent. Quiet by default; informative when there is a real config gap. Also adds kd.config_from_runtime_config() that carries kanban + auxiliary + model keys through to diagnostics, and updates CLI/dashboard call sites to use it. config_from_kanban_config() is preserved for back-compat. Reworks the original PR NousResearch#25640 idea (@qWaitCrypto) to align with the new auto-decompose dispatcher path landed in NousResearch#27572. The original PR pointed only at auxiliary.triage_specifier, which is now the fallback rather than the primary helper. Co-authored-by: qWaitCrypto <axmaiqiu@gmail.com>

@qWaitCrypto

…aware) (NousResearch#27871) Adds a 'triage_aux_unavailable' diagnostic for tasks stuck in triage when neither the active aux helper slot nor the main-model auto fallback is usable. Auto-decompose aware: - kanban.auto_decompose=True (default): primary is auxiliary.kanban_decomposer, triage_specifier is the fanout=false fallback. - kanban.auto_decompose=False: primary is auxiliary.triage_specifier (manual 'hermes kanban specify' path). Default aux slots use 'provider: auto' which falls back to the main model, so this rule only fires when both the explicit slot config AND the main-model auto fallback are absent. Quiet by default; informative when there is a real config gap. Also adds kd.config_from_runtime_config() that carries kanban + auxiliary + model keys through to diagnostics, and updates CLI/dashboard call sites to use it. config_from_kanban_config() is preserved for back-compat. Reworks the original PR NousResearch#25640 idea (@qWaitCrypto) to align with the new auto-decompose dispatcher path landed in NousResearch#27572. The original PR pointed only at auxiliary.triage_specifier, which is now the fallback rather than the primary helper. Co-authored-by: qWaitCrypto <axmaiqiu@gmail.com>

qWaitCrypto mentioned this pull request May 14, 2026

[Bug]: Kanban long-running workers lack actionable diagnostics and configurable log retention #25641

Closed

1 task

alt-glitch added type/bug Something isn't working comp/plugins Plugin system and bundled plugins comp/cli CLI entry point, hermes_cli/, setup wizard P3 Low — cosmetic, nice to have labels May 14, 2026

qWaitCrypto force-pushed the fix/kanban-triage-specifier-diagnostic branch 2 times, most recently from 4d33cc7 to 4652b19 Compare May 18, 2026 06:56

qWaitCrypto and others added 2 commits May 18, 2026 16:02

fix(kanban): surface missing triage specifier

4c4cc30

qWaitCrypto force-pushed the fix/kanban-triage-specifier-diagnostic branch from 4652b19 to 74b25c2 Compare May 18, 2026 08:09

qWaitCrypto changed the title ~~fix(kanban): surface missing triage specifier~~ fix(kanban): diagnose unavailable triage automation May 18, 2026

teknium1 mentioned this pull request May 18, 2026

fix(kanban): surface unusable triage auxiliary model (auto-decompose aware) #27871

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teknium1 closed this May 18, 2026

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