…h#36093)

Native Windows is out of beta. Removes the early-beta warnings, headings,
and rough-edge framing across the README and docs (EN + zh-Hans), keeping
the WSL2-only dashboard PTY caveat. Historical RELEASE_v0.14.0.md notes are
left intact since they accurately describe the state at that release.

- README: Windows install + cross-platform notes
- index.mdx, installation.md: headings, warning admonitions, parity note
- windows-native.md: title/sidebar_label/warning, provider-hunting tip
- contributing.md, nous-portal.md: cross-platform / Portal parity prose
- Repoint cross-links to the renamed installation#windows-native-powershell
  anchor (EN) and #windows原生powershell (zh, also fixes pre-existing drift)

…till open (#1)

* feat(model-picker): show short description on grouped provider rows

The 7 consolidated provider families (OpenAI, xAI Grok, GitHub Copilot,
Google Gemini, Kimi / Moonshot, MiniMax, OpenCode) collapse to one
top-level picker row. Previously that row showed only the bare group
label (e.g. `OpenAI ▸`); now it carries a short blurb describing the
endpoints folded inside (e.g. `OpenAI ▸ (Codex CLI or direct OpenAI API)`).

- models.py: extend PROVIDER_GROUPS tuples to (label, description, members);
  group_providers() emits the description on group rows.
- main.py: CLI picker renders `<label> ▸ (<description>)` for group rows.
- telegram.py: update the group tuple unpack (button text keeps the member
  count, which fits inline keyboards better than a long blurb).
- tests: assert every group has a non-empty description and the fold emits it.

Member-specific detail still lives in each member's tui_desc and shows in
the drill-down sub-picker. Slug identity, --provider, /model paths unchanged.

* feat(model-picker): description on group layer, plain labels on members

For grouped provider families, the descriptive text now lives only on the
collapsed top-level group row. The member sub-picker rows show just the
short provider label (no parenthetical tui_desc), so the description is not
duplicated one layer down.

Ungrouped providers are unaffected — they have no group layer, so their own
row keeps its full tui_desc.

- main.py: member sub-picker uses provider_labels (label) instead of
  canonical_descs (tui_desc).
- Telegram already showed labels + model count on member buttons; group
  buttons keep Label ▸ (count) since inline keyboards can't fit a long blurb.

Member labels retain their short disambiguators (e.g. 'MiniMax (OAuth)') so
the sub-picker rows stay distinguishable.

* docs: drop early-beta framing for native Windows support (#36093)

Native Windows is out of beta. Removes the early-beta warnings, headings,
and rough-edge framing across the README and docs (EN + zh-Hans), keeping
the WSL2-only dashboard PTY caveat. Historical RELEASE_v0.14.0.md notes are
left intact since they accurately describe the state at that release.

- README: Windows install + cross-platform notes
- index.mdx, installation.md: headings, warning admonitions, parity note
- windows-native.md: title/sidebar_label/warning, provider-hunting tip
- contributing.md, nous-portal.md: cross-platform / Portal parity prose
- Repoint cross-links to the renamed installation#windows-native-powershell
  anchor (EN) and #windows原生powershell (zh, also fixes pre-existing drift)

* Add Hermes desktop app (#20059)

* feat: better composer etc

* docs: add desktop and dashboard run instructions

* fix(desktop): address security scan findings

* fix(dashboard): resolve @nous-research/ui path under npm workspaces

The sync-assets prebuild step shelled out to 'cp -r
node_modules/@nous-research/ui/dist/fonts ...' with a path relative
to apps/dashboard/. That works only when the dep is installed
locally in the dashboard workspace, but 'npm install' at the repo
root (the documented setup — see apps/desktop/README.md) hoists
shared deps to the root node_modules under npm workspaces. The
relative cp then fails with 'No such file or directory', sync-assets
exits 1, the Vite build aborts, and 'hermes dashboard' surfaces a
generic 'Web UI build failed' message.

Replace the shell one-liner with scripts/sync-assets.cjs, which
walks up from the dashboard directory looking for node_modules/
@nous-research/ui — working in both the hoisted (workspaces) and
co-located (standalone) layouts. Also guards against a missing
dist/fonts or dist/assets with a clearer error pointing at a
rebuild of the UI package rather than silently copying nothing.

* feat(desktop): support connecting to a remote Hermes backend

Add HERMES_DESKTOP_REMOTE_URL and HERMES_DESKTOP_REMOTE_TOKEN env
vars that, when set, short-circuit the local-child spawn in
startHermes() and connect the Electron renderer to an already-
running 'hermes dashboard' server reachable over the network.

Motivating use case: WSL2 users who want to run the Hermes core
(agent loop, tools, filesystem access) inside their WSL
distribution while rendering the Electron GUI on native Windows.
Before this change, the desktop app always spawned a local Python
child on the same host as the renderer, which doesn't cross the
WSL/Windows boundary.

The remote path reuses waitForHermes() as a liveness probe
(/api/status is in the backend's public endpoint allowlist), so
the connection is only returned once the backend is actually
ready. WebSocket URL derivation picks ws:// or wss:// based on
the input scheme. URL validation rejects non-http(s) schemes and
requires both env vars together to avoid a half-configured
connection that would silently fall through to the spawn path.

No behaviour change when the env vars are unset — the default
local-spawn flow is untouched.

Typical usage:

  # in WSL2
  hermes dashboard --tui --no-open --host 0.0.0.0 --port 9119 --insecure

  # on Windows
  set HERMES_DESKTOP_REMOTE_URL=http://localhost:9119
  set HERMES_DESKTOP_REMOTE_TOKEN=<session token>
  set HERMES_DESKTOP_IGNORE_EXISTING=1
  (launch Hermes desktop)

* ci(desktop): automate desktop releases

Add GitHub Actions release channels for signed desktop installers and document the stable/nightly download paths.

* feat: file tabs

* refactor(desktop): tighten right-rail tab close API

Promote closeRightRailTab/closeActiveRightRailTab as the single
public entry point. Drops the activeTabRef + handleCloseDocument
indirection in ChatPreviewRail, the unused $rightRailHasContent
atom, and the legacy dismissFilePreviewTarget alias. -70 LOC.

* feat(desktop): polish composer pill toward reference look

Solid foreground-on-background send/voice-conversation circle (black-on-white
in light, white-on-black in dark) anchors the right edge as the primary CTA
instead of the orange theme primary. Bumps the primary control to 2.125rem so
it visually outranks the ghost mic/plus controls. Opens up the surface padding
(0.625rem x / 0.5rem y) so the input row breathes around its controls, and
nudges the corner radius from 20 to 24px for a slightly pill-ier silhouette.
LiquidGlass distortion is preserved.

* feat(desktop): add startup and onboarding flow

Add phase-based desktop boot progress, fresh-install sandbox testing, and first-run provider credential onboarding so packaged installs can start cleanly without manual settings detours.

* fix(desktop): gate prompts on provider setup

Show the desktop provider onboarding flow before prompt submission when no inference provider is configured, preventing fresh installs from falling through to backend credential errors.

* fix(desktop): surface provider onboarding from session warnings

Propagate credential warnings through session runtime info and open desktop onboarding whenever a session reports no usable provider, so unconfigured installs cannot fall through to prompt errors.

* fix(desktop): route gateway provider errors to onboarding

The "No inference provider configured" auth error reaches the renderer through gateway error events, not the prompt.submit promise; the previous patch only caught the latter, so the error toast still surfaced and onboarding never opened.

Also strip credential-shaped env vars from the test:desktop:fresh sandbox so the packaged backend can't see provider keys leaking from the launching shell.

* fix(desktop): use strict runtime check to drive onboarding

setup.status returned True whenever any provider auth state was discoverable, including indirect fallbacks like a gh-CLI Copilot token. That made desktop think the user was set up while the agent's actual resolve_runtime_provider call still raised AuthError, leaving the user with a useless toast and no onboarding.

Add a setup.runtime_check gateway method that runs the same resolver the agent uses on session creation, and switch the desktop onboarding overlay and prompt precheck to use it.

* feat(desktop): OAuth-first onboarding using existing dashboard provider API

Replace the engineer-flavored API key form with a Sign-in-first onboarding overlay that uses the dashboard's existing /api/providers/oauth catalog and PKCE/device-code endpoints (Anthropic, Nous, OpenAI Codex, etc.). API key entry is now a fallback tab with friendly provider names instead of env var prefixes, and the loud raw resolver error is gone in favor of a one-line welcome message.

* fix(desktop): polish onboarding provider list

Reorder OAuth providers so Nous Portal is first, give the segmented Sign in / API key control equal column widths, and replace the engineer-flavored backend names like "Anthropic (Claude API)" / "MiniMax (OAuth)" with friendlier in-app titles. External-CLI providers now show a softer subtitle and an external-link icon instead of a chevron.

* refactor(desktop): split onboarding overlay into store + view

Move the OAuth state machine, runtime check, copy-to-clipboard, and api-key save into store/onboarding.ts (matching the boot.ts pattern), leaving the overlay as a presentation layer that subscribes via useStore. Tabs are now table-driven, child panels read flow from the store instead of prop-drilling, and the polling/PKCE/error/success branches share a small Status atom.

* fix(desktop): external CLI providers + center mode tabs

External-CLI providers (Claude Code, Qwen Code) now open an in-overlay panel with the CLI command, copy button, and an "I've signed in" recheck instead of firing an invisible toast. Center the Sign in / API key tab control so it sits under the heading instead of hugging the left edge.

* fix(desktop): drop onboarding tabs for an inline link, group device-code waiting state

Replace the Sign in / API key tab pair with an "I have an API key" footer link under the OAuth provider list, with a "Back to sign in" affordance inside the API key form. Group the device-code "Waiting for you to authorize..." status next to the Cancel button so the alignment matches the action.

* refactor(desktop): tighten onboarding store + overlay

Drop the dead isOnboardingBusy/BUSY set, factor the catch-fallback dance into safeReq, and share a single reloadAndConnect helper between PKCE submit, device-code success, external recheck, and api-key save.

In the overlay, extract Step / CodeBlock / FlowFooter / CancelBtn / DocsLink atoms so the four sign-in panels share the same chrome instead of repeating it inline. Net effect: fewer literal divs, one place to touch the spacing, and the code-block + footer rows are reusable across future flows.

* fix(desktop): mount onboarding from frame 1 to kill the FOUT

Default onboarding.configured to null (unknown until the runtime check resolves) and have the onboarding overlay render whenever it's not yet confirmed true. The boot overlay now yields to it, so the very first paint is the Welcome card with a "While we get you set up..." progress strip instead of a flash of the chat shell between boot dismiss and onboarding mount.

The picker swaps in cleanly once the gateway opens and the runtime check confirms the user is not configured. Already-configured users see the same prep card briefly while their existing runtime warms up, then the overlay dismisses without touching the chat shell.

* fix(desktop): top-align empty sessions placeholder

The "Start a chat to build your history." empty state used a min-h-35 grid place-items-center container, which floated the text in a tall dead zone. Render it as a flat paragraph that sits right under the section header like the empty pinned state does.

* refactor(desktop): drop dead boot overlay

Onboarding overlay subsumes the boot card now that it mounts from frame 1 and renders boot progress inline. The standalone DesktopBootOverlay is unreachable in every flow (yields whenever onboarding has not confirmed configured, dismisses once it has).

* fix(desktop): hide pinned/recents sections until first session

A fresh sidebar showed the Pinned and Recent chats headers with floating empty-state copy underneath. Drop both sections (and the now-orphan SidebarEmptySessionState) when there are no sessions yet — they reappear after the first chat. Skeletons during initial load are unchanged.

* feat(gui): route embedded TUI through dashboard gateway (#21979)

Inject HERMES_TUI_GATEWAY_URL into dashboard PTY sessions so embedded ui-tui instances attach to the in-process websocket gateway, with coverage for the new env wiring.

* Add desktop remote gateway settings

Make the desktop gateway connection configurable from settings so local remains the default while remote backends can be saved, tested, and applied without environment variables.

* feat(gui): first-class Messaging page + gateway menu redesign

- Add Messaging page to the desktop app with per-platform setup,
  status, and inline guidance. Catalog derives from gateway.config
  Platform enum + plugin registry, so every messaging adapter the CLI
  supports (Telegram, Discord, Slack, Mattermost, Matrix, WhatsApp,
  Signal, BlueBubbles, Home Assistant, Email, SMS, DingTalk, Feishu,
  WeCom, Weixin, QQ, Yuanbao, API server, Webhooks, plugins) shows up
  without per-platform code.
- New REST endpoints: GET /api/messaging/platforms, PUT and POST
  /test on the same path. Secrets go through the existing .env
  pipeline; enable/disable writes config.yaml.
- Replace gateway statusbar dropdown with a richer panel: status row,
  icon-only restart + system-panel actions, recent activity (with
  timestamps trimmed in display, full text on hover), platform list.
- Auto-poll the messaging page every 6s (paused when hidden) so
  status updates without a manual check.
- Drop Settings / Command Center from the sidebar nav (still
  reachable via shortcuts and the titlebar cog).
- Flatten top corners on Messaging/Skills/Artifacts/Chat panes.
- Share new StatusDot component across messaging + gateway menu.
- Fix gateway/config.py so an explicit platforms.<name>.enabled=false
  in config.yaml is honored when env tokens are present.
- pb-9 on the chat content area for breathing room above the composer.

* Potential fix for pull request finding 'CodeQL / Clear-text logging of sensitive information'

Co-authored-by: Copilot Autofix powered by AI <62310815+github-advanced-security[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* pin electron version

* hide application menu on non-mac systems

* interpret compactPreview for non-string vlaues as JSON or an empty string

* fix(desktop): keep composer contenteditable mounted across stacked toggle

The composer rendered {input} inside two different parent fragments
depending on `stacked`. When auto-expand flipped `stacked` (e.g. the
moment typed text wrapped past two lines), React reconciled the two
branches as different positions and unmounted/remounted the
contenteditable. The fresh mount started empty, so any in-flight
characters — most reliably reproduced by holding a key — were lost.

Replace the conditional with a single CSS Grid whose template-areas
swap on `stacked`. The three children (menu, input, controls) keep
stable identities across the toggle; only their grid placement
changes, which the browser handles without React tearing down the
editor.

* refactor(desktop): align install layout with install.ps1 / install.sh

Make the desktop app's runtime layout match what scripts/install.ps1 and
scripts/install.sh produce, so a desktop-only user and a CLI-only user end
up with the same files in the same places and can share one install.

Layout
- ACTIVE_HERMES_ROOT = HERMES_HOME/hermes-agent  (was: process.resourcesPath/hermes-agent, read-only)
- VENV_ROOT          = HERMES_HOME/hermes-agent/venv  (was: userData/hermes-runtime)
- desktop.log        = HERMES_HOME/logs/desktop.log  (was: userData/desktop.log)
- HERMES_HOME default: %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes on Windows, ~/.hermes elsewhere

The packaged .app/.exe still ships a read-only payload at
process.resourcesPath/hermes-agent (FACTORY_HERMES_ROOT). On first launch
or after an installer-driven upgrade we sync factory -> active, then
provision the venv and run pip install -e . against the active root.

Key behaviors
- Pin HERMES_HOME in the spawned Python's env so get_hermes_home() resolves
  to the same path resolveHermesHome() picked. Without this, Python falls
  back to ~/.hermes on every platform - fine on mac/linux, a split-state
  bug on Windows where our default is %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes.
- Detect developer installs by .git presence at ACTIVE; never overwrite
  a user's checkout via factory sync.
- Marker at ACTIVE/.hermes-desktop-runtime.json (schema v4) tracks
  pyproject hash + factory version + runtime schema version. depsFresh
  fast-paths when nothing changed.
- Dev (npm run dev) prefers SOURCE_REPO_ROOT over ACTIVE so devs run
  their local edits, not whatever's under HERMES_HOME.
- Better error messages distinguish "no payload" from "no Python".
- Preserve a legacy ~/.hermes on Windows when no %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes
  exists, so users with prior pip/manual installs aren't orphaned.

pyproject.toml
- Promote fastapi, uvicorn[standard], ptyprocess (non-Windows), and
  pywinpty (Windows) to main dependencies. The dashboard backend
  (hermes dashboard) needs them at runtime; the previous lazy-import
  fallback was a footgun for fresh installs.
- Empty the [pty] optional-extra; kept as a no-op back-compat alias for
  any existing pip install hermes-agent[pty] invocations.

Drops the hardcoded BUNDLED_RUNTIME_REQUIREMENTS list in main.cjs - the
desktop now installs whatever pyproject.toml says, single source of truth.

Files
- apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs:    runtime layout, HERMES_HOME pin,
                                      factory->active sync, marker v4
- apps/desktop/scripts/test-desktop.mjs:  track new venv location
- apps/desktop/README.md:            new Setup, Runtime Bootstrap, and
                                      Debugging sections
- pyproject.toml:                    fastapi/uvicorn/pty backends in main
                                      dependencies; [pty] extra emptied

Tested locally on Windows: npm run dev boots cleanly, sessions land at
the new location, type-check + lint + test:desktop:platforms all pass.
Verified end-to-end on a fresh Win11 VM via dist:win installer.

Known gaps (filed as follow-ups, not in this PR):
- Skills not seeded on packaged installs (sync_skills only runs in
  cmd_chat, not cmd_dashboard). Need to move to shared pre-dispatch.
- Git Bash not bundled or detected; agent's terminal tool errors out
  with a useful message but desktop bootstrapper should pre-flight it.
- install.ps1 / install.sh should be decomposed into composable phase
  libraries so the desktop bootstrapper can reuse them as a single
  source of truth across all install surfaces.

* feat(desktop): theme polish, prose chat typography, composer chrome

- DS tokens/midground, Backdrop, scoped scrollbars, typography plugin + prose
- Composer liquid/radius utilities, thread font parity, tool/thinking cues
- File tree label scale, preview flex, thread retry loading + streaming tests

* feat(desktop): NSIS prereq detection page + auto-install via winget

The packaged Windows installer now detects Python 3.11+ and Git for Windows
at install time and offers to install missing prereqs via winget. Mirrors
the prereq logic scripts/install.ps1 already runs for CLI installs, so
desktop installer users get the same out-of-the-box experience as
install.ps1 users.

Why
- Hermes' terminal tool calls bash.exe directly (tools/environments/
  local.py); on Windows that's Git Bash from Git for Windows. Without it,
  the agent fails on the first terminal() call.
- Hermes' Python runtime needs 3.11+. Without it, the desktop bootstrapper
  errors out at venv creation.
- Both gaps surfaced on a fresh Windows 11 VM smoke test: VM had Python
  pre-installed but no Git, so the agent's first terminal call failed
  with "Git Bash isn't installed."
- install.ps1 has had Install-Git + Install-Uv functions for ages. The
  desktop installer was the asymmetric outlier.

How — NSIS prereq page
- New file: apps/desktop/installer/prereq-check.nsh (plugged into
  electron-builder via build.nsis.include)
- Real Wizard page using nsDialogs, inserted via customPageAfterChangeDir
  hook (between the Directory page and InstFiles).
  - Group boxes for Python and Git, each showing detection status.
  - Pre-checked install checkboxes when winget is available.
  - Auto-skips silently if both prereqs are already installed.
  - Falls back to manual download URLs when winget itself is missing.
- Detection:
  - Python: probes `py -3.11`/`-3.12`/`-3.13`/`-3.14` via the Python
    launcher. Microsoft Store "Python stub" (no py.exe) is correctly
    classified as not-installed.
  - Git: `where git`.
  - winget: `where winget` (Win10 1809+ / Win11 with App Installer).
- Install execution (in customInstall macro):
  - Python: nsExec::ExecToLog with `--scope user --silent`. Per-user
    install, no UAC prompt, output streams to install log.
  - Git: ExecShellWait via Windows ShellExecute. Critical because Git
    always installs per-machine and triggers UAC; ShellExecute preserves
    the foreground focus chain across non-elevated → elevated process
    spawns, so UAC actually comes to the foreground. nsExec::ExecToLog
    breaks the chain because winget runs hidden.
  - Both pass `--disable-interactivity --accept-package-agreements
    --accept-source-agreements` to suppress winget's own dialogs.
- Verification: probes Git's standard install locations via FileExists
  rather than `where git`. NSIS's process inherits PATH at startup, so
  a freshly-installed Git won't be visible to `where` until restart.
- Silent installs (/S) skip the prompts; managed deploys handle prereqs
  out-of-band via Group Policy / Intune.

How — Electron-side safety net
- New findGitBash() in main.cjs, parallel to findSystemPython(). Probes
  the same locations as tools/environments/local.py:_find_bash() so a
  positive result here means the agent's terminal tool will work.
- ensureRuntime now throws a clear, actionable error on Windows when Git
  Bash isn't found, matching the existing "Python 3.11+ is required"
  error path.
- Catches users the NSIS page doesn't: .msi installer users (NSIS prereq
  page doesn't run for MSI), `npm run dev` users, manual installers,
  anyone who unchecked the install boxes on the NSIS prereq page.
- All gated on `IS_WINDOWS`; macOS / Linux unaffected.

NSIS build issue (resolved)
- electron-builder defaults to `-WX` (warnings as errors). NSIS optimizer
  emits "warning 6010: function not referenced" for our page functions
  because Page custom directives don't count as references in its
  static-analysis pass. The functions ARE called at runtime when NSIS
  invokes the page; the optimizer just can't see it statically.
- Set `build.nsis.warningsAsErrors=false` in package.json so this
  spurious warning doesn't fail the build. (Documented option from
  electron-builder's nsisOptions.)

Out of scope (filed for future work)
- MSI prereq detection: Windows Installer custom actions are a different
  mechanism. Enterprise deploys typically handle prereqs via GP/Intune.
- Bundle PortableGit + python-build-standalone in extraResources for
  zero-network installs. ~80MB increase.
- Mac / Linux GUI prereq flows (different installer formats; Xcode CLT
  covers most macOS prereqs already; Linux is per-distro hard).

Files
- apps/desktop/installer/prereq-check.nsh   (new, ~290 lines NSIS)
- apps/desktop/package.json                 (build.nsis.include +
                                              warningsAsErrors)
- apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs            (findGitBash + preflight)
- apps/desktop/README.md                    (Runtime prerequisites
                                              section)

Cross-platform impact
- macOS / Linux builds (dist:mac, dist:mac:dmg, dist:mac:zip): nsis
  config is ignored entirely; .nsh is dormant.
- npm run dev: .nsh dormant; main.cjs preflight gated on IS_WINDOWS.
- scripts/install.ps1, scripts/install.sh: no reference to any new
  files; CLI install paths untouched.
- Hermes CLI / dashboard / gateway: no reference; runtime untouched.
- All checks: node --check on main.cjs and test-desktop.mjs pass;
  npm run test:desktop:platforms 4/4 passing; node --test green.

Tested
- npm run dist:win produces signed .exe and .msi without errors.
- Fresh Win11 VM (Python pre-installed, no Git): prereq page renders,
  Python check shows detected, Git checkbox pre-checked. Click Next →
  Git installs via winget with UAC prompt in foreground.
- After install completes, Hermes launches and the agent's terminal
  tool can run bash commands. Verified Git Bash is detected at
  `C:\Program Files\Git\bin\bash.exe` by ensureRuntime's preflight.

* feat: theme changes, composer tweaks, in app update ux, finesse

* fix(cli): seed bundled skills on dashboard + gateway entrypoints

`sync_skills(quiet=True)` was only being called from inside `cmd_chat`,
which meant `hermes dashboard` (the desktop GUI's backend) and `hermes
gateway` (Telegram/Discord/Slack/etc daemons) never seeded the bundled
skill library into ~/.hermes/skills/.

This surfaced as "No skills found" in the desktop GUI's skills panel on
fresh installs, despite the agent having access to the full bundled
library when invoked via `hermes chat`. scripts/install.ps1 worked
around it by running skills_sync.py as part of Copy-ConfigTemplates,
but that's not part of the desktop installer's bootstrap chain.

Fix
- Extract the skills-sync block from cmd_chat into a module-level
  `_sync_bundled_skills_quietly()` helper.
- Call the helper from cmd_chat (preserving existing behavior),
  cmd_dashboard (after the --status/--stop early-return paths and
  fastapi import check, so we don't run skills_sync on management
  commands or when deps aren't installed), and cmd_gateway.

Why these three entrypoints
- cmd_chat: the user's primary CLI entrypoint
- cmd_dashboard: the desktop GUI's backend; this is what `hermes
  dashboard --tui` invokes when the desktop bootstrapper spawns Hermes
- cmd_gateway: long-running daemons where the user expects the agent
  to have full skill access

Other entrypoints (cmd_config, cmd_doctor, cmd_login, cmd_status,
etc.) are management commands that don't need skill discovery and were
never running skills_sync in the first place — leaving them alone.

Idempotence
- tools/skills_sync.py is manifest-based: skipped skills cost
  milliseconds. Calling it from multiple entrypoints adds no real
  cost, and users running `hermes chat` then `hermes dashboard` get
  two fast no-ops on the second call.

Failure handling
- Helper wraps skills_sync in try/except. Skills are an enhancement,
  not a hard dependency — Hermes runs fine with an empty skills/ dir.

Files
- hermes_cli/main.py:
  + new helper `_sync_bundled_skills_quietly()` at module level
  + cmd_chat: replace inline block with helper call
  + cmd_dashboard: add helper call after fastapi import succeeds
  + cmd_gateway: add helper call before delegating to gateway_command

* feat(desktop): hoisted todo widget, JSON tool summaries, history grouping & timer fixes

- Hoist todo to first-class widget (shadcn checkboxes, brand colors, no
  tool-accordion). Header derives label from active task; non-active rows fade.
- Replace raw JSON dumps with structured key/value summaries via
  formatToolResultSummary; nested error extraction for clearer failures.
- Fix loaded-session grouping: stitch interleaved assistant/tool iterations
  into one bubble instead of orphaned synthetic messages.
- Stable tool/thinking timers via keyed registry so unmount/scroll doesn't
  reset elapsed counts; gate "running" on real live thread state.
- Reorganize chat-only assistant-ui components under components/chat/.

* fix(desktop): address CodeQL alerts on PR #20059

- settings/helpers.ts: harden setNested against prototype pollution.
  POLLUTING_PATH_PARTS check is now applied at every assignment site
  (loop + leaf) and uses Object.defineProperty so CodeQL can see the
  guard inline rather than via a helper function call.

- lib/markdown-preprocess.ts: rebuild the dangling-fence close regex
  from a fence-char + length instead of marker.replace(...). The marker
  is captured by `(`{3,}|~{3,})` so it can only be backticks or tildes,
  but CodeQL was tracing tainted input text into the RegExp source and
  flagging hostname dots from input as part of the pattern (false
  positive js/incomplete-hostname-regexp on the test fixture URLs).
  Reconstructing from a literal char breaks the dataflow.

- scripts/notarize-artifact.cjs: drop args from the run() rejection
  message. Args carry --key-id / --issuer / key file path; the existing
  outer catch already squashes errors to a generic line, but CodeQL was
  flagging the args.join(' ') as clear-text logging of APPLE_API_KEY_ID.

Composer DOM-text-as-HTML alerts (composer/index.tsx:379, :547) are
already addressed in 4dd9732a9 — innerHTML assignment was replaced with
renderComposerContents which builds DOM via replaceChildren / append
text nodes (no HTML interpretation).

* fix(desktop): inline prototype-pollution guard so CodeQL sees it

CodeQL's dataflow doesn't follow the helper-function guard inside
`safeSet`, so it kept flagging Object.defineProperty as prototype-
polluting. Inline the literal `__proto__`/`constructor`/`prototype`
check at the assignment site to break the dataflow.

Behavior unchanged — same set of disallowed keys, same throw.

* feat(ui-tui): resolve links to readable page titles

Mirror desktop pretty-link behavior in the TUI by resolving HTTP links to page titles with shared caching and safe fetch filters, plus slug-based fallbacks so chat links stay readable even when title fetch fails.

* fix(desktop): drop RegExp from dangling-fence close detection

Previous attempt tried to break the dataflow by reconstructing the
close-fence regex from a literal char + marker.length, but CodeQL still
traced marker.length back to input and kept flagging the test-fixture
URLs as hostname-regex sources (js/incomplete-hostname-regexp).

Replace `new RegExp(...)` + `closeRe.test(body)` with a string-only
hasCloseFenceLine() helper that splits on '\n' and uses ===. No regex
on this path now, so input data can no longer reach a RegExp source.

Behavior preserved: matches lines that are (whitespace + marker +
whitespace), which is what the original `\n[ \t]*${marker}[ \t]*(?=\n|$)`
matched. All 12 markdown-text tests still pass.

* fix(process-registry): suppress windows-footgun false positive on guarded killpg

Keep the existing POSIX-only process-group teardown path, but make the
signal selection explicit via getattr and add an inline windows-footgun
suppression marker on the guarded os.killpg line so the Windows footgun
check no longer blocks CI on this intentionally platform-gated code.

* feat(desktop): reconcile live tool events, polish thread chrome, harden boot

- chat-messages: match tool rows by overlapping query/context/preview values
  so preview-first `tool.progress` rows reliably adopt later stable-id
  `tool.start` payloads instead of spawning ghost rows or mis-merging
  parallel same-name calls; preserve prior args/result across phases.
- tui_gateway: emit full args + parsed result on `tool.start` / `tool.complete`,
  drop redundant `tool.started` re-emit from `tool.progress`.
- electron/main: prefer SOURCE_REPO_ROOT before PATH `hermes` in dev so
  local backend edits actually run; split hardening helpers into
  `electron/hardening.cjs` with tests.
- thread/tool UI: one-shot enter animation keyed by stable ids, braille
  spinner for running rows, Cursor-like disclosure rows, drill-down +
  duration/count formatting via new tool-fallback-model.
- composer: extract `text-utils`, drop liquid-glass overrides.
- right-rail: split preview-pane into preview-console / preview-file.
- runtime: incremental external-store runtime + runtime-readiness gate;
  onboarding store + tests; route-resume hook test.
- regression tests for live tool reconciliation (parallel tools, id-less
  progress, preview-first rows, structured args/results).

* feat(desktop): add ripgrep to NSIS prereq page + polish layout

Add ripgrep as a third (recommended) prereq alongside Python and Git in
the NSIS prereq detection page, and clean up the page layout based on
on-VM testing.

Why ripgrep
- Hermes' search_files tool calls `rg` directly for content + filename
  search (tools/file_operations.py:1382). Falls back to grep/find from
  Git Bash when missing — works but slower and noisier (no .gitignore
  awareness).
- ~5MB winget install via `BurntSushi.ripgrep.MSVC --scope user` — no
  UAC prompt, parallel to how Python installs.
- scripts/install.ps1 already installs ripgrep as part of
  Install-SystemPackages; this brings the desktop installer to parity.

Why "recommended" not "required"
- Python and Git are hard requirements: without them the agent runtime
  or terminal tool refuses to start. The bootstrapper preflight throws.
- ripgrep is a performance enhancement: missing it just means slower
  searches. Page wording reflects this; failure to install is logged
  but doesn't show a MessageBox or block.

Layout polish (response to on-VM screenshot review)
- Wizard header now correctly reads "System Requirements" instead of
  the leftover "Choose Install Location" from the previous page. Set
  via `GetDlgItem $HWNDPARENT 1037/1038` + WM_SETTEXT — the standard
  NSIS pattern for overriding the page header on a custom Page.
- Removed redundant in-body title + verbose intro paragraph; the
  wizard header IS the title now. Body has one short intro line.
- Group boxes tightened to 26u with content positioned just below the
  groupbox title (not top-anchored status + bottom-anchored checkbox
  with empty space in the middle). All three panels + footer fit
  comfortably in 126u, well under the 140u page limit.
- Checkbox labels simplified: dropped "(per-user, no admin prompt)"
  and "(administrator approval required)" suffixes. The footer note
  still calls out UAC for Git when relevant.
- Footer text trimmed to fit cleanly without clipping.

Install order (in customInstall macro)
- Python → ripgrep → Git
- Python and ripgrep are silent and run first; Git's UAC prompt comes
  last so the user's approval interaction isn't interrupted by silent
  activity afterwards.

Skip behavior unchanged
- All three detected → page auto-skips via Abort
- Silent install (/S) → customInstall winget block skips
- User unchecks all → page advances without running winget

Files
- apps/desktop/installer/prereq-check.nsh: ripgrep detection block,
  ripgrep page panel + checkbox, ripgrep customInstall block,
  GetDlgItem header override, layout reflow
- apps/desktop/README.md: Runtime prerequisites section updated to
  list ripgrep as recommended, with manual winget command

* feat(desktop): add model-confirmation step to onboarding

After OAuth/API-key login completes, onboarding now shows a confirmation
card with the curated default model and a Change button before dropping
the user into chat. Closes the gap where the desktop's `model.default`
was empty after first launch and the agent had to fall back to whatever
heuristic happened to fire — leaving users wondering "why am I getting
sonnet-4 when I logged into Nous Portal?"

Why
- Desktop onboarding only persisted credentials, never `model.default`.
  The CLI's `hermes model` command pairs provider + model selection,
  but the desktop's onboarding skipped the model step entirely.
- Result: users saw whichever model the agent's auto-fallback picked,
  unpredictably and undocumented.
- For the BUILD demo we want users to land on the model they expect
  for their provider, with a clear "this is what you're getting" UI
  and a one-click path to change it before chatting.

How
- New `confirming_model` flow status carries the just-authenticated
  provider slug, current default model, label, and a saving flag.
- `completeWithModelConfirm()` runs after credentials succeed: reloads
  env, verifies runtime, fetches /api/model/options to find the curated
  first-model for the provider, persists it via /api/model/set, then
  transitions into `confirming_model`.
- If anything fails (no providers returned, network error), falls
  through to the previous behaviour — onboarding completes without
  the confirm step. Polish, not a hard requirement.
- All four credential paths (device_code OAuth, PKCE OAuth, external
  CLI flow, API key) now use completeWithModelConfirm instead of
  reloadAndConnect.

UI
- `ConfirmingModelPanel` shows: green "<provider> connected" banner,
  card with "Default model: <name>" + Change button, and a "Start
  chatting" CTA that finalises onboarding.
- Reuses the existing `ModelPickerDialog` (the same picker available
  from the chat shell) for the change-model UX. Search, filtering,
  multi-provider listing — all already built.
- Stacking: ModelPickerDialog defaults to z-130, which renders UNDER
  the onboarding overlay (z-1300) and breaks pointer events. Added
  optional `contentClassName` prop to ModelPickerDialog so callers
  can override; onboarding passes `z-[1310]`.

Provider-slug matching
- For OAuth flows: pass `provider.id` directly as the preferred slug.
- For API-key flows: `OPENROUTER_API_KEY` → "openrouter" via env-key
  prefix strip. Also includes the user-visible label as a fallback
  candidate.
- fetchProviderDefaultModel falls back to the first authenticated
  provider in the response if no preferred slug matches — so even a
  miss still surfaces a reasonable default.

Files
- apps/desktop/src/store/onboarding.ts:
  + new `confirming_model` flow variant
  + fetchProviderDefaultModel + completeWithModelConfirm helpers
  + setOnboardingModel (optimistic update + revert on failure)
  + confirmOnboardingModel (finalises onboarding from the card)
  - reloadAndConnect (replaced; the four call sites now go through
    completeWithModelConfirm)
- apps/desktop/src/components/desktop-onboarding-overlay.tsx:
  + ConfirmingModelPanel component
  + new branch in FlowPanel for status `confirming_model`
  + ModelPickerDialog usage with z-[1310] content class
- apps/desktop/src/components/model-picker.tsx:
  + optional `contentClassName` prop on ModelPickerDialog so the
    dialog can be stacked on top of other fixed overlays

Tested
- `npm run type-check` passes
- `npx eslint` clean on touched files
- Live test in `npm run dev`: cleared onboarding cache, walked
  through Nous device-code flow, saw confirm card with curated
  default, clicked Change → ModelPickerDialog rendered above the
  onboarding overlay with working pointer events, picked a different
  model, "Start chatting" persisted to ~/.hermes/config.yaml.

* fix(desktop): suppress generic provider warning in onboarding

Hide the red setup notice when the message is the generic missing-provider guidance, since onboarding already presents provider auth actions. Centralize provider-setup matching across desktop hooks and add coverage for the matcher.

* fix(desktop): add 2u clearance below prereq checkboxes

Group box bottom border was clipping the checkboxes by 1-2px.
Bumped each box height 26u→30u; checkboxes now sit 2u above the bottom border.

* fix(nix): refresh dashboard lockfile hash

Update the web npm deps hash in nix/web.nix to match the committed apps/dashboard/package-lock.json so bb/gui passes the nix lockfile check.

* fix(desktop): install TUI deps in release workflow

Ensure desktop release builds install the standalone ui-tui package before bundling the TUI payload.

* fix(desktop): run release builder from app package

Invoke the desktop builder through the package script so electron-builder uses apps/desktop/package.json.

* fix(desktop): expand release artifact names safely

Build desktop artifact names from workflow version/channel while preserving electron-builder platform macros.

* fix(desktop): use package artifact naming in release workflow

Let electron-builder's desktop package config provide platform-specific artifact extensions while the workflow injects the release version/channel metadata.

* fix(nix): fetch dashboard npm deps from package root

Point the dashboard npm dependency fetch at apps/dashboard so Nix can find the package lockfile after the dashboard move.

* fix(nix): build dashboard from package directory

Set the web package source root to apps/dashboard so npm patch/build phases run beside the dashboard lockfile while keeping apps/shared available as a sibling.

* feat(desktop): render LaTeX math via KaTeX after streaming completes

Add @streamdown/math plugin to the chat markdown renderer.
Inline ($x^2$) and block ($$...$$) math both supported with
singleDollarTextMath enabled. Plugin is gated to non-streaming state
to match the existing pattern for syntax highlighting — math renders
when the message completes, avoiding KaTeX re-render churn during
streaming. KaTeX CSS is imported in styles.css; ~30KB CSS + ~430KB
JS added to the bundle. Smoothness improvements during streaming
deferred to a follow-up.

* perf(desktop): memoize KaTeX renders so math streams without re-rendering

Wrap rehype-katex with a per-equation LRU cache (keyed by
displayMode + source text) and re-enable math during streaming.

Stock @streamdown/math runs rehype-katex on every markdown commit,
so each new token re-katexes every equation in the message. For
math-heavy responses (an equation derived step-by-step) that's
hundreds of ms of wasted work per token and the streaming UI
chokes. With memoization, each equation pays katex.renderToString
exactly once; subsequent tokens re-walk the tree but hit cache for
unchanged equations.

The wrapper mirrors rehype-katex's semantics exactly: same class
detection (language-math, math-inline, math-display), same
<pre>-walk-up for fenced math blocks, same parent.children.splice
replacement, same SKIP traversal, same strict-then-lenient render
strategy with VFile message reporting.

Cached children are structuredCloned on each splice so downstream
rehype plugins or toJsxRuntime can't mutate the cache.

* fix(desktop): declare katex-memo deps directly + drop per-app lockfile

katex-memo.ts (added in 112cad59b) imports hast-util-from-html-isomorphic,
hast-util-to-text, remark-math, katex, and unist-util-visit-parents but
those were never added to apps/desktop/package.json. They were silently
resolving via @streamdown/math at the workspace root, which broke the
moment `npm i --prefix apps/desktop` ran with the per-workspace lockfile
because that install only consults apps/desktop/package.json. Add them
as direct deps, plus unified/vfile/@types/hast for the type imports.

Also delete apps/desktop/package-lock.json — root package.json declares
workspaces: ["apps/*"], so npm manages all lockfile state at the root.
The stale per-app lockfile is what made `npm i --prefix apps/desktop`
diverge from the workspace install in the first place and left an empty
apps/desktop/node_modules/@assistant-ui/ stub that Vite's dep optimizer
then tried (and failed) to open at @assistant-ui/core/dist/internal.js.

* feat(desktop): disable Backdrop noise overlay by default

The noise overlay defaulted to on, which adds a busy speckle layer over
the whole window for every new user. Flip the Leva default to off; the
toggle stays in Backdrop / Noise for anyone who wants it back.

* fix(desktop): polish LaTeX rendering — currency, code blocks, brackets

Five distinct bugs surfaced from a math-heavy stress test:

1. Adjacent code fences glued together. scrubBacktickNoise's
   second-pass regex /``\s*``/g matched the LAST 2 backticks of
   one fence + whitespace + FIRST 2 backticks of the next, collapsing
   two blocks into one. Fixed with lookbehind/lookahead so we only
   match exactly 2 backticks not part of a longer run.

2. Whitespace eaten between fences and following content.
   stripPreviewTargets internally calls .trim() which strips leading/
   trailing whitespace from each split-segment. For segments between
   two fences this collapsed \n\n to '', gluing fence close to next
   block. Fixed by capturing leading/trailing whitespace at the call
   site and restoring it after the transform.

3. Currency dollar signs eaten as math. With singleDollarTextMath:true
   remark-math greedy-matched any pair of $, so '$5 ... $10' became
   one inline math span. Added escapeCurrencyDollars to escape $<digit>
   patterns to \$<digit> in prose segments (not in code). Trade-off:
   math expressions starting with a digit (rare — '$5x = 10$') get
   escaped too. Mirrors the convention in ChatGPT/Claude's UIs.

4. \(...\) and \[...\] LaTeX brackets unsupported. Models often
   emit these instead of $...$ / $$...$$. Added
   rewriteLatexBracketDelimiters preprocessor pass.

5. ```latex / ```tex blocks were being routed to KaTeX via a
   rewrite to ```math. Aligns with GitHub markdown convention:
   ```math = render as math; ```latex / ```tex = LaTeX/TeX
   source code (syntax highlighted, not rendered). Conflating them
   broke teaching/showing-source use cases. MATH_FENCE_LANGUAGES
   pruned to {'math'} only.

Also flipped parseIncompleteMarkdown to true (was !isStreaming) so
the math parser can't see $ inside streaming-but-not-yet-closed code
fences. Shiki was already deferred via defer={isStreaming} so this
doesn't introduce new tokenization cost.

Test: 18/18 existing tests still pass; one test updated to expect
escaped \$ in currency-prose-with-URL case.

* fix(desktop): detect Python via registry/filesystem; pin to 3.11–3.13

Two related fixes for Python detection on Windows:

1. py.exe (Python launcher) is missing from per-user installs that
   didn't check the launcher option, so 'py -3.X --version' alone
   misses real Python installs. User-reported case: clean Win11 +
   official Python.org 3.14 install -> 'where py' returned nothing,
   our installer offered to install Python again. Both NSIS prereq
   page and main.cjs now probe in this order:
     1. py.exe launcher (when present)
     2. PEP 514 registry: HKLM/HKCU\SOFTWARE\Python\PythonCore\<v>\InstallPath
     3. Filesystem: %ProgramFiles%\Python<v>, %LocalAppData%\Programs\Python\Python<v>
   Crucially, we never fall back to running 'python.exe' from PATH
   on Windows — the WindowsApps stub at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\
   WindowsApps\python.exe is a redirector that opens the Microsoft
   Store window if no Store Python is installed. Triggering that
   during boot would be terrible UX. Registry/filesystem probes
   never execute the binary.

2. Drop 3.14 from the supported version set. Several Hermes deps
   (notably pywinpty, which carries Rust crates like
   windows_x86_64_msvc) don't yet publish 3.14 wheels. With wheels
   missing, 'pip install -e .' falls back to building from sdist,
   which needs a Rust toolchain — users see 'could not compile
   windows_x86_64_msvc build script' on first run. install.ps1
   sidesteps this by pinning to 3.11 via uv; the desktop installer
   doesn't yet have the same uv-managed-Python pathway, so for now
   we accept 3.11/3.12/3.13 and tell winget to install 3.11 if
   none of those are present. Revisit when the wheel ecosystem
   catches up to 3.14 (~early 2026).

* feat(desktop): Cron, Profiles, usage analytics, and titlebar fixes

- Add Cron and Profiles sidebar routes with full CRUD-style flows and API wiring.
- Extend Command Center with auxiliary task overrides and a Usage panel (7d/30d/90d).
- Fix titlebar geometry for WSL/Windows (native overlay width, tool spacing).
- Remove stray merge conflict markers from pyproject.toml optional deps.

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

* fix(title-bar): position sidebar toggle button

* feat(desktop): composer queue — queue many, edit/delete/cancel-edit, Cursor-style

Press Enter while busy with a draft to queue it; with no draft to interrupt
and send the next queued turn. Auto-drains one queued turn each time the
session settles, same as Cursor. Queue persists across reloads so an
interrupted-and-queued turn isn't lost on refresh.

Each queued row supports edit-in-composer (with explicit Save/Cancel),
send-now (↑), and delete. Drain skips only the entry currently being
edited so the rest of the queue keeps flowing.

Queue dequeue is transactional — an entry only leaves the queue after
`prompt.submit` is accepted, so a rejected submit doesn't drop the turn.

Also shrinks the `[interrupted]` marker to a muted one-liner and drops
its assistant footer so it stops looking like a real reply.

* fix(desktop): handle empty usage analytics totals

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

* fix(desktop): address PR review titlebar and usage races

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

* feat(desktop): add MCP settings and live subagent tree

Surface configured MCP servers in Settings with JSON edit/save and a gateway-backed reload action so users can manage tool servers without falling back to slash commands.

Track live subagent gateway events in a desktop store, show active subagent counts in the Agents statusbar item, and replace the Agents overlay stub with a live spawn tree for the active session.

* fix(desktop): move power-user views out of sidebar

Keep Cron and Profiles available through lower-prominence chrome entry points so the workspace sidebar stays focused on core chat navigation.

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

* refactor(desktop): subagent overlay reads like a live transcript, not a dashboard

Strip the card chrome and rewire /agents to feel like peeking into the
child agent's stream:

- subagents store: single `stream` of typed entries (thinking/tool/progress/
  summary) replaces the parallel notes/thinking/tools arrays. Drop unused
  fields (toolsets, depth, apiCalls, reasoningTokens, sessionId).
- agents view: no OverlayCards, no boxed stream, no per-row borders. Goal +
  status pill + indented stream lines, full row width.
- Group root spawns into "Delegation N" sections when batch shape + spawn
  time match — hides task-index interleaving and makes hierarchy obvious.
- Sort tree by spawn time, then task_index. Step indicator is one colored
  pill (primary while running, emerald when done) inside the row, not a
  trailing pill that wrapped under the chevron.
- Tree picks up `subagent.start` (not only `spawn_requested`) and prunes
  delegate-tool fallback rows once native subagent events land for the
  session — fixes duplicate "Delegated task" rows alongside the real ones.

* feat(desktop): Esc closes every OverlayView-based overlay

Lift the keyboard handler into the shared OverlayView so Agents, Settings,
Command Center — and anything we build on top of it later — all dismiss on
Esc by default. Nested Radix dialogs stop propagation themselves, so a
modal opened inside an overlay (e.g. model picker inside Settings) still
closes the modal first, not the overlay underneath.

Drop the now-redundant Esc handlers in Settings (kept Cmd/Ctrl+P) and
Command Center.

* fix(desktop): drop numbered step pill on subagent rows

The pill was getting clipped at the overlay edge anyway. Just use the
status glyph (●/✓/✗/■/○) — the delegation header already conveys
"3 workers, 3 active", and order in the list implies which step you're
looking at.

* fix(desktop): drop noisy "returned N items / empty object" stub strings

When a tool returns nothing useful, the row should be silent — the title
("Search Files", etc.) already tells the user what happened. Counting the
fields in an opaque payload is engineer-noise.

`formatToolResultSummary` and `minimalValueSummary` now return '' for
empty arrays / records / unrecognized values; tool-fallback already hides
the detail section when its body is empty.

* refactor(desktop): subagent rows borrow chat tool patterns (fade-in, lucide glyphs, shimmer)

Pull the agents view closer to how chat tool blocks render:
- statusGlyph() returns the same lucide BrailleSpinner / CheckCircle2 /
  AlertCircle vocabulary as tool-fallback's statusGlyph
- Stream lines fade-in via useEnterAnimation (one-shot WAAPI), keyed per
  entry so streamed deltas settle in instead of popping
- Subagent rows fade in too, and pick up the existing data-slot=tool-block
  spacing rules between blocks
- Active stream line trails a BrailleSpinner instead of a hand-rolled
  pulsing rectangle
- Goal text drops FadeText (which forces nowrap); keep FadeText only for
  the single-line meta subtitle
- Running rows shimmer the title — same affordance the chat thinking row
  uses

* refactor(desktop): make /agents subagent-only, drop sidebar + dead sections

Activity rail and History stub were both noise. Strip the split layout,
sidebar, route enum, and the rail/stub helpers — the overlay is now just
the spawn tree, centered in a max-w-3xl column so it stops claiming the
whole screen for one section's worth of content.

* feat: update cron modals

* Add dedicated GUI log stream for dashboard debugging.

Capture dashboard and PTY websocket lifecycle failures in gui.log and expose it via hermes logs.

* Improve desktop runtime UX by surfacing inference readiness in gateway status and hardening WSL link opening.

This also stabilizes markdown code/table block spacing and adds root-install guards so desktop dev runs use a healthy workspace dependency tree.

* Log detailed GUI websocket failure metadata.

Capture richer reject/disconnect/send/parse context for dashboard gateway websocket flows so GUI connection failures are diagnosable from logs.

* Default dashboard startup logging to GUI mode.

Detect the dashboard subcommand during early CLI bootstrap so gui.log is attached from process start and GUI startup failures are always captured.

* Clean up gateway status conditionals and logging bootstrap mode detection.

Simplify nested dashboard gateway status branches for readability and use a concise first-subcommand check when selecting early GUI logging mode.

* add logging to nsis installer

* feat: glass ui pass

* fix(desktop): persist inline assistant errors across hydrate/resume

- Detect provider failure text arriving via message.complete
  (HTTP 4xx, "API call failed after N retries", Provider/Gateway
  error: ...) and persist as an inline assistant error instead of
  regular completion text, blocking the hydrate that was wiping it.
- preserveLocalAssistantErrors: merge by id so same-id hydrated
  messages keep their local error, and preserve the optimistic
  user+error pair as a unit (with tail-user dedupe).
- Hook all hydrate/resume writers (use-session-actions resume +
  fallback, hydrateFromStoredSession, syncSessionStateToView) into
  the merge so stale snapshots can't clobber a failed turn.
- Add error to chatMessagesEquivalent so the resume diff actually
  sees error-only changes and paints them.
- editMessage on a failed turn now submits a plain resend (no
  truncate_before_user_ordinal) and retries plainly on the
  "no longer in session history" race.

Style polish on touched files:
- Inline error: text-only treatment (no card).
- User stop / edit-composer send: shared Tabler IconPlayerStopFilled
  glyph + shared icon-button class slot for parity.

* feat(desktop): theme xterm with active light/dark mode

The right-sidebar terminal hardcoded a light palette, which read poorly
on the dark glass surface. Subscribe to `useTheme().resolvedMode` and
hot-swap `term.options.theme` so Shift+X (and any other mode change)
updates the terminal in place without tearing down the PTY session.

Dark mode uses xterm's built-in defaults (white fg/cursor + vivid ANSI
16) with just a transparent background so the glass shows through;
light mode keeps the existing hand-tuned overrides for legibility on a
bright surface.

* feat(sidebar): right-click + drag-reorder sessions and workspaces

- Wire right-click on session rows to open the same actions menu;
  suppresses the OS-native context menu so Windows stops looking awful.
- Share dropdown + context menu items via useSessionActions() driving
  a single declarative ItemSpec[]; render polymorphic over MenuItem.
- New shadcn ContextMenu primitive mirroring DropdownMenu styling.
- Restore drag-and-drop reordering for Agents (lost during the cwd
  cleanup) and add reordering of workspace groups via a right-side
  grab handle. Pinned reorder unchanged.
- Generic orderByIds<T> replaces the duplicated session/group orderers;
  useSortableBindings() hook collapses the two Sortable wrappers.
- cursor-pointer on every actionable element; cursor-grab on handles.
- KISS pass: baseName() helper, AGE_TICKS table, single WORKSPACE_PAGE
  constant, flatter SidebarSessionsSection render.

* feat(desktop): solarize the xterm palette in both light & dark

xterm's default ANSI 16 is tuned for dark and reads candy-bright on the
light glass surface (vivid cyans/greens). Ship the canonical Solarized
palette (Schoonover) for both modes — same 16 accents either way, only
fg/cursor swap between `base00/01` (light) and `base0/1` (dark), so a
prompt's colors look uniform across a Shift+X toggle.

Background stays transparent in both modes — Solarized's cream/slate
backgrounds would fight the glass.

* feat(desktop): virtualize chat thread + sidebar via TanStack Virtual

Replaces `use-stick-to-bottom` and per-row session rendering with
`@tanstack/react-virtual`, matching what Cursor uses.

Chat thread (`thread-virtualizer.tsx`):
- Natural-flow virtualization (padding spacers, not absolute items) so
  `position: sticky` on the human bubble still resolves cleanly against
  the scroller.
- Custom at-bottom anchor: pins when armed, disarms on user-driven
  upward scroll, re-arms at bottom, jumps on session switch +
  `thread.runStart`.
- Loading indicator and `--thread-last-message-clearance` move to a
  real `[data-slot=aui_composer-clearance]` node; drops the brittle
  `:nth-last-child(1 of …)` rule that can't fire reliably under
  virtualization.

Sidebar (`virtual-session-list.tsx`):
- Flat agents list virtualizes at >=25 rows; pinned and
  workspace-grouped paths stay direct-render.
- `SortableContext` keeps all IDs; only the window mounts; dnd-kit's
  `setNodeRef` is merged with `virtualizer.measureElement` so rows
  participate in both DnD hit-testing and TanStack measurement.

Drops `use-stick-to-bottom`. Streaming test gets a global
`offsetWidth/offsetHeight` stub so the virtualizer's viewport sizing
works in jsdom; the scroll-up-doesn't-pull-back invariant still passes.

* feat: more ui qa

* fix(desktop): trim sidebar terminal startup spacer

Drop zsh's initial spacer row before writing the first terminal prompt so new sidebar terminal sessions do not open with a selectable blank line.

* chore: uptick

* feat(desktop): thin installer + first-launch install.ps1 bootstrap

Converges the Windows packaged desktop installer onto a single canonical
install topology: drop the Electron shell only (~80MB instead of ~500MB),
clone Hermes Agent at a build-time-pinned commit on first launch via
install.ps1's stage protocol, and treat the resulting git checkout at
%LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes\hermes-agent\ as the canonical install location
(same path the CLI installer uses).  Future updates flow through the
existing applyUpdates() git-pull path.

Replaces the previous fat-installer architecture where the .exe bundled
a pre-staged hermes-agent source tree under resources/hermes-agent/ that
was then sync'd into ACTIVE_HERMES_ROOT at launch -- a complicated
factory-vs-active dance with several footguns (FACTORY_HERMES_ROOT
mismatch on path resolve, isGitCheckout guard regressions, pyproject
hash drift detection inside the sync loop).

Architecture overview
---------------------

  Build time
    apps/desktop/scripts/write-build-stamp.cjs writes
    apps/desktop/build/install-stamp.json with {commit, branch, builtAt,
    dirty}.  Honours $GITHUB_SHA / $GITHUB_REF_NAME in CI, falls back to
    `git rev-parse HEAD` locally.

    apps/desktop/scripts/stage-native-deps.cjs copies the runtime subset
    of @homebridge/node-pty-prebuilt-multiarch from the workspace-root
    node_modules into apps/desktop/build/native-deps/.  Workspace dedup
    hoists this dep to the root, out of reach of electron-builder's
    `files:`-restricted collector; staging gives us a deterministic
    path to extraResources.

    electron-builder ships both into resources/install-stamp.json and
    resources/native-deps/ respectively.

  Boot resolver (electron/main.cjs)
    Resolver order:
      1. HERMES_DESKTOP_HERMES_ROOT override
      2. SOURCE_REPO_ROOT (dev mode)
      3. ACTIVE_HERMES_ROOT git checkout WITH .hermes-bootstrap-complete
         marker -- the post-install fast path
      4. `hermes` on PATH (CLI-installed user adding the desktop)
      5. pip-installed hermes_cli via system Python
      6. bootstrap-needed sentinel -> hand off to runBootstrap

    Deletes the entire FACTORY_HERMES_ROOT / RUNTIME_MARKER /
    syncTreeExcludingVenv machinery (-200 lines).  The isGitCheckout
    guard that bit us in the install.ps1 PR is gone.

  First-launch bootstrap (electron/bootstrap-runner.cjs)
    1. Resolve install.ps1: prefer SOURCE_REPO_ROOT/scripts (dev), else
       download from GitHub raw at INSTALL_STAMP.commit (cached at
       HERMES_HOME\bootstrap-cache\install-<sha>.ps1).
    2. Fetch the stage manifest via install.ps1 -Manifest -Commit X
       -Branch Y.
    3. Iterate stages: install.ps1 -Stage <name> -NonInteractive -Json
       -Commit X -Branch Y per stage.
    4. On all stages green: write the .hermes-bootstrap-complete
       marker with {schemaVersion, pinnedCommit, pinnedBranch,
       completedAt, desktopVersion}.

    Per-run log to HERMES_HOME\logs\bootstrap-<ts>.log.  Cancellation
    via AbortSignal.  Manifest cache so retries don't re-download.

  Install overlay (src/components/desktop-install-overlay.tsx)
    Mounted alongside the existing onboarding overlay; flexbox card
    with header (static) + middle (scrollable) + footer (failure-only,
    static).  Subscribes to hermes:bootstrap:event IPC + resyncs from
    hermes:bootstrap:get on mount/reload.  Renders:
      - 14-stage checklist with per-stage state icons
      - Overall progress bar + current-stage spotlight
      - Auto-expanded installer-output panel on failure
      - "Copy output" button (full ring buffer + error to clipboard)
      - "Reload and retry" wired through hermes:bootstrap:reset to
        clear main.cjs's latched failure
    Synthetic empty-manifest event from main.cjs flips the overlay to
    'active' immediately so the slow install.ps1 download doesn't
    leave the user staring at the generic Preparing splash.

  Failure latching (main.cjs)
    bootstrapFailure module-scope variable holds the rejection after
    install.ps1 fails.  startHermes() throws the latched error
    immediately when set, bypassing the entire ensureRuntime +
    runBootstrap chain.  Without this, the renderer's ensureGatewayOpen
    retries would re-run install.ps1 in a 5-10 min hot loop while the
    user was still reading the failure overlay.  Cleared via
    hermes:bootstrap:reset on user-driven retry.

  Unsupported-platform overlay (1F)
    macOS / Linux packaged builds (no install.sh stage protocol yet)
    emit an unsupported-platform event with a copy-pasteable install
    command + docs URL.  Dedicated overlay branch with "Copy command"
    + "I've run it -- retry" buttons.

install.ps1 additions (Phase 1F.3 + 1F.5)
-----------------------------------------

  New -Commit and -Tag string params.  Precedence Commit > Tag >
  Branch.  Honoured by all three code paths (update / fresh clone /
  ZIP fallback), with archive URL selection that handles each
  ref-type variant.  Detached-HEAD checkouts intentionally -- they're
  pins, not branches the user pulls into.

  EAP=Continue wrap around the new pin-step git invocations.  `git
  fetch origin <commit>` writes the routine 'From <url>' info line to
  stderr; under the script's global EAP=Stop that terminates the
  script even though fetch+checkout succeed.  Matches the established
  pattern in Install-Uv, Test-Python, _Run-NpmInstall.

Backend fix (hermes_cli/web_server.py)
--------------------------------------

  CORS allow_origin_regex now accepts Origin: 'null'.  Packaged
  Electron loads index.html via file://; Chromium sets the WebSocket
  upgrade Origin header to the opaque origin 'null', which the old
  regex rejected with HTTP 403 before gateway_ws() ever ran.  This
  failure mode was masked in the older FACTORY_HERMES_ROOT
  architecture because the resolver often found an existing hermes
  on PATH with different binding behavior.

  Security maintained: localhost-only bind keeps cross-machine pages
  out; per-process session token still gates every authenticated
  /api/ endpoint regardless of Origin.

Desktop QoL
-----------

  DevTools is now enabled in packaged builds (F12 / Cmd+Opt+I).
  Field-debugging trade-off: tiny attack surface increase versus
  a much better support story when CSP / WS / theme issues surface.

  NSIS prereq-check page deleted (-767 lines).  The standard
  Welcome -> License -> Directory -> InstallFiles -> Finish wizard
  no…