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fix: move _last_content_with_tools fallback after retry mechanisms#8024

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fix: move _last_content_with_tools fallback after retry mechanisms#8024
tomqiaozc wants to merge 1 commit into
NousResearch:mainfrom
tomqiaozc:fix/last-content-with-tools-retry-bypass

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@tomqiaozc

@tomqiaozc tomqiaozc commented Apr 12, 2026

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Summary

  • Moves the _last_content_with_tools fallback to fire after all retry mechanisms (thinking-prefill retry, empty-content retry ×3, fallback provider), instead of before them. Previously the fallback short-circuited retries, causing silent mid-task termination with stale content.
  • Clears stale _last_content_with_tools on tool-only turns (no real content) to prevent old content from persisting across many turns.
  • Adds 3 tests covering: retries fire before fallback, fallback fires after retries exhausted, stale capture cleared on tool-only turns.

Fixes #7968

Test plan

  • TestLastContentWithToolsFallback::test_retries_before_fallback_on_empty_followup — verifies retries produce fresh content before fallback is consulted
  • TestLastContentWithToolsFallback::test_fallback_used_after_all_retries_exhausted — verifies fallback IS used when all retries return empty
  • TestLastContentWithToolsFallback::test_stale_fallback_cleared_on_tool_only_turn — verifies tool-only turn clears stale capture
  • Full test_run_agent.py suite: 251/251 passed

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

@claude
fix: move _last_content_with_tools fallback after retry mechanisms
c7b41d9 
The _last_content_with_tools fallback was firing before empty-response
retries (thinking-prefill, empty-content, fallback provider), causing
the agent to silently terminate mid-task with stale content instead of
retrying. Move the fallback to after all retry mechanisms are exhausted
so it only fires as a true last resort.

Also clear stale _last_content_with_tools on tool-only turns to prevent
old content from persisting across many turns.

Fixes NousResearch#7968

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@tomqiaozc tomqiaozc mentioned this pull request Apr 12, 2026
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@mwtxr mwtxr mentioned this pull request Apr 14, 2026
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@teknium1

teknium1 commented Apr 27, 2026

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Thanks for the thorough write-up and repro in #7968, @tomqiaozc — this is a real and well-documented bug.

However, the core issue was independently fixed on main three days after this PR was opened, via commit 0d25e1c14 (PR #10472, merged Apr 15 2026). That commit took a slightly different approach — rather than reordering the fallback after all retry mechanisms, it introduced a _last_content_tools_all_housekeeping gate that restricts the fallback to turns where all tools were housekeeping (memory, todo, etc.). Substantive-tool turns now fall through to the existing post-tool nudge path, which achieves the same goal of preventing premature loop exit on mid-task narration content.

The secondary fix (clearing stale _last_content_with_tools on tool-only turns) is also covered: run_agent.py:12152 clears the field in the post-tool-empty-retried branch.

Evidence:

  • run_agent.py:12112 — housekeeping gate (_last_content_tools_all_housekeeping) is live on main
  • run_agent.py:12152 — stale-clear on tool-only turns is live on main
  • Commit 0d25e1c146092b36f26205f65e93c25e5147a646 — the implementing fix

Note: your three TestLastContentWithToolsFallback tests were not ported to main. If you'd like to open a focused follow-up PR that adds just those tests (adapted to the current housekeeping-gate design), that would be a net positive for regression coverage.

This is an automated hermes-sweeper review.

@teknium1 teknium1 closed this Apr 27, 2026
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[Bug]: _last_content_with_tools fallback bypasses empty-response retries, causing silent agent loop termination mid-task

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@tomqiaozc @teknium1