Files
hermes-agent/hermes_cli/memory_provider_migration.py
Teknium 3569e8461e fix(plugins): left-core startup installs back off exponentially instead of hourly forever
A home whose automatic left-core install (Home Assistant, Spotify) or memory-provider install can
never succeed (a version gate, a root-owned plugins dir, no route to GitHub) retried on the first
agent/gateway start of every hour, indefinitely. Telemetry shows the result: about 2 failures per
affected user per day on the homeassistant row, and its daily failures climbing while successes
fell as the migration finished for everyone it could reach.

The failure stamp now records a consecutive-failure count, and the startup window is 1 h doubled
per failure, capped at a week (1 h, 2 h, 4 h ... 7 d). An offline laptop still gets its plugin
within the hour; `hermes update` still always retries; a successful memory-provider install clears
the count; the empty stamp an older Hermes touched reads as one failure.
2026-10-12 01:15:04 -07:00

326 lines
16 KiB
Python

"""Move a user from a memory provider that left core onto its catalog plugin.
A bundled ``plugins/memory/<name>`` that becomes a standalone catalog plugin keeps the same provider
name, the settings it already read, its data directory and tool names, so the migration is only
"the code now lives under ``HERMES_HOME/plugins/<name>``". Two hooks call :func:`migrate_home`:
* ``hermes update`` — for every profile home that shares the venv (primary; runs where the venv was
just rebuilt anyway).
* agent init — when the configured provider cannot be found at all, once per process (Desktop
users update through the app and never run ``hermes update`` by hand). After a failed attempt,
starts skip it for :data:`STARTUP_RETRY_SECONDS`, doubling with each further failure up to
:data:`STARTUP_RETRY_MAX_SECONDS` (``hermes update`` always retries): every ``hermes chat``, cron
run and Desktop restart otherwise paid the network round trip again and showed the same failure.
Both install the catalog entry at its reviewed pin through the normal plugin install path (kill
list, dependency constraints, enable), never a custom source. Every outcome — installed, refused,
failed, absent from the catalog — reaches the user (terminal, Desktop, chat platform), never only
``agent.log``: a provider that silently stays missing is lost memory.
"""
from __future__ import annotations
import logging
import sys
import time
from pathlib import Path
from typing import Callable, Optional
logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
_attempted: set[tuple[str, str]] = set()
# Providers that shipped bundled in core. Unattended consent covers only these: their users already
# accepted the deps when they picked the built-in. Any other catalog plugin named in memory.provider
# (a synced config, a cloned profile) still needs an explicit install.
_LEFT_CORE = frozenset({"hindsight", "honcho", "mem0", "supermemory", "openviking", "retaindb", "byterover", "holographic"})
# The startup retry window doubles with each consecutive failure, up to a week: a flat window had a
# home whose install can never succeed (a version gate, a root-owned plugins dir, no route to GitHub)
# fail once an hour for good, while an offline laptop still gets its plugin within the hour.
STARTUP_RETRY_SECONDS = 3600.0
STARTUP_RETRY_MAX_SECONDS = 7 * 24 * 3600.0
def _failure_stamp(home: Path, plugin: str) -> Path:
"""Written on every failed automatic install: its mtime and failure count gate the next startup attempt."""
return home / "cache" / f"left-core-{plugin}.failed"
def _failure_count(stamp: Path) -> int:
"""Consecutive failures recorded in *stamp*; the empty stamp an older Hermes touched counts once."""
try:
text = stamp.read_text(encoding="utf-8-sig").strip()
except OSError:
return 0
return int(text) if text.isdigit() else 1
def _note_failure(home: Path, plugin: str) -> None:
stamp = _failure_stamp(home, plugin)
try:
stamp.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
stamp.write_text(str(_failure_count(stamp) + 1), encoding="utf-8")
except OSError as exc:
logger.debug("left-core retry stamp not written for %s: %s", home, exc)
def _failed_recently(home: Path, plugin: str) -> bool:
stamp = _failure_stamp(home, plugin)
try:
age = time.time() - stamp.stat().st_mtime
except OSError:
return False
failures = min(_failure_count(stamp), 32)
return age < min(STARTUP_RETRY_SECONDS * 2 ** (failures - 1), STARTUP_RETRY_MAX_SECONDS)
def _note_success(home: Path, plugin: str) -> None:
"""A later failure (the plugin removed, then missed again) starts the backoff from an hour."""
_failure_stamp(home, plugin).unlink(missing_ok=True)
def configured_provider(home: Path) -> str:
"""``memory.provider`` of *home*'s effective config, or ``""``."""
from pm.plugins_state import read_home_selection
memory = (read_home_selection(home) or {}).get("memory") or {}
return str(memory.get("provider") or "").strip()
def provider_present(name: str, home: Path) -> bool:
"""True when the provider resolves anywhere Hermes looks for *home* (bundled, that home's user
plugins, entry point). The lookup reads the active home, so it is bound explicitly: the update
hook walks several profile homes from one process."""
from plugins.memory import find_provider_dir
from hermes_constants import reset_hermes_home_override, set_hermes_home_override
token = set_hermes_home_override(home)
try:
return find_provider_dir(name) is not None
finally:
reset_hermes_home_override(token)
def catalog_source(name: str) -> Optional[str]:
"""The catalog entry that ships provider *name*, or None when the catalog has no such plugin."""
from hermes_cli.plugin_catalog import get_live_catalog_entry
entry = get_live_catalog_entry(name)
return entry.name if entry is not None else None
def catalog_install_hint(name: str, *, category: Optional[str] = None) -> Optional[str]:
"""``hermes [-p <profile>] plugins install <name>`` when this checkout's catalog ships plugin
*name* (of *category*, when given), else None.
Recovery copy for a provider that left core and is not installed (offline, lazy installs off, a
failed migration): doctor, ``memory status``, ``memory setup <name>`` and the CLI's unknown-command
error point at the one command that fixes it. In-tree catalog only, never the network — these run
offline and on error paths."""
try:
from hermes_cli.plugin_catalog import get_catalog_entry
entry = get_catalog_entry(name) if name else None
except Exception:
return None
if entry is None or (category is not None and entry.category != category):
return None
from hermes_constants import get_hermes_home
return _install_command(name, get_hermes_home())
def _pending_provider(home: Path, *, say: Callable[[str], None]) -> Optional[str]:
"""The provider *home* needs from the catalog, or None (nothing to do, or a catalog miss already
reported through *say*). Read-only."""
name = configured_provider(home)
from agent.memory_provider import is_core_memory_provider
if is_core_memory_provider(name) or provider_present(name, home):
return None
if catalog_source(name) is None:
say(f" ⚠ Memory provider '{name}' is configured but not installed and not in the plugin catalog. "
f"Install it with `hermes plugins install <source>` or change memory.provider.")
return None
return name
def _install_command(name: str, home: Path) -> str:
"""The exact command that installs *name* into *home*. ``-p`` is dropped only for the default
home while no sticky profile is set: a bare command run from a shell targets the sticky
profile, never the home of the agent (Desktop, gateway, ``hermes -p``) that printed it."""
from hermes_cli.profiles import get_active_profile
from hermes_constants import profile_name_for_home
profile = profile_name_for_home(home)
if profile is None or (profile == "default" and get_active_profile() == "default"):
return f"hermes plugins install {name}"
return f"hermes -p {profile} plugins install {name}"
def _install_pending(home: Path, name: str, *, install: Callable[[str], dict],
say: Callable[[str], None]) -> bool:
try:
result = install(name)
except Exception as exc: # network, uv, kill list — report, do not raise
result = {"ok": False, "error": str(exc)}
if result.get("ok"):
say(f" ✓ Memory provider '{name}' moved out of core — installed its plugin from the catalog "
f"(memory.provider and your stored memories are unchanged; check its settings with "
f"`hermes memory status`).")
return True
error = str(result.get("error") or "unknown error").rstrip(". ")
say(f" ⚠ Memory provider '{name}' moved out of core and could not be installed automatically: "
f"{error}. Run `{_install_command(name, home)}`.")
return False
def migrate_home(home: Path, *, install: Callable[[str], dict], say: Callable[[str], None] = print) -> Optional[str]:
"""Install the configured provider's catalog plugin into *home* when the provider is gone.
Returns the installed plugin name, or None when nothing needed doing or the install could not
happen (already reported through *say*). Never raises: memory being down must not take the
update or the agent down with it.
"""
name = _pending_provider(home, say=say)
if name is None:
return None
return name if _install_pending(home, name, install=install, say=say) else None
def _interactive() -> bool:
return sys.stdin is not None and sys.stdout is not None and sys.stdin.isatty() and sys.stdout.isatty()
def _unattended_consent() -> bool:
"""Without a terminal (Desktop, gateway, ``hermes update`` from a script) nobody can answer the
dependency prompt, so every provider that declares Python deps would fail to migrate. The
configured ``memory.provider`` plus ``security.allow_lazy_installs`` (read for the active home,
i.e. the one being migrated) is the same consent that let the bundled provider install its deps
on demand; with a terminal the user is still asked."""
from pm.install import lazy_installs_allowed
return not _interactive() and lazy_installs_allowed()
def _home_consent(home: Path) -> bool:
from hermes_constants import reset_hermes_home_override, set_hermes_home_override
token = set_hermes_home_override(home)
try:
return _unattended_consent()
finally:
reset_hermes_home_override(token)
def _install_into(home: Path, *, consent: Optional[bool] = None) -> Callable[[str], dict]:
def _install(name: str) -> dict:
from hermes_cli.plugins_cmd import dashboard_install_plugin
from hermes_constants import reset_hermes_home_override, set_hermes_home_override
token = set_hermes_home_override(home)
try:
return dashboard_install_plugin("", force=False, enable=True, catalog_name=name,
assume_deps_consent=(name in _LEFT_CORE and _unattended_consent())
if consent is None else consent)
finally:
reset_hermes_home_override(token)
return _install
def _home_label(home: Path) -> str:
from hermes_constants import profile_name_for_home
profile = profile_name_for_home(home)
return f"profile '{profile}'" if profile else str(home)
def migrate_all_homes(*, say: Callable[[str], None] = print) -> list[str]:
"""``hermes update`` hook: every profile home sharing this venv. Returns installed plugin names.
Each line names the profile it is about. Homes missing the same provider share one environment,
so they share one set of dependency answers (#125794): the first install asks, the rest reuse
its answers. Homes are grouped by provider AND by their unattended consent (each home's own
``security.allow_lazy_installs``), so a refusal only speaks for homes that would be refused the
same way: when an install in a group fails, the rest of that group are named in one line
instead of failing (or re-prompting) one by one, and the other groups still migrate. Ctrl-C
ends the migration with a message, not a traceback into the updater.
"""
from hermes_cli.plugins_cmd_install import shared_dependency_answers
from pm.plugins_state import dependency_homes
def labelled(home: Path) -> Callable[[str], None]:
return lambda message: say(f" [{_home_label(home)}] {message.lstrip()}")
pending: dict[tuple[str, bool], list[Path]] = {}
for home in dependency_homes():
try:
name = _pending_provider(home, say=labelled(home))
consent = bool(name) and _home_consent(home)
except Exception as exc:
logger.debug("memory provider migration skipped for %s: %s", home, exc)
continue
if name:
pending.setdefault((name, consent), []).append(home)
installed: list[str] = []
try:
for (name, _consent), homes in pending.items():
if len(homes) > 1 and _interactive():
say(f" Memory provider '{name}' is configured in {len(homes)} profiles "
f"({', '.join(_home_label(h) for h in homes)}); your answers to its dependency "
f"questions apply to all of them.")
with shared_dependency_answers():
for index, home in enumerate(homes):
if _install_pending(home, name, install=_install_into(home), say=labelled(home)):
installed.append(name)
continue
rest = homes[index + 1:]
if rest:
say(f" ⚠ Memory provider '{name}' was not installed for "
f"{', '.join(_home_label(h) for h in rest)} either. Run "
+ ", ".join(f"`{_install_command(name, h)}`" for h in rest) + ".")
break
except KeyboardInterrupt:
say(" ⚠ Memory provider migration cancelled. Profiles already migrated keep their plugin; "
"run `hermes plugins install <name>` (with `-p <profile>`) for the rest.")
return installed
def recover_at_startup(name: str, *, say: Optional[Callable[[str], None]] = None) -> bool:
"""Agent-init hook for a configured provider that resolved nowhere. One attempt per process per
home and name; honours ``security.allow_lazy_installs`` because it installs code. True when installed."""
from hermes_constants import get_hermes_home, hermes_home_key
home = get_hermes_home()
key = (hermes_home_key(home), name)
if key in _attempted:
return False
_attempted.add(key)
def report(message: str) -> None:
logger.warning(message)
if say is not None:
try:
say(message)
except Exception:
logger.debug("Memory migration notification failed", exc_info=True)
from pm.install import lazy_installs_allowed
if not lazy_installs_allowed():
report(f"⚠ Memory provider '{name}' is not installed, so external memory is off for this session. "
f"security.allow_lazy_installs is off, so Hermes did not fetch it: "
f"run `{_install_command(name, home)}`.")
return False
# Agent init cannot answer a dependency prompt: under the CLI the prompt_toolkit input owns the
# terminal (the question hangs the turn), elsewhere there is no terminal (the install is refused,
# every process). So it installs with consent or not at all: a provider that shipped in core
# carries the consent its built-in had; any other one needs the user's own install.
if name not in _LEFT_CORE:
if _pending_provider(home, say=report) == name:
report(f"⚠ Memory provider '{name}' is not installed, so external memory is off for this session. "
f"It never shipped with Hermes, so Hermes installs it only when you ask: "
f"run `{_install_command(name, home)}`.")
return False
if _failed_recently(home, name):
report(f"⚠ Memory provider '{name}' is not installed, so external memory is off for this session. "
f"Its automatic install failed recently: run `{_install_command(name, home)}`.")
return False
installed = migrate_home(home, install=_install_into(home, consent=True), say=report) == name
if installed:
_note_success(home, name)
else:
_note_failure(home, name)
return installed