hermes-office/PR89.md

Summary

This PR started as the Hermes/demo/runtime seam work and has now grown into the main runtime stabilization branch for Claw3D.

The branch now does four things:

• keeps the Hermes adapter path working and easier to debug
• makes backend selection more explicit and truthful in Studio
• extends the runtime seam beyond OpenClaw-only assumptions
• fixes capability mismatches that were exposing unsupported UI/actions

This is now the right branch for the Hermes/runtime review path.

What Changed Since The Earlier PR Notes

The earlier summary for this work is now outdated.

This branch no longer only has a single OpenClaw-shaped runtime path. It now includes:

• persisted backend selection in Studio settings
• active backend identity surfaced in the UI
• real provider selection across:
  • openclaw
  • hermes
  • demo
  • custom
• Hermes/demo hello identity support
• stronger office/runtime alignment so the office is less tightly coupled to raw gateway assumptions
• runtime and reconnect fixes discovered while exercising Hermes in the real UI

Included In This PR

1. Hermes/runtime stability and reconnect behavior

• improved Hermes adapter/runtime selection handling
• reduced OpenClaw-specific assumptions leaking into Hermes/demo/custom paths
• stabilized reconnect and connect-screen behavior in the office flow
• improved local backend switching/debuggability from inside Studio
• Studio now only auto-connects from a verified last-known-good runtime state; otherwise it shows the connect overlay and waits for explicit operator choice
• fixed a gateway connect-screen hydration bug caused by invalid HTML around the inline loading avatar
• fixed an onboarding hydration mismatch caused by reading browser storage during initial render
• kept the office mounted while gateway loading/prompt states are shown as overlays instead of full page swaps
• kept the office visible behind the runtime overlay, while making the connect modal itself more opaque/readable
• aligned Studio proxy URL resolution back to upstream main
• added a small first auto-connect delay for Hermes/Demo so the initial browser ws proxy attempt is less likely to race Next dev startup
• removed destructive office camera resets that were firing on runtime-status and agent-count changes
• manual connect now cancels pending auto-connect/retry overlap before opening a new Hermes/Demo attempt
• Hermes/Demo gateway connects now allow a second internal attempt before surfacing failure, which materially reduces the first-connect miss pattern in local Studio testing

2. Truthful backend selection

• Studio persists the selected backend instead of only URL/token
• the UI shows selected vs active backend
• backend settings are now clearer and less misleading when switching between:
  • OpenClaw
  • Hermes
  • Demo
  • Custom

3. Runtime seam expansion

• provider selection is no longer effectively OpenClaw-only
• Hermes and Demo use real provider paths
• groundwork for direct HTTP-backed custom runtimes is included on this branch

4. Office/runtime alignment

• office bootstrap and runtime handling are less coupled to raw gateway transport
• blank-office / reconnect edge cases were investigated and several stability fixes landed during Hermes validation

5. Luke’s findings addressed

The Demo cron mismatch called out in review is fixed.

Changes:

• Automations is hidden when supportsCapability("cron") is false
• cron create/run/delete now fail fast with a clear user-facing error when the runtime does not support cron
• added tests covering:
  • no Automations tab when cron is unsupported
  • cron mutations blocked when cron capability is unavailable

Review Follow-Up For Luke

Addressed review finding:

• Demo runtime no longer exposes unsupported cron mutation behavior through the settings flow
• unsupported cron actions are blocked before any RPC is sent

Files directly involved in that fix:

• src/features/agents/screens/AgentsPageScreen.tsx
• src/features/agents/operations/settingsSidebarTabs.ts
• src/features/agents/operations/useAgentSettingsMutationController.ts
• tests/unit/settingsSidebarTabs.test.ts
• tests/unit/useAgentSettingsMutationController.test.ts

Validation

• npm run typecheck
• npx vitest run tests/unit/useGatewayConnection.test.ts tests/unit/useRuntimeConnection.test.ts
• npx vitest run tests/unit/useAgentSettingsMutationController.test.ts tests/unit/settingsSidebarTabs.test.ts
• npx vitest run tests/unit/demoGatewayAdapter.test.ts

Scope Notes

This PR still does not claim:

• ACP-native Hermes integration
• process launch from Studio
• fully mature custom-runtime streaming/session semantics
• finished office-system feature implementation

Office Systems Note

The office-system roadmap/spec work exists, but it is not part of this implementation scope.

That work was split into feature issue #90.

Current docs/specs are planning artifacts only:

• bulletin board
• whiteboard
• meeting room workflow
• QA department
• desk progression
• hierarchy/teams

Nothing from those office-system specs should be interpreted as already built in this PR.

Suggested Reviewer Focus

• Hermes adapter/runtime stability in the real Studio/office flow
• whether backend selection is now clearer and less misleading
• whether capability claims are honest, especially for Demo
• whether the runtime/provider seam changes remain coherent for upstream use

Remaining Follow-Up Work

• ACP-backed Hermes provider as separate work
• better Hermes profile/model visibility in settings
• stronger reconnect persistence behavior
• richer multi-agent Hermes flows
• continued custom-runtime and downstream orchestrator work

Current Operator Status

As of the latest local verification on April 1, 2026:

• Hermes now reaches a stable connected office state without the earlier heavy scene flicker/reset behavior
• the office remains visible behind gateway loading/error overlays
• the Demo cron capability mismatch called out in review is fixed end-to-end
• one residual Hermes issue may still remain in some local dev sessions: the first automatic connection attempt can miss once before a manual Hermes backend + Connect succeeds cleanly

That remaining first-attempt Hermes miss is now the only notable runtime issue still observed in manual browser testing for this pass.