fix: honor gateway agent max turns config

gateway/run.py

@@ -698,6 +698,34 @@ def _resolve_gateway_model(config: dict | None = None) -> str:
     return ""
 
 
+def _resolve_gateway_max_iterations(config: dict | None = None) -> int:
+    """Resolve the agent loop limit for gateway-created agents.
+
+    ``config.yaml`` is the documented source of truth for ``agent.max_turns``.
+    ``HERMES_MAX_ITERATIONS`` remains supported for legacy setups, but a stale
+    ``~/.hermes/.env`` value must not override the config value after the
+    long-lived gateway reloads dotenv between turns.
+    """
+    cfg = config if config is not None else _load_gateway_config()
+    candidates: list[Any] = [
+        cfg_get(cfg, "agent", "max_turns"),
+        cfg_get(cfg, "max_turns"),
+        os.getenv("HERMES_MAX_ITERATIONS"),
+    ]
+
+    for raw in candidates:
+        if raw in (None, ""):
+            continue
+        try:
+            value = int(raw)
+        except (TypeError, ValueError):
+            logger.debug("Ignoring invalid max iterations value: %r", raw)
+            continue
+        if value > 0:
+            return value
+    return 90
+
+
 def _resolve_hermes_bin() -> Optional[list[str]]:
     """Resolve the Hermes update command as argv parts.
 
@@ -7135,7 +7163,7 @@ async def _run_background_task(
             enabled_toolsets = sorted(_get_platform_tools(user_config, platform_key))
 
             pr = self._provider_routing
-            max_iterations = int(os.getenv("HERMES_MAX_ITERATIONS", "90"))
+            max_iterations = _resolve_gateway_max_iterations(user_config)
             reasoning_config = self._resolve_session_reasoning_config(source=source)
             self._reasoning_config = reasoning_config
             self._service_tier = self._load_service_tier()
@@ -10418,8 +10446,8 @@ def run_sync():
             # (concurrency-safe). Keep os.environ as fallback for CLI/cron.
             os.environ["HERMES_SESSION_KEY"] = session_key or ""
 
-            # Read from env var or use default (same as CLI)
-            max_iterations = int(os.getenv("HERMES_MAX_ITERATIONS", "90"))
+            # Resolve agent loop limit from config first, env fallback for legacy setups.
+            max_iterations = _resolve_gateway_max_iterations(user_config)
 
             # Map platform enum to the platform hint key the agent understands.
             # Platform.LOCAL ("local") maps to "cli"; others pass through as-is.

tests/gateway/test_agent_max_turns_config.py

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+"""Gateway agent loop limit config tests."""
+
+from gateway.run import _resolve_gateway_max_iterations
+
+
+def test_resolve_gateway_max_iterations_prefers_agent_max_turns_over_env(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_MAX_ITERATIONS", "200")
+
+    assert _resolve_gateway_max_iterations({"agent": {"max_turns": 600}}) == 600
+
+
+def test_resolve_gateway_max_iterations_supports_legacy_top_level_max_turns(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_MAX_ITERATIONS", "200")
+
+    assert _resolve_gateway_max_iterations({"max_turns": 600}) == 600
+
+
+def test_resolve_gateway_max_iterations_supports_legacy_env(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_MAX_ITERATIONS", "200")
+
+    assert _resolve_gateway_max_iterations({}) == 200
+
+
+def test_resolve_gateway_max_iterations_falls_back_when_invalid(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_MAX_ITERATIONS", "not-a-number")
+
+    assert _resolve_gateway_max_iterations({"agent": {"max_turns": ""}}) == 90