fix(kanban): CLI dispatch config passthrough + humanizer skill swap (closes #33488, closes #29415)

[teknium1]

Two small bugs in the kanban dispatcher's CLI surface, both silently degrading distinct workflows. Bundled because the test files and the surrounding code surface overlap.

#33488: hermes kanban dispatch ignored kanban.max_in_progress / max_spawn

The CLI wrapper in hermes_cli/kanban.py:_cmd_dispatch only passed default_assignee and max_in_progress_per_profile (from #34244) through to dispatch_once. The global concurrency cap (kanban.max_in_progress) and the per-tick spawn limit (kanban.max_spawn) were silently dropped, so operators using hermes kanban dispatch as a one-shot or in a custom loop couldn't reach either cap from config — only the gateway-embedded dispatcher honored them.

Fix: read both keys from config in the same _coerce_positive_int helper that already handled max_in_progress_per_profile. CLI --max still wins over config kanban.max_spawn when both are present (explicit operator signal beats default), but absent --max falls back to config.

# After
max_in_progress = _coerce_positive_int(_kanban_cfg.get("max_in_progress"))
cli_max = getattr(args, "max", None)
max_spawn = cli_max if cli_max is not None else _coerce_positive_int(
    _kanban_cfg.get("max_spawn")
)
res = kb.dispatch_once(
    conn,
    max_spawn=max_spawn,
    max_in_progress=max_in_progress,   # NEW: was missing
    failure_limit=...,
    default_assignee=default_assignee,
    max_in_progress_per_profile=max_in_progress_per_profile,
)

CLI now matches gateway dispatcher behavior exactly.

#29415: synthesizer crashed in retry loop on missing skill

hermes_cli/kanban_swarm.py:212 hardcoded skills=["avoid-ai-writing"], a skill that doesn't exist in the bundled skills/ directory or any registered hub source. Every synthesizer worker spawn failed at CLI startup with Unknown skill(s): avoid-ai-writing before the agent loop even started — the dispatcher retried up to failure_limit (default 2), then auto-blocked the task, then dependency rules could re-promote it, looping forever until manual intervention.

Fix: replace with humanizer, which IS bundled at skills/creative/humanizer/SKILL.md (description: "Humanize text: strip AI-isms and add real voice"). That's the obvious intent behind the avoid-ai-writing name, and the skill is platform-portable (linux/macos/windows) so it works on every supported runtime.

Validation

tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_cli_dispatch_passthrough.py — 4 new cases:

Test	What it checks
test_cli_dispatch_passes_max_in_progress_from_config	CLI passes all 4 config keys to dispatch_once: max_in_progress, max_spawn, default_assignee, max_in_progress_per_profile
test_cli_max_flag_overrides_config_max_spawn	--max=2 on the CLI wins over kanban.max_spawn: 10 in config
test_cli_invalid_max_in_progress_silently_disables	Invalid cap values (0, -1, "abc", "1.5") silently fall through to None (parametrized)
test_kanban_swarm_uses_existing_humanizer_skill	Source-level invariant: kanban_swarm.py no longer references avoid-ai-writing AND the replacement humanizer skill exists at the expected on-disk path

Broader kanban suite: 468/468 pass (was 464; +4 new regression tests).

Credit

• @mwhuss ([Bug]: hermes kanban dispatch command doesn't pass max_in_progress to dispatch_once #33488) — clean diagnostic with the exact code path: spotted that _cmd_dispatch only forwards args.max and not the config keys. Picked the bug up while testing max_in_progress after PR feat(kanban): default_assignee fallback + per-profile concurrency cap (closes #27145, closes #21582) #34244.
• @kzaboun-a11y (Bug: kanban_swarm.py references missing skill avoid-ai-writing, synthesizer crashes in retry loop (v0.14.0) #29415) — caught the missing-skill infinite-retry loop in the kanban swarm workflow; reproduced cleanly, identified the exact hardcoded skill name, traced the auto-block + re-promote cycle. The fix is the obvious one once the bug is named.

Infographic

[github-actions]

🔎 Lint report: hermes/hermes-4f9b6288 vs origin/main

ruff

Total: 0 on HEAD, 0 on base (➖ 0)

🆕 New issues: none

✅ Fixed issues: none

Unchanged: 0 pre-existing issues carried over.

ty (type checker)

Total: 9582 on HEAD, 9581 on base (🆕 +1)

🆕 New issues (1):

Rule	Count
unresolved-import	1

First entries

tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_cli_dispatch_passthrough.py:17: [unresolved-import] unresolved-import: Cannot resolve imported module `pytest`

✅ Fixed issues: none

Unchanged: 5050 pre-existing issues carried over.

Diagnostics are surfaced as warnings — this check never fails the build.