fix(constants): render display_hermes_home tail with forward slashes

[Bartok9]

Summary

• display_hermes_home() rendered a mixed POSIX/Windows path on Windows.
• hermes doctor (and any other consumer) now shows a uniform ~/-prefixed path.

Motivation

Closes #49500.

hermes doctor displayed:

~/AppData\Local\hermes/.env file missing

That mixes a POSIX ~/ prefix, a Windows AppData\Local\ middle, and a POSIX /.env tail.

Root cause is in display_hermes_home():

return "~/" + str(home.relative_to(Path.home()))

On Windows, home.relative_to(Path.home()) is a WindowsPath whose str() uses backslashes, so the POSIX ~/ prefix is concatenated to a backslash tail. doctor.py then appends /.env, producing the reported mixed string.

Fix

Use .as_posix() on the relative tail so it renders with forward slashes, matching the ~/ prefix:

return "~/" + home.relative_to(Path.home()).as_posix()

On POSIX, as_posix() is identical to str(), so existing behavior is unchanged. The ValueError fallback (HERMES_HOME outside the user home) still returns the native absolute path.

Verification

• python3 -m pytest tests/test_hermes_constants.py — 52 passed
• New TestDisplayHermesHome regression test fails on current code without the fix and passes with it.

Real behavior proof

• Behavior addressed: Windows profile home C:\Users\tester\AppData\Local\hermes rendered as ~/AppData\Local\hermes.
• Exact command run after the patch (simulating a Windows get_hermes_home() / Path.home()):

display_hermes_home() => ~/AppData/Local/hermes
doctor msg            => ~/AppData/Local/hermes/.env file missing

• Same simulation BEFORE the fix (reproduces the issue exactly):

~/AppData\Local\hermes

• Regression test: tests/test_hermes_constants.py::TestDisplayHermesHome::test_windows_relative_tail_uses_forward_slashes — asserts ~/AppData/Local/hermes and "\\" not in result; FAILS without the fix (gets ~/AppData\Local\hermes).

Note on related PR

Open PR #38695 also touches this area but for cron-script validation; open #21929 edits display_hermes_home() for the distinct HERMES_HOME == HOME (~/.) case by adding a guard above the try block. This change only touches the return line inside the try, so the two are independent / non-conflicting.

[teknium1]

Thanks for the focused Windows regression fix. Current main still has the reported behavior at hermes_constants.py:646, and the proposed .as_posix() conversion directly corrects it.

Problems

• Two fallback helpers that state they mirror this contract still retain the same str(home.relative_to(Path.home())) behavior: skills/productivity/google-workspace/scripts/_hermes_home.py:40 and plugins/platforms/google_chat/oauth.py:90. They are fallback-only and do not affect hermes doctor, but can still render mixed separators when the core helper is unavailable.

Suggested changes

• Normalize those fallback tails with .as_posix() as well, or track them as a tightly scoped follow-up if this PR remains limited to the core helper.

Automated hermes-sweeper review.

[Bartok9]

Rebuilt onto latest main via patch re-apply (force-push). Please re-run CI.

— Bartok9 public PR hygiene 2026-08-01