fix(config): parse JSON list/dict values in config set

[AIalliAI]

Summary

Fixes #60551: hermes config set stores list values like '["A","B"]' as quoted YAML scalar strings instead of YAML sequences.

Root Cause

set_config_value() in hermes_cli/config.py coerces values to bool/int/float but has no JSON parsing step for list and dict shapes. When a user runs:

hermes config set terminal.env_passthrough '["FITNESS_TRACKER_TOKEN","FITNESS_TRACKER_URL"]'

The value stays as a string, and YAML serialization writes it as a quoted scalar:

terminal:
  env_passthrough: '["FITNESS_TRACKER_TOKEN","FITNESS_TRACKER_URL"]'   # string, not list

Fix

Add JSON parsing for values starting with { or [ after the existing type coercion. If parse succeeds and result is a dict or list, use the parsed value — YAML serialization then writes it as a proper sequence/mapping.

terminal:
  env_passthrough:
    - FITNESS_TRACKER_TOKEN
    - FITNESS_TRACKER_URL

Test Plan

• Negative control: unpatched code stores ["A","B"] as scalar string
• Positive test: patched code stores as YAML sequence - A\n- B
• Existing bool/int/float/string coercion paths unchanged

Change

1 file, +10 lines: hermes_cli/config.py

[alt-glitch]

This was generated by AI during triage.

Duplicate of #40546 — same fix (JSON json.loads detection in set_config_value() at hermes_cli/config.py) at the same code site; #40546 is the earliest open PR for this. Also related to the anchor issue #40545 / #60551 and the open array+comma variant #44226. Flagging the cluster for a maintainer to pick the canonical config-set JSON fix.

[teknium1]

Thanks for the focused fix. The underlying issue is still present on current main: hermes_cli/config.py:8268-8279 performs scalar coercion only, then writes JSON-looking input unchanged.

Problems

• The proposed parser at hermes_cli/config.py:8042 was authored before current main added the declared-string preservation guard in hermes_cli/config.py:8264-8278 (e4ea0a0ed7). Salvaging the old hunk verbatim would conflict with that later invariant.
• The PR diff changes no tests. Current coverage in tests/hermes_cli/test_set_config_value.py includes string-default behavior, but no JSON list/dict round-trip regression for config set.

Suggested changes

• Integrate JSON list/dict parsing into the current non-string coercion branch, retaining _default_value_for_key() protection for declared string leaves.
• Add round-trip coverage for terminal.env_passthrough as a JSON array, a JSON mapping, malformed JSON fallback, and the string-default invariant.

Automated hermes-sweeper review.

[teknium1]

Current main now preserves values for keys whose DEFAULT_CONFIG leaf is a string (e4ea0a0ed7, now hermes_cli/config.py:8264-8278). Please integrate this structured parse under that non-string guard when salvaging, so the newer string-value invariant remains intact.

[teknium1]

Resolved via PR #88163 (merged) — hermes config set now parses structured list/dict values (yaml.safe_load, string-typed-key guard respected, conservative trigger). This was an 8-PR duplicate cluster: first submitter was @liuhao1024 (#37460), and the merged base was #59182 (@sam7894604) with authorship preserved; all cluster authors are credited in the PR body. Thanks for taking a run at it!