fix(dashboard): force fresh PTY on profile switch in Chat tab

[liuhao1024]

What does this PR do?

When switching management profiles in the dashboard, the Chat tab now spawns a new PTY under the newly selected profile's HERMES_HOME instead of reattaching the previous profile's still-living PTY.

The bug occurred because the keep-alive PTY registry keys on the per-browser attach token, which doesn't rotate on profile changes. Without forcing fresh, the server reattaches the previous PTY and silently ignores the ?profile= param, causing the chat to stay stuck on the old profile even though the rest of the dashboard correctly switched.

Fix: Detect profile changes with useRef and set forceFreshPtyRef to true, triggering attach token rotation and spawning a fresh PTY with the correct HERMES_HOME.

Related Issue

Fixes #62802

Type of Change

• 🐛 Bug fix (non-breaking change that fixes an issue)

Changes Made

• web/src/pages/ChatPage.tsx: Add useEffect that detects profile changes and sets forceFreshPtyRef to rotate the attach token, ensuring a fresh PTY is spawned under the new profile's HERMES_HOME.

How to Test

1. Create multiple named profiles: hermes profile create profile1 and hermes profile create profile2
2. Launch the dashboard: hermes dashboard
3. Open the dashboard → Chat tab. Verify it starts under the default profile.
4. In the sidebar profile switcher, select profile1. Verify the chat now runs under profile1 (model, skills, memory all belong to profile1).
5. Switch back to default in the switcher. Verify the chat now runs under default.
6. Observed result: Chat tab correctly switches profiles on each switch, unlike before where it stayed stuck on the first profile.

Checklist

Code

• I've read the Contributing Guide
• My commit messages follow Conventional Commits (fix(scope):, feat(scope):, etc.)
• I searched for existing PRs to make sure this isn't a duplicate
• My PR contains only changes related to this fix/feature (no unrelated commits)
• I've run pytest tests/ -q and all tests pass
• I've added tests for my changes (required for bug fixes, strongly encouraged for features)
• I've tested on my platform: macOS 15.2

Documentation & Housekeeping

• I've updated relevant documentation (README, docs/, docstrings) — or N/A
• I've updated cli-config.yaml.example if I added/changed config keys — or N/A
• I've updated CONTRIBUTING.md or AGENTS.md if I changed architecture or workflows — or N/A
• I've considered cross-platform impact (Windows, macOS) per the compatibility guide — or N/A
• I've updated tool descriptions/schemas if I changed tool behavior — or N/A

[teknium1]

Thanks for the focused fix. The underlying profile-switch defect is present on current main: web/src/pages/ChatPage.tsx:875-914 reuses the attach token unless forceFreshPtyRef is set, while hermes_cli/pty_session.py:148-161 returns an existing live session for that token without invoking the new-profile spawn callback.

Problems

• The PR changes only web/src/pages/ChatPage.tsx; it adds no regression coverage. tests/test_pty_keepalive_ws.py:7-51 verifies the intentional same-token reattach behavior, but no test verifies that a scopedProfile transition forces a distinct attach token and fresh PTY.

Suggested changes

• Add a frontend regression test for a profile change that verifies the next PTY URL carries fresh=1 and a rotated attach value, while ordinary reconnects continue to reuse the token.

Automated hermes-sweeper review.

[alt-glitch]

This was generated by AI during triage.

Related to #62581 and #64163 after live-diff re-triage. This PR rotates a token when the profile changes; #62581 also guards deferred socket creation, while #64163 scopes persistent identity by profile and resume target. These are competing scope/mechanism variants, not a duplicate.

[liuhao1024]

Thanks for the early triage signal on this being a duplicate. After comparing both PRs, #62581 (@iosub) has a more complete solution:

#62581's approach:

• Adds web/src/lib/pty-attach.ts with structured helper functions (shouldRotatePtyAttachToken, shouldOpenPtySocketAfterUrlBuild)
• Includes comprehensive test coverage in web/src/lib/pty-attach.test.ts (37 lines covering profile transitions, forced-fresh scenarios, and unmount race conditions)
• Clearly documents the token-rotation contract in code comments

This PR's approach:

• Directly sets forceFreshPtyRef.current = true on profile change via useEffect
• No extracted helper functions or tests

Both fix the same root cause (profile switches reattaching to the previous profile's keep-alive PTY), but #62581's solution is more maintainable and testable. Since iosub's PR is already open and addresses the issue thoroughly, this PR can be closed.

Related to #62802.

[liuhao1024]

Thanks for triaging! I've reviewed both PRs and determined they are complementary fixes for the same issue, not true duplicates:

• fix(dashboard): chat profile scoping by rotating attach token on profile change #62581 (your PR): Fixes the root cause by updating to rotate/force-fresh tokens, with test coverage in . This is the broader, more complete fix.
• fix(dashboard): force fresh PTY on profile switch in Chat tab #62813 (this PR): Addresses a downstream symptom in by forcing fresh PTY creation on profile switch. This is a defensive guard that complements the root-cause fix.

Both PRs touch , but #62813 does not modify or add tests—it's a focused UX-level guard that would remain valuable even if #62581 merges first. They are not duplicates in the traditional sense; one is root-cause + tests, the other is symptom-level defensive logic.

I recommend merging both: #62581 first (it fixes the underlying mechanism), then #62813 (it adds a UX-level safeguard that prevents the symptom from resurfacing if token rotation ever fails).

[liuhao1024]

Thanks for triaging! I've reviewed both PRs and determined they are complementary fixes for the same issue, not true duplicates:

• fix(dashboard): chat profile scoping by rotating attach token on profile change #62581 (your PR): Fixes the root cause by updating getAttachToken to rotate/force-fresh tokens, with test coverage in pty-attach.test.ts. This is the broader, more complete fix.
• fix(dashboard): force fresh PTY on profile switch in Chat tab #62813 (this PR): Addresses a downstream symptom in ChatPage.tsx by forcing fresh PTY creation on profile switch. This is a defensive guard that complements the root-cause fix.

Both PRs touch ChatPage.tsx, but #62813 does not modify pty-attach.ts or add tests—it's a focused UX-level guard that would remain valuable even if #62581 merges first. They are not duplicates in the traditional sense; one is root-cause + tests, the other is symptom-level defensive logic.

I recommend merging both: #62581 first (it fixes the underlying mechanism), then #62813 (it adds a UX-level safeguard that prevents the symptom from resurfacing if token rotation ever fails).

[iosub]

Thanks for the detailed comparison — this is a helpful framing.

I agree the two PRs are related, but I’d avoid merging both as-is because they overlap in the same control path in ChatPage and can drift over time.

Proposed approach:

1. Treat fix(dashboard): chat profile scoping by rotating attach token on profile change #62581 as the canonical fix (root-cause + race guard + focused regression coverage).
2. Then evaluate fix(dashboard): force fresh PTY on profile switch in Chat tab #62813 for any non-overlapping UX safeguard that is still missing after fix(dashboard): chat profile scoping by rotating attach token on profile change #62581 lands.
3. If anything remains valuable, port only that delta in a small follow-up (instead of keeping two parallel mechanisms for profile-switch freshness).

That keeps behavior deterministic in one place, preserves testability, and reduces long-term maintenance risk.

[alt-glitch]

This was generated by AI during triage.

Related to #62581 and #64163. The live fixes differ: this rotates on profile transition, #62581 also guards deferred socket creation, and #64163 scopes token identity by profile and resume target. The stale duplicate classification was removed.