fix(kanban): persist pass-loop state on task rows

[ahmadashfq]

Summary

• persist PASS-loop state directly on kanban task rows in hermes_cli/kanban_db.py
• cover the reland with the paired tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_block_kinds.py and tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_db.py packet only
• keep this PR scoped to the canonical PASS-loop core packet and explicitly exclude the mixed Agent Wikis family from quarantined source 935f429d8

Scope / packet boundary

This PR is the governed ahmad-fork reland for the canonical PASS-loop core packet only.

Changed files:

• hermes_cli/kanban_db.py
• tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_block_kinds.py
• tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_db.py

Explicitly excluded from this packet:

• hermes_cli/config.py Agent Wikis hunks
• tools/agentwiki_routing.py
• tools/web_tools.py
• related Agent Wikis tests

Research / governance links

• Upstream research artifact task: t_871aaa57
  • /Users/alimai/.hermes/audits/t_871aaa57/pass-loop-core-upstream-research-2026-07-13.md
• Canonical implementation packet task: t_60619ea0
  • /Users/alimai/.hermes/audits/t_60619ea0/pass-loop-core-reland-review-handoff-2026-07-13.md
  • /Users/alimai/.hermes/audits/t_60619ea0/pass-loop-core-reland-review-addendum-2026-07-13.md
• Registry row task: t_72710819
  • /Users/alimai/.hermes/patches/README.md line 77
  • /Users/alimai/.hermes/patches/hermes-kanban-pass-loop-core-packet-a816df6f3-20260713.patch

Duplicate / prior-art check

Checked before opening:

• gh pr list --repo NousResearch/hermes-agent --author ahmadashfq --state all --search 'pass_loop_status OR pass loop OR review-required blocked OR completion blocked'
  • found existing Ahmad PR #63589, but it is polluted and not safe as the clean packet reference
  • found precursor #61372, which is adjacent prior art rather than a duplicate of durable PASS-loop persistence
• gh search prs 'pass_loop_status repo:NousResearch/hermes-agent' --state open
  • found #63589 only
• gh search issues 'pass_loop_status repo:NousResearch/hermes-agent'
  • no direct duplicate issue returned

This clean PR supersedes the polluted PASS-loop presentation in #63589 for reviewer/governance purposes.

Verification

Targeted packet verification on the clean PR worktree:

python3 -m py_compile hermes_cli/kanban_db.py tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_block_kinds.py tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_db.py
pytest -q tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_block_kinds.py tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_db.py
python3 scripts/check-windows-footguns.py hermes_cli/kanban_db.py tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_block_kinds.py tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_db.py
/Users/alimai/.hermes/hermes-agent/venv/bin/python - <<'PY'
# smoke: create temp kanban DB, write halted PASS-loop state, read it back
PY

Results:

• targeted pytest: 256 passed in 16.02s
• Windows footgun scan: No Windows footguns found (3 file(s) scanned).
• smoke result: {'pass_loop_status': 'halted', 'pass_loop_count': 2, 'reason_code': 'pass-loop-detected'}

Repo-wide validation note:

• scripts/run_tests.sh was attempted from this clean PR worktree but timed out after 600s with unrelated pre-existing failures outside this packet.
• representative baseline reruns on a fresh detached origin/main worktree reproduced the same failure families outside this PR scope:
  • tests/agent/test_anthropic_adapter.py
  • tests/test_live_system_guard_self_test.py
  • tests/tools/test_approval.py
  • tests/tools/test_file_tools.py

Platforms tested

• macOS 26.5.2

Governance note

• Live ~/.hermes/hermes-agent/main remains clean and unapplied pending review + founder tap.
• This PR was opened from isolated worktree /Users/alimai/.hermes/kanban/boards/fleet-infra/workspaces/t_6346f7ed/pass-loop-core-pr-open on branch fix/kanban-pass-loop-core-pr-t_e17419f0.
• The earlier implementation-restage worktree remains /Users/alimai/.hermes/kanban/boards/fleet-infra/workspaces/t_6346f7ed/pass-loop-core-reland on branch reland/pass-loop-t_60619ea0.

[teknium1]

Thanks for isolating the proposed PASS-loop work. The current main implementation already keeps review-required handoffs sticky (hermes_cli/kanban_db.py:3244-3279) and persists block_recurrences, escalating repeated same-kind blocks to triage (hermes_cli/kanban_db.py:4876-4915).

Problems

• hermes_cli/kanban_db.py:3990-4024 treats every completion_blocked_% event as PASS-loop evidence. On current main, the only such production event is completion_blocked_hallucination (hermes_cli/kanban_db.py:4035), which represents phantom created-card IDs, not an unmerged-branch review loop. The candidate predicate can therefore reroute unrelated failures.
• The candidate branch changes the established escalation from triage to blocked (hermes_cli/kanban_db.py:5951-6007) without a current-main reproduction showing that the existing sticky-block contract is insufficient. Existing coverage verifies that a review-required task remains blocked across dispatcher ticks (tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_blocked_sticky.py:56-76).
• _latest_pass_loop_candidate() is invoked inside write_txn and can run git rev-parse with a 10-second timeout (hermes_cli/kanban_db.py:3945-3977, 5939-5945), extending SQLite writer-lock duration.

Suggested changes

• Establish an exact, production-generated event/payload for the claimed loop and test that real path; do not infer it from broad event prefixes and comment text.
• Keep the existing triage contract unless a concrete reproduction warrants a deliberately reviewed policy change.
• Separate the unrelated delivery-state subsystem from this fix.

This is an automated hermes-sweeper review.

[teknium1]

This prefix accepts completion_blocked_hallucination, which current main emits only for phantom created-card IDs (complete_task at current-main hermes_cli/kanban_db.py:4035). That is not evidence of an unmerged-branch PASS loop; define and query an exact producer/event kind for this signal.

[teknium1]

This runs inside the surrounding write_txn; the candidate path calls _pass_loop_branch_head_sha(), which executes git rev-parse with a ten-second timeout. Do not hold the SQLite writer transaction while invoking an external process.

[teknium1]

Current main deliberately routes repeated same-kind blocks to triage to force human decision (hermes_cli/kanban_db.py:4876-4915). Keeping this special case blocked changes that established safety contract; retain triage unless a real current-main reproduction demonstrates the need for a different policy.

[GottZ]

This was generated by AI during triage.

Summary

Thirteen PRs address or reference #59333/#66909: #59367, #59536, and #59645 implement the requested global kanban.block_recurrence_limit; #52848 is the merged hard-coded foundation, while the remaining diffs concern distinct review, dependency, authorization, cron, PASS-loop, or repeated-failure paths. Contributor discussion identifies #66909 as a duplicate of #59333 and #59367 as the active implementation.

Related pull requests

• feat(kanban): typed block reasons + unblock-loop breaker #52848 [merged] related — (+551/-49) — n/a: Merged reference implementation that introduced typed block reasons, persistent recurrence counting, and the hard-coded BLOCK_RECURRENCE_LIMIT = 2, making it relevant as the source of the configuration gap.
• fix(kanban): enforce review change loop before completion #58695 related — (+84/-1) — n/a: Exempts review-required: reblocks and adds a comment-derived completion gate rather than configuring the general limit; its contributor keep_open review requires authorized reviewer identity and deterministic verdict ordering, leaving the focused reblock exemption as the concrete salvage path.
• feat(kanban): make block recurrence limit configurable #59367 best fix — (+86/-3) — n/a: The recorded best fix for [Feature]: Use config for BLOCK_RECURANCE_LIMIT #59333 and [Feature]: Please allow to modify BLOCK_RECURRENCE_LIMIT #66909 adds kanban.block_recurrence_limit to defaults, rejects boolean and invalid values, applies the effective value to routing and event telemetry, documents it, and tests the configured threshold.
• feat(kanban): make block recurrence limit configurable #59536 fixes — (+76/-7) — n/a: Implements the same global key and routing substitution as feat(kanban): make block recurrence limit configurable #59367, but despite its contributor keep_open review, the visible int(value) path accepts booleans and truncates non-integral floats, making it a weaker duplicate.
• feat(cron): make BLOCK_RECURANCE_LIMIT configurable (#59333) #59645 partial — (+415/-2) — n/a: Reimplements the global override with extensive tests and example configuration, but despite its contributor keep_open review, the diff omits DEFAULT_CONFIG registration and logs invalid configuration on every resolver call; contributor discussion names feat(kanban): make block recurrence limit configurable #59367 as canonical.
• fix(kanban): guard needs_input unblock from non-interactive sessions #59906 related — (+451/-2) — n/a: Adds a DB/process-ancestry guard plus an environment-scrubbed CLI E2E test against worker self-unblocking of needs_input; consistent with the maintainer-bot keep_open verdict, this is a separate authorization safeguard.
• feat(cron): add configurable max_repeat safeguard for cron job repeats (#59333) #60476 related — (+142/-0) — n/a: Adds cron.max_repeat clamping only during cron-job creation and does not alter Kanban’s recurrence threshold; its contributor keep_open review calls for re-scoping, centralized create/update validation, default registration, and documentation.
• fix: stop dependency-wait kanban promotion loops #61366 related — (+164/-38) — n/a: Prevents parentless dependency waits from immediate redispatch by routing them to triage while preserving parent-gated waits, and the amended interfaces, documentation, event reference, and tests address the maintainer-bot keep_open feedback.
• fix: keep review-required kanban reblocks out of triage #61372 [closed] related — (+67/-4) — n/a: Closed reference implementation that keeps canonical review-required: reblocks in blocked; it remains relevant because it overlaps fix(kanban): enforce review change loop before completion #58695’s focused exemption and was intentionally moved to the author’s fork with no upstream integration intended.
• fix(kanban): persist pass-loop state on task rows #63723 related — (+1636/-39) — n/a: Adds broad persistent PASS-loop and delivery state rather than recurrence-limit configuration; its contributor keep_open review finds the completion_blocked_% predicate overbroad and the routing change unsupported without a current-main reproduction.
• fix(kanban): fail closed invalid dependency waits #64585 related — (+124/-31) — n/a: Addresses the same parentless-dependency redispatch cause as fix: stop dependency-wait kanban promotion loops #61366 but fails closed in blocked; consistent with its maintainer-bot keep_open verdict, it still needs CLI/tool-schema recovery guidance and interface coverage.
• fix(kanban): guard dependency block after successor creation #66632 related — (+33/-0) — n/a: Rejects dependency blocks whenever a successor exists, but the contributor keep_open review shows this breaks valid P -> A -> C graphs and lets ValueError escape the CLI, outweighing the non-contributor approval.
• fix(kanban): freeze repeated identical failures #68027 related — (+1114/-86) — n/a: Replaces kind-only counting with a normalized failure fingerprint, third-identical-outcome freeze, audited rearm, and automatic-path guards; consistent with the maintainer-bot keep_open verdict finding no verified blocking defect, it belongs to a broader failure-loop hardening lane.

Duplicates

#59536 and #59645 are later implementations of #59367; #61372 overlaps the review-reblock portion of #58695, while #61366 and #64585 address the same parentless-dependency cause with different terminal states.

Suggested consolidation

Author action: rebase #59367 onto current main while preserving its boolean-rejection tests and validated routing/event behavior; close #59536 and #59645 as duplicates of #59367 despite their keep_open reviews because their visible diffs retain the validation and default-registration defects above, and close #66909 as a duplicate of #59333. Keep #68027 open with its durable-fingerprint, audited-rearm, and automatic-path-guard salvage path; keep #59906, #61366/#64585, and #66632 in separately scoped salvage lanes addressing their recorded reviews, keep #60476 only after re-scoping it away from #59333, narrow #58695 to the review-reblock exemption unless an authorized ordered verdict source is added, retain #61372 only as the closed reference, and have #63723’s author split out a narrowly typed PASS-loop signal after reproducing the current-main gap rather than retaining the wildcard predicate and unsupported routing change.

Cross-PR triage: Reviewed 13 pull requests and 2 issues in this complex. Each diff was read against this issue; Assessment working set: 301 kB of PR diffs, 27 kB of issue/PR text, 17 kB of discussion (19 comments), 10 verify verdicts. verdicts reflect diff content, not PR titles. Part of an automated triage batch.