fix(cli): soft-fail missing force-loaded --skills skill (no exit-1 worker crash)

cli.py

@@ -15335,8 +15335,19 @@ def main(
             task_id=cli.session_id,
         )
         if missing_skills:
+            # Soft-fail: a force-loaded skill that can't be resolved is a
+            # degraded run, not an unusable invocation. Warn and continue
+            # starting the agent WITHOUT it rather than exiting 1 — an agent
+            # that starts can still do the work or block intelligently, whereas
+            # an exit-1 just thrashes the dispatcher into burning its whole
+            # retry budget on the identical wall (see kanban t_d85833c1).
             missing_display = ", ".join(missing_skills)
-            raise ValueError(f"Unknown skill(s): {missing_display}")
+            print(
+                f"\033[33m⚠ Skipping unknown force-loaded skill(s): "
+                f"{missing_display} — continuing without them.\033[0m",
+                file=sys.stderr,
+                flush=True,
+            )
         if skills_prompt:
             cli.system_prompt = "\n\n".join(
                 part for part in (cli.system_prompt, skills_prompt) if part

tests/cli/test_cli_preloaded_skills.py

@@ -92,19 +92,39 @@ def fake_cli(**kwargs):
     assert cli_obj.preloaded_skills == ["hermes-agent-dev", "github-auth"]
 
 
-def test_main_raises_for_unknown_preloaded_skill(monkeypatch):
+def test_main_warns_for_unknown_preloaded_skill_does_not_raise(monkeypatch, capsys):
+    """A missing force-loaded skill must NOT exit-1/raise — it degrades the run.
+
+    Soft-fail: warn to stderr and keep starting the agent without the skill, so
+    a dispatched worker can still do the work or block intelligently rather than
+    thrashing the dispatcher with an identical exit-1 on every retry (kanban
+    t_d85833c1 / observed t_b04f835d ads-optimizer nano-banana-pro).
+    """
     import cli as cli_mod
 
-    monkeypatch.setattr(cli_mod, "HermesCLI", lambda **kwargs: _DummyCLI(**kwargs))
+    created = {}
+
+    def fake_cli(**kwargs):
+        created["cli"] = _DummyCLI(**kwargs)
+        return created["cli"]
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(cli_mod, "HermesCLI", fake_cli)
     monkeypatch.setattr(
         cli_mod,
         "build_preloaded_skills_prompt",
         lambda skills, task_id=None: ("", [], ["missing-skill"]),
     )
 
-    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=r"Unknown skill\(s\): missing-skill"):
+    # list_tools=True short-circuits before the agent actually runs (SystemExit
+    # from show_tools path), proving we got PAST the skill resolution without
+    # raising ValueError.
+    with pytest.raises(SystemExit):
         cli_mod.main(skills="missing-skill", list_tools=True)
 
+    err = capsys.readouterr().err
+    assert "missing-skill" in err
+    assert "Skipping unknown force-loaded skill" in err
+
 
 def test_show_banner_does_not_print_skills():
     """show_banner() no longer prints the activated skills line — it moved to run()."""