fix(delegate): resolve subagent approval prompts without deadlocking parent TUI (#15491)

Subagents run inside a ThreadPoolExecutor. The CLI's interactive approval
callback lives in tools/terminal_tool.py's threading.local(), which worker
threads do not inherit. When a subagent hits a dangerous-command guard,
prompt_dangerous_approval() falls back to input() from the worker thread,
deadlocking against the parent's prompt_toolkit TUI that owns stdin.

Fix: install a non-interactive callback into every subagent worker thread
via ThreadPoolExecutor(initializer=set_approval_callback, initargs=(cb,)).
The callback is config-gated by delegation.subagent_auto_approve:

  false (default) -> _subagent_auto_deny (safe; matches leaf tool blocklist)
  true            -> _subagent_auto_approve (opt-in YOLO for cron/batch)

Both emit a logger.warning audit line. Gateway sessions are unaffected
because they resolve approvals via tools/approval.py's per-session queue,
not through these TLS callbacks. Diagnosis credit: @MorAlekss (#14685).

- hermes_cli/config.py: DEFAULT_CONFIG.delegation.subagent_auto_approve: False
- cli-config.yaml.example: documented, commented (default)
- tools/delegate_tool.py: _subagent_auto_deny, _subagent_auto_approve,
  _get_subagent_approval_callback, wired into the child timeout executor
- tests/tools/test_delegate.py: 7 tests covering defaults, truthy coercion,
  and TLS scoping in the worker thread
This commit is contained in:
Teknium
2026-04-24 22:37:22 -07:00
committed by GitHub
parent 6407b3d5b3
commit 023b1bff11
4 changed files with 179 additions and 1 deletions

View File

@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional
from toolsets import TOOLSETS
from tools import file_state
from tools.terminal_tool import set_approval_callback as _set_subagent_approval_cb
from utils import base_url_hostname, is_truthy_value
@@ -47,6 +48,64 @@ DELEGATE_BLOCKED_TOOLS = frozenset(
]
)
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Subagent approval callbacks
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Subagents run inside a ThreadPoolExecutor worker. The CLI's interactive
# approval callback is stored in tools/terminal_tool.py's threading.local(),
# so worker threads do NOT inherit it. Without a callback,
# prompt_dangerous_approval() falls back to input() from the worker thread,
# which deadlocks against the parent's prompt_toolkit TUI that owns stdin.
#
# Fix: install a non-interactive callback into every subagent worker thread
# via ThreadPoolExecutor(initializer=_set_subagent_approval_cb, initargs=(cb,)).
# The callback is chosen by the `delegation.subagent_auto_approve` config:
# false (default) → _subagent_auto_deny (safe; matches leaf tool blocklist)
# true → _subagent_auto_approve (opt-in YOLO for cron/batch)
# Both emit a logger.warning for audit; gateway sessions are unaffected
# because they resolve approvals via tools/approval.py's per-session queue,
# not through these TLS callbacks.
def _subagent_auto_deny(command: str, description: str, **kwargs) -> str:
"""Auto-deny dangerous commands in subagent threads (safe default).
Returns 'deny' so the subagent sees a refusal it can recover from, and
never calls input() (which would deadlock the parent TUI).
"""
logger.warning(
"Subagent auto-denied dangerous command: %s (%s). "
"Set delegation.subagent_auto_approve: true to allow.",
command, description,
)
return "deny"
def _subagent_auto_approve(command: str, description: str, **kwargs) -> str:
"""Auto-approve dangerous commands in subagent threads (opt-in YOLO).
Only installed when delegation.subagent_auto_approve=true. Returns 'once'
so the subagent proceeds without blocking the parent UI.
"""
logger.warning(
"Subagent auto-approved dangerous command: %s (%s)",
command, description,
)
return "once"
def _get_subagent_approval_callback():
"""Return the callback to install into subagent worker threads.
Config key: delegation.subagent_auto_approve (bool, default False).
Reads via the same _load_config() path as the rest of delegate_task so
priority is config.yaml > (no env override for this knob) > default.
"""
cfg = _load_config()
val = cfg.get("subagent_auto_approve", False)
if is_truthy_value(val):
return _subagent_auto_approve
return _subagent_auto_deny
# Build a description fragment listing toolsets available for subagents.
# Excludes toolsets where ALL tools are blocked, composite/platform toolsets
# (hermes-* prefixed), and scenario toolsets.
@@ -1344,7 +1403,15 @@ def _run_single_child(
# Run child with a hard timeout to prevent indefinite blocking
# when the child's API call or tool-level HTTP request hangs.
child_timeout = _get_child_timeout()
_timeout_executor = ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=1)
_timeout_executor = ThreadPoolExecutor(
max_workers=1,
# Install a non-interactive approval callback in the worker thread
# so dangerous-command prompts from the subagent don't fall back to
# input() and deadlock the parent's prompt_toolkit TUI.
# Callback (deny vs approve) is governed by delegation.subagent_auto_approve.
initializer=_set_subagent_approval_cb,
initargs=(_get_subagent_approval_callback(),),
)
# Capture the worker thread so the timeout diagnostic can dump its
# Python stack (see #14726 — 0-API-call hangs are opaque without it).
_worker_thread_holder: Dict[str, Optional[threading.Thread]] = {"t": None}