Enter while the agent is busy can now inject the typed text via /steer —
arriving at the agent after the next tool call — instead of interrupting
(current default) or queueing for the next turn.
Changes:
- cli.py: keybinding honors busy_input_mode='steer' by calling
agent.steer(text) on the UI thread (thread-safe), with automatic
fallback to 'queue' when the agent is missing, steer() is unavailable,
images are attached, or steer() rejects the payload. /busy accepts
'steer' as a fourth argument alongside queue/interrupt/status.
- gateway/run.py: busy-message handler and the PRIORITY running-agent
path both route through running_agent.steer() when the mode is 'steer',
with the same fallback-to-queue safety net. Ack wording tells users
their message was steered into the current run. Restart-drain queueing
now also activates for 'steer' so messages aren't lost across restarts.
- agent/onboarding.py: first-touch hint has a steer branch for both
CLI and gateway.
- hermes_cli/commands.py: /busy args_hint updated to include steer,
and 'steer' is registered as a subcommand (completions).
- hermes_cli/web_server.py: dashboard select widget offers steer.
- hermes_cli/config.py, cli-config.yaml.example, hermes_cli/tips.py:
inline docs updated.
- website/docs/user-guide/cli.md + messaging/index.md: documented.
- Tests: steer set/status path for /busy; onboarding hints;
_load_busy_input_mode accepts steer; busy-session ack exercises
steer success + two fallback-to-queue branches.
Requested on X by @CodingAcct.
Default is unchanged (interrupt).
Instead of a blocking first-run questionnaire, show a one-time hint the first
time the user hits each behavior fork:
1. First message while the agent is working — appends a hint to the busy-ack
explaining the /busy queue vs /busy interrupt knob, phrased to match the
mode that was just applied (don't tell a queue-mode user to switch to
queue).
2. First tool that runs for >= 30s in the noisiest progress mode
(tool_progress: all) — prints a hint about /verbose to cycle display
modes (all -> new -> off -> verbose). Gated on /verbose actually being
usable on the surface: always shown on CLI; on gateway only shown when
display.tool_progress_command is enabled.
Each hint is latched in config.yaml under onboarding.seen.<flag>, so it
fires exactly once per install across CLI, gateway, and cron, then never
again. Users can wipe the section to re-see hints.
New:
- agent/onboarding.py — is_seen / mark_seen / hint strings, shared by
both CLI and gateway.
- onboarding.seen in DEFAULT_CONFIG (hermes_cli/config.py) and in
load_cli_config defaults (cli.py). No _config_version bump — deep
merge handles new keys.
Wired:
- gateway/run.py: _handle_active_session_busy_message appends the hint
after building the ack. progress_callback tracks tool.completed
duration and queues the tool-progress hint into the progress bubble.
- cli.py: CLI input loop appends the busy-input hint on the first busy
Enter; _on_tool_progress appends the tool-progress hint on the first
>=30s tool completion. In-memory CLI_CONFIG is also updated so
subsequent fires in the same process are suppressed immediately.
All writes go through atomic_yaml_write and are wrapped in try/except
so onboarding can never break the input/busy-ack paths.
When display.busy_input_mode is 'queue', the runner-level PRIORITY block
in _handle_message was still calling running_agent.interrupt() for every
text follow-up to an active session. The adapter-level busy handler
already honors queue mode (commit 9d147f7fd), but this runner-level path
was an unconditional interrupt regardless of config.
Adds a queue-mode branch that queues the follow-up via
_queue_or_replace_pending_event() and returns without interrupting.
Salvages the useful part of #12070 (@knockyai). The config fan-out to
per-platform extra was redundant — runner already loads busy_input_mode
directly via _load_busy_input_mode().
When a user sends a message while the agent is executing a task on the
gateway, the agent is now interrupted immediately — not silently queued.
Previously, messages were stored in _pending_messages with zero feedback
to the user, potentially leaving them waiting 1+ hours.
Root cause: Level 1 guard (base.py) intercepted all messages for active
sessions and returned with no response. Level 2 (gateway/run.py) which
calls agent.interrupt() was never reached.
Fix: Expand _handle_active_session_busy_message to handle the normal
(non-draining) case:
1. Call running_agent.interrupt(text) to abort in-flight tool calls
and exit the agent loop at the next check point
2. Store the message as pending so it becomes the next turn once the
interrupted run returns
3. Send a brief ack: 'Interrupting current task (10 min elapsed,
iteration 21/60, running: terminal). I'll respond shortly.'
4. Debounce acks to once per 30s to avoid spam on rapid messages
Reported by @Lonely__MH.
