fix: inject plugin context after cache markers to preserve Anthropic prompt cache prefix stability

run_agent.py

@@ -6649,8 +6649,8 @@ class AIAgent:
         # Plugin hook: pre_llm_call
         # Fired once per turn before the tool-calling loop.  Plugins can
         # return a dict with a ``context`` key whose value is a string
-        # that will be appended to the ephemeral system prompt for every
-        # API call in this turn (not persisted to session DB or cache).
+        # that will be injected at request time for every API call in
+        # this turn (not persisted to session DB or cached prefix).
         _plugin_turn_context = ""
         try:
             from hermes_cli.plugins import invoke_hook as _invoke_hook
@@ -6796,8 +6796,11 @@ class AIAgent:
             effective_system = active_system_prompt or ""
             if self.ephemeral_system_prompt:
                 effective_system = (effective_system + "\n\n" + self.ephemeral_system_prompt).strip()
-            # Plugin context from pre_llm_call hooks — ephemeral, not cached.
-            if _plugin_turn_context:
+            # Plugin context from pre_llm_call hooks.
+            # For non-cached providers/requests we can append directly.
+            # For Anthropic prompt-cached requests we inject it later as an
+            # uncached system suffix block so the cache key stays stable.
+            if _plugin_turn_context and not self._use_prompt_caching:
                 effective_system = (effective_system + "\n\n" + _plugin_turn_context).strip()
             if effective_system:
                 api_messages = [{"role": "system", "content": effective_system}] + api_messages
@@ -6816,6 +6819,16 @@ class AIAgent:
             if self._use_prompt_caching:
                 api_messages = apply_anthropic_cache_control(api_messages, cache_ttl=self._cache_ttl, native_anthropic=(self.api_mode == 'anthropic_messages'))
 
+                # Append plugin context AFTER cache markers so the system-level
+                # cache key stays stable even when plugin output varies per turn.
+                if _plugin_turn_context and api_messages and api_messages[0].get("role") == "system":
+                    _sys = api_messages[0].get("content", "")
+                    _blocks = list(_sys) if isinstance(_sys, list) else [{"type": "text", "text": _sys}] if isinstance(_sys, str) else []
+                    _blocks.append({"type": "text", "text": _plugin_turn_context})
+                    api_messages[0]["content"] = _blocks
+                elif _plugin_turn_context:
+                    api_messages.insert(0, {"role": "system", "content": _plugin_turn_context})
+
             # Safety net: strip orphaned tool results / add stubs for missing
             # results before sending to the API.  Runs unconditionally — not
             # gated on context_compressor — so orphans from session loading or

tests/test_run_agent.py

@@ -1573,6 +1573,40 @@ class TestRunConversation:
         assert "Local/custom backend returned reasoning-only output" in result["error"]
         assert "wrong /v1 endpoint" in result["error"]
 
+    def test_plugin_context_is_uncached_system_suffix_when_prompt_caching_enabled(self, agent):
+        self._setup_agent(agent)
+        agent._use_prompt_caching = True
+
+        captured = {}
+
+        def _fake_api_call(api_kwargs):
+            captured["kwargs"] = api_kwargs
+            return _mock_response(content="ok", finish_reason="stop")
+
+        with (
+            patch(
+                "hermes_cli.plugins.invoke_hook",
+                return_value=[{"context": "plugin-turn-context"}],
+            ),
+            patch.object(agent, "_interruptible_api_call", side_effect=_fake_api_call),
+            patch.object(agent, "_persist_session"),
+            patch.object(agent, "_save_trajectory"),
+            patch.object(agent, "_cleanup_task_resources"),
+        ):
+            result = agent.run_conversation("hello")
+
+        assert result["completed"] is True
+        assert result["final_response"] == "ok"
+        messages = captured["kwargs"]["messages"]
+        assert messages[0]["role"] == "system"
+
+        system_blocks = messages[0]["content"]
+        assert isinstance(system_blocks, list)
+        assert system_blocks[0]["text"] == "You are helpful."
+        assert system_blocks[0]["cache_control"]["type"] == "ephemeral"
+        assert system_blocks[-1]["text"] == "plugin-turn-context"
+        assert "cache_control" not in system_blocks[-1]
+
     def test_nous_401_refreshes_after_remint_and_retries(self, agent):
         self._setup_agent(agent)
         agent.provider = "nous"