Hermes Gateway Setup Can Silently Skip Every Secret Prompt on Terminals Without Echo Control (#64093)
Bug Tracker — July 14, 2026. A reported terminal capability gap can make the interactive gateway setup wizard race through secret prompts, mark every field skipped, exit successfully, and leave users without any configured messaging platform.
Issue Summary
Issue #64093 reports that on some tmux/screen, SSH/PTY, and IDE terminals, Python cannot control terminal echo for getpass. The setup wizard then falls back incorrectly: prompts are skipped, every field is marked as skipped, the command exits with status 0, and the menu reappears as if setup completed. The result is a silent configuration failure with no explanation to the operator. The linked remediation is PR #64108.
Observed Failure Path
| Step | Reported Behavior | User-Level Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| Wizard starts | Gateway setup invokes secret prompts through getpass. | Normal setup expects each credential field to be entered and saved. |
| Echo control unavailable | Terminal cannot support Python echo handling and the fallback path races through prompts. | Credentials are not collected, but the wizard does not surface a clear terminal-capability error. |
| Configuration result | Every field is marked skipped and setup exits 0. | User believes configuration succeeded even though no messaging platform is configured. |
| Next launch | Gateway returns to the menu or starts without the expected channel. | Operational failure appears later and is difficult to connect to the earlier setup run. |
Operational Impact
Classification: P2. This page summarizes a publicly reported issue; scope and remediation status can change as the upstream project investigates and merges fixes. Validate the affected workflow on the relevant operating system, terminal, or desktop build before treating a workaround or update as complete.
Mitigation and Verification
- Test gateway setup in the actual terminal environments used by operators, including SSH/PTY,
tmux,screen, and IDE-integrated terminals. - After the wizard exits, verify that at least one expected credential or channel configuration was persisted; do not treat exit 0 as proof.
- Use the documented workaround for affected environments: non-interactive
hermes config set ...commands plus a reviewed.envpath. - Track upstream issue #64093 and PR #64108, then retest both the prompt flow and the post-setup configuration state after remediation.
Source Evidence
Primary issue: NousResearch/hermes-agent issue #64093 (linked PR #64108)
For a managed-agent comparison, the relevant question is whether setup failures, desktop actions, and IPC boundaries fail clearly, preserve recoverability, and remain observable to operators—not only whether the happy path works.