hermes - 💡(How to fix) Fix Auxiliary client with provider:auto selects broken fallback provider instead of main provider [3 comments, 3 participants]

Bug Description

When auxiliary.title_generation.provider is set to auto (default), the auxiliary client selects the fallback provider (minimax) instead of the main provider (kimi-coding). This causes a 404 error because minimax requires the Anthropic SDK which is not installed.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Set main provider to kimi-coding with model kimi-k2.6
2. Leave auxiliary.title_generation.provider at default auto
3. Start any conversation
4. Observe the warning: ⚠ Auxiliary title generation failed: HTTP 404

Expected Behavior

1. provider: auto should use the main provider (kimi-coding) for auxiliary tasks, not a random fallback
2. If a provider fails, there should be graceful degradation (e.g., generic title like "Session 2026-04-29") instead of showing a user-facing warning
3. Error messages should be actionable

Actual Behavior

⚠ Auxiliary title generation failed: HTTP 404: The requested resource was not found

From ~/.hermes/logs/errors.log:

WARNING agent.auxiliary_client: resolve_provider_client: minimax requested but anthropic SDK is not installed — falling back to OpenAI-wire (may 404).
WARNING agent.title_generator: Title generation failed: 404 page not found

Environment

• OS: macOS
• Hermes version: Latest (installed via curl script)
• Main provider: kimi-coding / kimi-k2.6
• Config: auxiliary.title_generation.provider: auto (default)
• Fallback provider: minimax (from fallback_model config)

Root Cause Analysis

The auxiliary client's resolve_provider_client() logic:

1. Sees provider: auto
2. Does NOT check if the main provider (kimi-coding) is available for auxiliary tasks
3. Falls back to minimax (from fallback_model.provider)
4. Minimax requires Anthropic SDK → not installed
5. Falls back to OpenAI-wire → 404 because the endpoint/model doesn't exist

Suggested Fix

Option A: Fix provider selection

When provider: auto, the auxiliary client should:

1. First try the main provider (kimi-coding)
2. Only fall back to fallback_model if the main provider explicitly fails
3. Check SDK availability BEFORE attempting to use a provider

Option B: Graceful degradation

If title generation fails:

1. Use a generic title (timestamp-based) instead of showing a warning
2. Log the error silently for debugging
3. Never show auxiliary failures to the user unless they're actionable

Workaround

Set auxiliary provider explicitly to match main provider:

hermes config set auxiliary.title_generation.provider kimi-coding

Related

• fallback_model config section
• agent/auxiliary_client.py — resolve_provider_client()
• agent/title_generator.py — error handling