hermes - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug] agent-browser leaves 200+ orphaned Chrome processes after task completion (Windows)

Bug Description

After running multiple browser tasks with Hermes Agent, 202 orphaned Chrome.exe processes were found running on Windows 11, consuming significant CPU and memory.

Environment

• OS: Windows 11
• Hermes Agent: v0.14.0 (2026.5.16)
• Browser backend: agent-browser (local Chromium)
• Chrome version: 149.0.7827.22

Observed Behavior

Running tasklist | grep chrome | wc -l shows 202 Chrome processes after just a few tasks. All processes are headless Chrome instances spawned by agent-browser, each using a unique temporary user-data-dir under C:\Users\y\AppData\Local\Temp\agent-browser-chrome-*.

Each orphaned Chrome instance includes:

• chrome.exe (main)
• chrome.exe --type=crashpad-handler
• chrome.exe --type=gpu-process
• chrome.exe --type=utility (storage.mojom.StorageService)
• chrome.exe --type=utility (network.mojom.NetworkService)
• chrome.exe --type=renderer (multiple)

Steps to Reproduce

1. Run several browser tasks via Hermes Agent (e.g., web search, page navigation)
2. Complete or interrupt the tasks
3. Check running processes — orphaned Chrome processes remain

Expected Behavior

All Chrome child processes should be terminated when the agent-browser session ends or the parent process exits.

Related Issues

• #17388 (same problem reported May 22, 2026)
• #7343 (daemon socket communication + orphan cleanup)
• #13081 (_reap_orphaned_browser_sessions glob pattern bug)

Workaround

Manual cleanup via:

taskkill //F //IM chrome.exe

This kills all 202 processes, confirming they are all Chrome instances from agent-browser.