PR #17523: fix(tui): always call input.detect_drop for reliable image attachment

• Repository: NousResearch/hermes-agent
• Author: 0xharryriddle
• State: open | merged: False
• Link: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/17523

Description (problem / solution / changelog)

What does this PR do?

Fixes TUI image attachment for file paths containing spaces, quotes, or other special characters. The frontend submission logic previously used a restrictive regex pre-check that truncated paths at the first whitespace, causing the backend input.detect_drop to never run. This PR removes that gate so all submissions are validated by the backend's robust _detect_file_drop logic (shared with the CLI), which correctly handles edge cases.

Why this approach:

• Backend _detect_file_drop already handles spaces, quotes, dots, tildes, and Windows drive letters correctly
• Eliminates duplicated path-matching logic across frontend/backend
• Single source of truth for file-drop detection in one place
• Minimal surface-area change (7 lines removed from frontend)

Fixes #17522

Type of Change

• 🐛 Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
• ✅ Tests (adding or improving test coverage)
• ♻️ Refactor (removed redundant frontend logic, backend remains the source of truth)

Changes Made

Frontend (ui-tui/src/app/useSubmission.ts):

• Removed the /(?:^|\s)(?:file:\/\/|~\/|\.?\.\/|\/)[^\s]+/ regex pre-check
• Now always calls input.detect_drop for every user submission; short-circuits only for slash commands

Tests (tests/test_tui_gateway_server.py):

• Added test_input_detect_drop_path_with_spaces — verifies attachment with spaces in filename
• Added test_input_detect_drop_path_with_spaces_and_remainder — verifies remainder parsing when path has spaces
• Fixed test_rollback_restore_resolves_number_and_file_path — restored indented calls = {} declaration

How to Test

1. Manual TUI verification:

   hermes --tui

   • Type/paste a path with spaces: /tmp/Screenshot 2026-04-29.png
   • Submit with optional prompt: /tmp/Screenshot 2026-04-29.png describe this
   • Verify the image attaches and [User attached image: Screenshot 2026-04-29.png] appears
   • The remainder (describe this) should become the prompt text

2. Automated tests:

   scripts/run_tests.sh tests/test_tui_gateway_server.py::test_input_detect_drop_path_with_spaces tests/test_tui_gateway_server.py::test_input_detect_drop_path_with_spaces_and_remainder tests/test_tui_gateway_server.py::test_input_detect_drop_attaches_image -v

   All three should pass.

3. Full test suite:

   scripts/run_tests.sh tests/test_tui_gateway_server.py -v

   Confirms no regressions in TUI gateway tests.

Checklist

Code

• I've read the Contributing Guide
• My commit messages follow Conventional Commits (fix(scope):, feat(scope):, etc.)
• I searched for existing PRs to make sure this isn't a duplicate
• My PR contains only changes related to this fix/feature (no unrelated commits)
• I've run npm test in ui-tui/ and all tests pass (tests updated for ActiveTool object flow are already present in baseline)
• I've added tests for the new behavior (2 new tests + 1 test fixture fix)
• I've tested on my platform: Ubuntu 24.04, Python 3.11, Node 20

Documentation & Housekeeping

• I've updated relevant documentation (README, docs/, docstrings) — N/A (behavioral fix aligns TUI with existing CLI behavior; docs already describe image attachment)
• I've updated cli-config.yaml.example if I added/changed config keys — N/A
• I've updated CONTRIBUTING.md or AGENTS.md if I changed architecture or workflows — N/A
• I've considered cross-platform impact — TUI is cross-platform; change is runtime logic only
• I've left CHANGELOG.md and AGENTS.md untouched per user preference

Screenshots / Logs

(No visual change; behavior now matches CLI attachment detection. Optional: attach TUI screenshots showing successful image attachment with a filename containing spaces.)

Changed files

• tests/test_tui_gateway_server.py (modified, +50/-0)
• ui-tui/src/app/useSubmission.ts (modified, +3/-7)