Bug Description

Refreshing the dashboard while on a plugin tab — or deep-linking to one — rewrites the URL to /sessions and the plugin tab does not render. Sidebar clicks still work, but any deep-link or page refresh effectively makes the plugin tab "disappear" until clicked again.

The race is in web/src/App.tsx: the <Route path="*"> element is <Navigate to="/sessions" replace />, and web/src/plugins/usePlugins.ts fetches plugin manifests asynchronously from GET /api/dashboard/plugins. Until manifests resolve, manifests = [] and buildRoutes() only emits built-in routes, so any plugin path matches * and is rewritten before the manifest list arrives. By the time manifests resolve, the URL has already been replaced.

PR #16906 fixed the same race for /chat by parking a placeholder ChatRouteSink route; that trick only works for built-in paths known at compile time, so plugin paths still hit the original race.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Have at least one dashboard plugin that registers a tab installed (e.g. the bundled kanban plugin).
2. Open the dashboard, click the Kanban tab — URL becomes /kanban, page renders.
3. Refresh the page (or open /kanban directly in a new tab).
4. Observe: URL is replaced with /sessions, kanban tab does not render.

Reproduces against main at f98b5d00a with --insecure dashboard on localhost:9119.

Expected Behavior

Stay on /kanban (after a brief plugin-load window) and render the kanban page.

Actual Behavior

URL is rewritten to /sessions immediately on first render. There is no error in the browser console — the redirect is intentional code, just firing before manifests arrive.

Affected Component

Other (Web Dashboard / dashboard plugin system)

Messaging Platform (if gateway-related)

N/A (CLI only)

Debug Report

version:          0.12.0 (2026.4.30) [f98b5d00]
os:               Linux 5.15.0-174-generic x86_64
python:           3.11.15
openai_sdk:       2.30.0
profile:          default
hermes_home:      ~/.hermes
model:            gpt-5.5
provider:         openai-codex
terminal:         local

features:
  toolsets:           hermes-cli
  mcp_servers:        0
  memory_provider:    built-in
  gateway:            running (systemd (user), pid 952636)
  platforms:          discord
  cron_jobs:          0 active / 0 total
  skills:             181

Operating System

Ubuntu 24.04

Python Version

3.11.15

Hermes Version

f98b5d00a (main, dashboard built locally)

Relevant Logs / Traceback

No server-side log — purely a client-side React Router race in web/src/App.tsx. Reproducible by watching the address bar replace /kanban with /sessions immediately after navigation.

Root Cause Analysis (optional)

web/src/App.tsx:

<Route path="*" element={<Navigate to="/sessions" replace />} />

web/src/plugins/usePlugins.ts initializes loading=true, fetches manifests asynchronously, and only flips loading=false once manifests are fetched and plugin scripts have registered (or after a 2 s safety timeout). Until then, routes from buildRoutes() contains only the built-in routes, so plugin paths fall through to * and the redirect rewrites the URL.

Proposed Fix (optional)

Defer the * redirect while pluginsLoading is true: render a small spinner during the plugin-load window and only <Navigate to="/sessions"> once pluginsLoading clears. By that point the routes memo has rebuilt with the plugin routes and React Router will render the matching plugin page instead of the fallback. PR follows.

Are you willing to submit a PR for this?

• I'd like to fix this myself and submit a PR