PR #24888: fix(prompt_builder): use TERMINAL_CWD in system prompt when configured

• Repository: NousResearch/hermes-agent
• Author: liuhao1024
• State: open | merged: False
• Link: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/24888

Description (problem / solution / changelog)

Summary

build_environment_hints() always uses os.getcwd() for the "Current working directory" line in the system prompt, ignoring the terminal.cwd config setting. When Hermes runs as a daemon (e.g. via launchd), os.getcwd() reflects the daemon's launch directory rather than the user's configured workspace.

Root Cause

In agent/prompt_builder.py, build_environment_hints() calls os.getcwd() directly (line 775) without checking the TERMINAL_CWD environment variable, which the gateway sets from terminal.cwd in config.yaml.

Fix

Check TERMINAL_CWD env var first; fall back to os.getcwd() when unset or empty. This is consistent with how _probe_remote_backend() already reads TERMINAL_CWD (line 663) for cache key generation.

Regression Coverage

• test_build_environment_hints_prefers_terminal_cwd — verifies TERMINAL_CWD value appears in the system prompt
• test_build_environment_hints_falls_back_to_getcwd — verifies os.getcwd() is used when TERMINAL_CWD is unset

Testing

All 10 TestEnvironmentHints tests pass (including 8 pre-existing).

Fixes [Bug]: terminal.cwd not correctly injected into system prompt #24882

Changed files

• agent/prompt_builder.py (modified, +7/-1)
• tests/agent/test_prompt_builder.py (modified, +24/-0)

PR #24957: fix(prompt_builder): use TERMINAL_CWD over os.getcwd() in environment hints

• Repository: NousResearch/hermes-agent
• Author: zccyman
• State: open | merged: False
• Link: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/pull/24957

Description (problem / solution / changelog)

Summary

Fixes #24882

The system prompt's "Current working directory" line used os.getcwd() directly, ignoring the TERMINAL_CWD environment variable that the gateway bridges from config.yaml's terminal.cwd setting.

Problem

On macOS launchd-launched gateways, os.getcwd() returns the launchd WorkingDirectory (e.g. ~/.hermes/hermes-agent/) instead of the user's configured terminal.cwd path. This causes the agent to use the wrong working directory when instructed to "clone to the current directory" or perform other path-relative operations.

Root Cause

In agent/prompt_builder.py, the build_environment_hints() function's local-backend path used:

host_lines.append(f"Current working directory: {os.getcwd()}")

The gateway already bridges terminal.cwd from config to TERMINAL_CWD env var at startup (see gateway/run.py:444), but build_environment_hints() never checked it.

Fix

Prefer os.getenv("TERMINAL_CWD") over os.getcwd(), falling back to os.getcwd() when the env var is not set (CLI mode, where the process cwd is correct).

effective_cwd = os.getenv("TERMINAL_CWD") or os.getcwd()
host_lines.append(f"Current working directory: {effective_cwd}")

Testing

Added 2 new regression tests in TestEnvironmentHints:

• test_build_environment_hints_prefers_terminal_cwd — verifies TERMINAL_CWD takes precedence
• test_build_environment_hints_falls_back_to_getcwd — verifies os.getcwd() fallback when no env var

All 10 tests in TestEnvironmentHints pass (8 existing + 2 new), confirming no regression.

Files Changed

• agent/prompt_builder.py — 1-line fix (+1 line for the variable)
• tests/agent/test_prompt_builder.py — 2 new test methods

Changed files

• agent/prompt_builder.py (modified, +2/-1)
• tests/agent/test_prompt_builder.py (modified, +33/-0)