hermes - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Feature]: Trigger background memory review at session boundaries (reset, close, compression) [2 pull requests]

Problem or Use Case

memory.nudge_interval triggers background memory review every N turns, but memory snapshots (USER.md / MEMORY.md) are only reflected in the system prompt at the next session — not mid-conversation. This means a nudge-triggered review during turn 10 of a 12-turn session writes memory that won't be useful until a future session anyway.

Meanwhile, the natural moments when memory is most useful are session boundaries:

• /reset or /new
• Session close / CLI exit
• Gateway session expiry
• Context compression (which effectively starts a new context window)
• Session rollover

There is currently no way to trigger a review at these boundaries. Related issues that touch parts of this problem: #18369, #30812, #7192.

Proposed Solution

Add optional config flags to trigger a background memory review at session boundaries, complementing (not replacing) nudge_interval:

memory:
  nudge_interval: 10          # existing, unchanged
  review_on_reset: true       # fire on /reset, /new
  review_on_session_end: true # fire on CLI exit, gateway session expiry
  review_on_compression: false # fire after context compression (off by default — compression is already expensive)

Implementation sketch — the hooks already exist in MemoryManager; the main work is wiring trigger_background_review(agent, review_memory=True) into them, guarded by the new flags:

• review_on_reset → on_session_switch(..., reset=True) call site in run_agent.py
• review_on_session_end → shutdown_memory_provider() in run_agent.py:1951
• review_on_compression → on_pre_compress() / post-compression path in agent/memory_manager.py:492

Feature Type

Config option

Alternatives Considered

• nudge_interval alone: fires at arbitrary mid-conversation points; memory isn't reflected until next session anyway, so the timing is often suboptimal.
• Always review on boundary: too prescriptive — some users may not want the latency cost at shutdown. Hence opt-in flags.

Scope

Small — no new hooks needed, just new config keys and wiring into existing call sites.