hermes - 💡(How to fix) Fix FR: single-source terminal config→env bridge (eliminate 3-dict drift) [1 participants]

Feature Request: Single-Source Terminal Config→Env Bridge

Problem

terminal.* config keys must be bridged to TERMINAL_* env vars via three independent dictionaries that must stay perfectly synchronized:

This violates DRY and has caused the same bug at least 3 times — a new key added to the terminal defaults in config.py without updating all three bridge dicts, silently dropping the setting:

test_terminal_config_env_sync.py catches drift post-hoc in CI, but doesn't prevent the bug at the source. Every new terminal.* key still requires a 4-file change (defaults + 3 dicts).

Proposal

Define a canonical mapping in one place and import it everywhere:

# hermes_cli/terminal_env_bridge.py (new file)
TERMINAL_ENV_BRIDGE: dict[str, str] = {
    "backend": "TERMINAL_ENV",
    "cwd": "TERMINAL_CWD",
    "timeout": "TERMINAL_TIMEOUT",
    "docker_image": "TERMINAL_DOCKER_IMAGE",
    "docker_extra_args": "TERMINAL_DOCKER_EXTRA_ARGS",
    "docker_forward_env": "TERMINAL_DOCKER_FORWARD_ENV",
    "docker_volumes": "TERMINAL_DOCKER_VOLUMES",
    "docker_env": "TERMINAL_DOCKER_ENV",
    "docker_mount_cwd_to_workspace": "TERMINAL_DOCKER_MOUNT_CWD_TO_WORKSPACE",
    "docker_run_as_host_user": "TERMINAL_DOCKER_RUN_AS_HOST_USER",
    # ... all remaining keys
}

Then cli.py, gateway/run.py, and config.py each import and (if needed) adapt:

# cli.py
from hermes_cli.terminal_env_bridge import TERMINAL_ENV_BRIDGE as env_mappings

# gateway/run.py
from hermes_cli.terminal_env_bridge import TERMINAL_ENV_BRIDGE as _terminal_env_map

# config.py — prefix keys with "terminal." for dotted-notation matching
from hermes_cli.terminal_env_bridge import TERMINAL_ENV_BRIDGE
_config_to_env_sync = {f"terminal.{k}": v for k, v in TERMINAL_ENV_BRIDGE.items()}

Edge cases like cwd placeholder skipping and sudo_password special handling stay at the call site — only the key→env-var mapping is centralized.

Benefits

Scope

• New file: hermes_cli/terminal_env_bridge.py (~30 lines)
• Modified: cli.py, gateway/run.py, hermes_cli/config.py (replace inline dicts with imports)
• Existing test test_terminal_config_env_sync.py continues to pass unchanged
• Estimated diff: ~+40/-60 (net reduction)