hermes - 💡(How to fix) Fix Telegram message queuing causes agent to work on stale state — hours behind reality

Bug Description

When using Hermes via Telegram gateway, messages are queued and delayed. The agent receives them 30-60 minutes after they were sent, by which time:

• The user has moved on to a different problem
• The state of the system has changed completely
• The agent is now working on an outdated, irrelevant task

This makes Telegram-based Hermes effectively unusable for real-time work.

Concrete Example

User reports: "Local server is down, here's the port and path."
One hour later, Hermes is still:

• Checking unrelated X server processes
• Searching for processes on wrong ports
• Ignoring the exact port and path the user already provided
• Never actually starting the server

In the same timeframe, Claude CLI independently completed the same task in 10 seconds.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Send a message to Hermes via Telegram with a specific task (e.g. "start server on port 4010 at /Users/greg/clawd")
2. Wait
3. Observe Hermes receiving the message 30-60 minutes late
4. Watch Hermes ignore the specific instructions and search unrelated things
5. User gives up and does the task manually

Expected Behavior

• Messages should be processed immediately (within seconds)
• Agent should act on current state, not stale queued messages
• Agent should respect exact paths/ports provided by user
• Agent should complete simple tasks (start server, check port) in seconds, not hours

Actual Behavior

• Messages queued for 30-60 minutes
• Agent works on outdated context
• Agent ignores explicit instructions (port, path)
• Agent searches unrelated processes/systems
• Simple tasks take 1+ hour or never complete
• User has to abandon Hermes and use Claude directly

Environment

• Platform: Telegram gateway
• Hermes version: current main (2026-05-09)
• Model: kimi-k2.6 via kimi-for-coding

Additional Context

User reports this has been happening for days across multiple sessions. Hermes has "multiple chances" to fix simple issues but consistently:

• Goes in circles
• Works on stale queued messages
• Kills unrelated processes
• Does not listen to explicit instructions
• Cannot match the speed/effectiveness of Claude CLI used independently

The Telegram gateway appears to have a fundamental message delivery/processing latency that makes it unsuitable for real-time agent work. The agent loop also seems to lack a "trust the user, just do it" mode — it re-verifies everything even when given exact parameters.