# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Windows locale surrogate errors in strftime handling

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These issues and fixes address UnicodeEncodeError crashes caused by undecodable locale or timezone names when calling strftime on Windows. The work involves adding protective wrappers or fallbacks to prevent surrogate characters from propagating and crashing the application.

## TL;DR

- 5 member(s): 0 open issue(s), 1 closed issue(s), 0 open PR(s), 1 merged PR(s), 3 PR(s) closed without merging.
- A fix was merged to main in PR #120748. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #120748 (and any competing PRs below) before filing. Confirm the merged change covers your symptom.

## Maintainer resolution verdict

- Internal-tracker verdict over this cluster's issue members: `resolved` · deciding PR(s): `pr-120748`. This is distinct from the fix status above. Weigh it yourself.

## How this cluster was grouped

- Link evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.
- Pairwise link density `0.40`: the share of member pairs that carry a link, counting a structural link in full and a relevance-only link at 0.36. `1.00` means every pair is linked.

## Closed / duplicate issues

- #102910: \[Bug\] Windows fr-FR: strftime("%Z") raises UnicodeEncodeError: surrogates not allowed and crashes the desktop gateway at every conversation start

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#120748: fix(time): stop Windows locale timezone names from crashing the gateway**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`; implication `superseded`
  - files: `agent/account_usage.py`, `agent/auxiliary_unavailable.py`, `agent/billing_usage.py`, `agent/insights.py`, `agent/learning_graph_render.py`, `agent/system_prompt.py`, `cron/quota_hold.py`, `cron/scheduler.py`, `gateway/message_timestamps.py`, `hermes_cli/goals.py`, `hermes_cli/status_auth.py`, `hermes_time.py`, `tests/agent/test_system_prompt.py`, `tests/cron/test_timezone.py`, `tools/session_search_tool.py`
- **#102918: fix(agent): keep Windows locale errors from crashing conversations**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `merged_via`; implication `superseded`
- **#102936: strftime: add safe_strftime wrapper for Windows locale surrogate issues**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `duplicate_of`; implication `duplicate`; refs `#102918`, `#102910`, `#102918`
- **#103438: fix(i18n): survive undecodable locale names in strftime paths (fixes #102910)**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `superseded_by_pr`; implication `superseded`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #120748 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-09-23`.