# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Empty summary breaks compression fallback chain

## Open now

- 1 issue, 1 PR open on GitHub.
- #108030: \[Bug\]: auxiliary compression accepts an empty summary, so the configured fallback chain never advances
- PR #108037: fix(agent): advance the compression fallback chain when a candidate fails or returns an empty summary

These items concern a bug where auxiliary compression accepts an empty summary instead of treating it as a failure, preventing the fallback chain from advancing to the next candidate. The accompanying fixes address this by explicitly failing candidates that return empty summaries.

## TL;DR

- 3 member(s): 1 open issue(s), 0 closed issue(s), 1 open PR(s), 0 merged PR(s), 1 PR(s) closed without merging.
- No fix has been merged to main; one or more PRs were attempted (see below).
- **Recommended:** review the prior/competing PR(s) below. A fix was attempted but not merged; your case may extend or revive that work.

## Maintainer resolution verdict

- Internal-tracker verdict over this cluster's issue members: `unresolved`. 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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 `0.67`: 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.

## Open related issues

- #108030: \[Bug\]: auxiliary compression accepts an empty summary, so the configured fallback chain never advances

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#108035: fix(agent): fail the compression candidate when its summary is empty**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `superseded_by_pr`; implication `superseded`; refs `#108037`
- **#108037: fix(agent): advance the compression fallback chain when a candidate fails or returns an empty summary**. open
  - maintainer direction: category `uncategorized`; implication `needs_llm`; refs `ea604bd0c2a7165d7f6ad979d909233f9f72994a`, `8c74118c4a0c332a6bc57d2509147bad0e6ee864`
  - files: `agent/auxiliary_client.py`, `tests/agent/test_auxiliary_client.py`

## Fix status

- No merged fix on record.
- Subsystem: `agent`