# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Unicode/UTF-8 encoding crash fixes across platforms

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

Multiple fixes addressing startup crashes caused by non-UTF-8 console encodings (e.g., cp1252, latin-1) on Windows, Raspberry Pi, and other platforms. The issues center on box-drawing characters and similar output triggering UnicodeEncodeError when stdout/stderr is not UTF-8.

## 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 #19424. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #19424 (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: `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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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 `0.40`: 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

- #10956: \[Windows\] UnicodeEncodeError crash on startup — box-drawing chars in print() kill the gateway under cp1252

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#19424: fix(windows): enforce UTF-8 stdout/stderr to prevent UnicodeEncodeError crash**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`; implication `superseded`
  - files: `hermes_cli/__init__.py`
- **#10975: fix(cli): avoid Windows console Unicode startup crashes**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `duplicate_of`; implication `duplicate`; refs `#10979`, `#10979`, `#10975`, `#10979`
- **#10979: fix(cli): force UTF-8 stdio bootstrap**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `implemented_elsewhere`; implication `superseded`; refs `#19424`, `#19424`
- **#19259: fix(windows): enforce UTF-8 to prevent UnicodeEncodeError crash on startup**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `merged_via`; implication `superseded`; refs `#19424`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #19424 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-05-03`.