# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Scratchpad tag false positives triggering unnecessary retries

## Open now

- 0 issues, 1 PR open on GitHub.
- PR #11743: fix(agent): ignore quoted scratchpad tags in retry detection

Multiple reports and a fix attempt address false positive detection in has_incomplete_scratchpad() when REASONING_SCRATCHPAD tags appear in quoted or tool output contexts, causing wasted retries and lost responses.

## TL;DR

- 5 member(s): 0 open issue(s), 4 closed issue(s), 1 open PR(s), 0 merged PR(s), 0 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_PARTIAL`): some members are connected by structural evidence (shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference); the rest are joined by an automated relevance judgement over their text.
- Members outside that structural core may belong to a different underlying problem.
- Pairwise link density `0.32`: 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

- #11181: \[Resilience\] has_incomplete_scratchpad() false positives cause wasted retries and lost responses
- #11188: \[Resilience\] has_incomplete_scratchpad false positives when REASONING_SCRATCHPAD appears in tool output
- #11620: \[Resilience\] REASONING_SCRATCHPAD false positive detection triggers retry loop
- #11663: \[Resilience\] has_incomplete_scratchpad false positive causes wasted retries and lost output

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#11743: fix(agent): ignore quoted scratchpad tags in retry detection**. open
  - maintainer direction: category `uncategorized`; implication `needs_llm`
  - files: `agent/trajectory.py`, `tests/agent/test_trajectory.py`

## Fix status

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