# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Warn on empty smart-approval guardian responses

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These items address a logging gap where empty or missing guardian verdict responses in smart-approval were only logged at DEBUG level or silently ignored, and change the behavior to emit a warning instead.

## TL;DR

- 3 member(s): 0 open issue(s), 1 closed issue(s), 0 open PR(s), 1 merged PR(s), 1 PR(s) closed without merging.
- A fix was merged to main in PR #117582. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #117582 (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-117582`. 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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.

## Closed / duplicate issues

- #117428: Silent smart-approval failure mode: empty-verdict guardian responses log at DEBUG only (or not at all), invisible at default log levels

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#117582: fix(approval): empty smart-approval guardian answers now warn instead of silently escalating (#117428, salvage #117430)**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `tests/tools/test_smart_approval_injection.py`, `tools/approval_smart.py`
- **#117430: fix(approval): warn on empty smart-approval guardian answers**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `merged_via`; implication `superseded`; refs `262825db74`, `#117582`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #117582 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-09-20`.