# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Reject model refusals as valid compression summaries

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These issues and PRs concern a bug where the agent's summary validator incorrectly accepts model refusal responses as valid context compression summaries. The work focuses on detecting and rejecting such refusals rather than committing them as legitimate output.

## TL;DR

- 4 member(s): 0 open issue(s), 1 closed issue(s), 0 open PR(s), 1 merged PR(s), 2 PR(s) closed without merging.
- A fix was merged to main in PR #118920. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #118920 (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-118920`. 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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 `0.50`: 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

- #118363: \[Bug\]: summary validator accepts a model refusal as a valid summary (committed, no content)

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#118920: fix(agent): reject refusal responses instead of committing them as the compression summary**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `agent/context_compressor.py`, `agent/micro_compaction.py`, `contributors/emails/91088196+MohamadKanso@users.noreply.github.com`, `tests/agent/test_compressor_truncated_summary_guard.py`
- **#118385: fix(agent): reject refusal-only context summaries**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `merged_via`; implication `superseded`; refs `#118363`, `#118406`
- **#118406: fix(agent): reject refusal responses during compression**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `superseded_by_pr`; implication `superseded`; refs `#118385`, `#118363`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #118920 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-09-22`.