# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Startup race causes false credential error on boot

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These items address a race condition during startup where secrets are not yet hydrated before credential checks run, causing misleading 'no credentials' errors or incorrect blame assignment. Fixes aim to tolerate the hydration delay and surface accurate provider-level blame rather than false negatives.

## 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 #128453. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #128453 (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-128453`. 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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

- #124939: Desktop: onboarding overlay flashes 'No usable credentials found for openrouter' after every update restart on a fully configured install (BWS-backed secrets + startup race)

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#128453: fix(desktop,onboarding): survive the boot secret-hydration race; blame the pin, keep the skip**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `apps/desktop/src/components/onboarding/index.tsx`, `apps/desktop/src/components/onboarding/skip-gate.test.tsx`, `apps/desktop/src/store/live-sync.ts`, `apps/desktop/src/store/onboarding.test.ts`, `apps/desktop/src/store/onboarding.ts`, `tests/tui_gateway/test_tui_gateway_server.py`, `tui_gateway/methods_config.py`
- **#124963: fix(tui-gateway): blame the pinned provider when runtime_check fails**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `implemented_elsewhere`; implication `superseded`; refs `72eaa83068`, `#128453`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #128453 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-09-30`.