# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Fix OR-relaxed retry broken by lowercase or/not

## Open now

- 1 issue, 1 PR open on GitHub.
- #135756: \[Bug\]: session search skips the OR-relaxed retry when a natural query contains the word "or" or "not"
- PR #135777: fix(state): keep lower-case "or"/"not" from disabling the OR-relaxed retry

A bug where queries containing the lowercase words 'or' or 'not' incorrectly disable the OR-relaxed retry path in search, along with fixes addressing it across search and state handling.

## TL;DR

- 3 member(s): 1 open issue(s), 0 closed issue(s), 1 open PR(s), 0 merged PR(s), 1 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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.

## Open related issues

- #135756: \[Bug\]: session search skips the OR-relaxed retry when a natural query contains the word "or" or "not"

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#135765: fix(search): keep OR-relaxed retry for lower-case or/not in queries**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `uncategorized`; implication `needs_llm`; refs `#131313`
- **#135777: fix(state): keep lower-case "or"/"not" from disabling the OR-relaxed retry**. open
  - maintainer direction: category `silent_close`; implication `active`
  - files: `hermes_state_search.py`, `tests/hermes_state/test_search_or_relaxed_fallback.py`

## Fix status

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