# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Delegate subagent credential loading fixes

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These items address a bug where delegate_task subagents fail to authenticate because environment variables (including API keys) are not loaded before credential resolution in child processes. The fixes involve loading .env earlier and skipping credential pool binding when a delegate base URL is already configured.

## TL;DR

- 3 member(s): 0 open issue(s), 1 closed issue(s), 0 open PR(s), 0 merged PR(s), 2 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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.

## Closed / duplicate issues

- #13678: \[Bug\] delegate_task subagents get 404 from opencode-go — api_key env var not loaded in child process

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#13679: fix(delegate): load .env before resolving subagent credentials**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `silent_close`; implication `active`
- **#13752: fix(tools): skip credential pool binding when delegate base_url is set**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `merged_via`; implication `superseded`; refs `48ae8029a`, `#41730`

## Fix status

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