Cairn

Pre-execution approval gating for tool calls

NousResearch/hermes-agent · cluster 21849 · agent

Data as of

9 open items. Fix attempted, not merged.

The short answer

6open issues
3open PRs
15items grouped
Known?
Yes. 15 related items grouped here, 4 issues already closed.
Fix event
No fix has been merged to main. 1 PR closed without merging; see the attempts below.
Tracker
The maintainers' tracker marks this partially resolved, deciding PR #58698. That is separate from the fix event.
Still open
6 issues and 3 PRs.

These issues and PRs concern adding configurable approval gates that intercept tool calls before execution, with particular focus on ensuring write_file, patch, send_message, and other consequential tools cannot bypass human-in-the-loop or permission checks. Work spans feature requests, security reports, plugin hooks, and fixes to close bypass gaps.

Open issues6

  • Issue#34320Feature: Deterministic approval gate — intercept consequential tool calls before execution
  • Issue#34348Feature: User-approval gate for outbound communication tools (send_message, email, etc.)
  • Issue#35357[Security] Tirith approval gate does not cover non-shell tools — send_message, write_file bypass human-in-the-loop entirely
  • Issue#49167Feature: Tool-level approval gating for MCP tools (like terminal security scan, but for external writes)
  • Issue#56969[Feature]: Tool Call Pre-Execution Hook — Enable URL Routing Rules Before Tool Dispatch
  • Issue#60440write_file and patch tools bypass skills.write_approval gate

Open PRs3

  • PR#60482fix: block write_file/patch from bypassing skills.write_approval gate
  • PR#60501fix(tools): route skill-path writes through write_approval gate (#60440)
  • PR#102820fix(skills): honor active profile in file write guard

Fixes on record

Merged to main. A stamp counts the issues a fix is linked to.

  • #58698 feat(plugins): pre_tool_call approve action escalates to human gate (closes #51221)

    merged to main

    files: agent/agent_runtime_helpers.py, agent/tool_executor.py, hermes_cli/plugins.py, model_tools.py, tests/hermes_cli/test_plugins.py, tests/run_agent/test_run_agent.py, tests/run_agent/test_tool_call_guardrail_runtime.py, tests/tools/test_request_tool_approval.py, tools/approval.py

1 PR closed without merging

From the close comments: other 1

  • #63847 feat(approvals): add write-file approval mode · other
Closed issues · 4
  • Closed#21849feat: Tool Permission Gating System (per-tool rules + mode-based fallback)
  • Closed#33905[Feature]: Per-Tool / Per-Toolset Approval Policies
  • Closed#34319Feature: Deterministic approval gate — intercept consequential tool calls before execution
  • Closed#51221Feature Request: User-Configurable Runtime Approval for External Actions
How this cluster was grouped
  • Link evidence (partly structural links): some members are connected by structural evidence (shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference); the rest are joined by an automated relevance judgement over their text.
  • Members outside that structural core may belong to a different underlying problem.
  • Pairwise link density 0.08: the share of item 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.

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At a glance

Subsystem
agent
Merged PRs
#58698
Closed issues
4
Attempts
1 PR closed without merging

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