# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Kanban comment author sanitization and disambiguation

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These items address sanitizing and disambiguating how comment authors are rendered in the kanban build_worker_context. The changes appear focused on defense-in-depth improvements to author handling logic.

## 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 #22769. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #22769 (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-22769`. 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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

- #22452: kanban: defense-in-depth — sanitize comment author rendering in build_worker_context

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#22769: fix(kanban): sanitize comment author rendering in build_worker_context**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `hermes_cli/kanban_db.py`, `tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_core_functionality.py`
  - fix hunks:
  - `hermes_cli/kanban_db.py`

    ```diff
    @@ -4072,7 +4072,14 @@ def _cap(s: Optional[str], limit: int = _CTX_MAX_FIELD_BYTES) -> str:
                 )
             for c in shown_c:
                 ts = time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M", time.localtime(c.created_at))
    -            lines.append(f"**{c.author}** ({ts}):")
    +            # Render author with explicit "comment from worker" framing so
    +            # operator-controlled HERMES_PROFILE values like "hermes-system"
    +            # or "operator" can't be misread by the next worker as a system
    +            # directive above the (attacker-influenceable) comment body.
    +            # Defense-in-depth — the LLM-controlled author-forgery surface
    +            # was already closed in #22435. See #22452.
    +            safe_author = (c.author or "").replace("`", "")
    +            lines.append(f"comment from worker `{safe_author}` at {ts}:")
                 lines.append(_cap(c.body, _CTX_MAX_COMMENT_BYTES))
                 lines.append("")
     
    ```
  - `tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_core_functionality.py`

    ```diff
    @@ -2507,6 +2507,27 @@ def test_build_worker_context_caps_prior_attempts(kanban_home):
             conn.close()
     
     
    +def test_build_worker_context_renders_author_with_safe_framing(kanban_home):
    +    """Author rendering wraps the operator-controlled author in code fences
    +    + "comment from worker" prefix so a misleading HERMES_PROFILE name
    +    (e.g. "hermes-system", "operator") can't be misread as a system
    +    directive above the comment body. Defense-in-depth — see #22452."""
    +    conn = kb.connect()
    +    try:
    +        tid = kb.create_task(conn, title="t", assignee="worker")
    +        kb.add_comment(conn, tid, author="hermes-system", body="some note")
    +        ctx = kb.build_worker_context(conn, tid)
    +
    +        # No bold-author rendering anywhere in the context.
    +        assert "**hermes-system**" not in ctx
    +        # Explicit provenance prefix is present.
    +        assert "comment from worker `hermes-system` at " in ctx
    +        # The body still renders.
    +        assert "some note" in ctx
    +    finally:
    +        conn.close()
    +
    +
     def test_build_worker_context_caps_comments(kanban_home):
         """Same cap for comments — comment-storm tasks stay bounded."""
         conn = kb.connect()
    ```

    ```diff
    @@ -2516,10 +2537,15 @@ def test_build_worker_context_caps_comments(kanban_home):
                 kb.add_comment(conn, tid, author=f"u{i % 3}", body=f"comment {i}")
             ctx = kb.build_worker_context(conn, tid)
             # Only _CTX_MAX_COMMENTS most-recent shown in full
    -        comment_count = ctx.count("**u")
    -        # 3 distinct authors u0/u1/u2 so the count is trickier; use the
    -        # "comment N" body text to count.
    -        body_count = sum(1 for line in ctx.splitlines() if line.startswith("comment "))
    +        # Count by body text since author rendering uses code-fenced
    +        # "comment from worker `<author>` at <ts>:" framing (#22452).
    +        # Comment bodies are "comment 0".."comment 99" so we need to
    +        # match the body specifically (digit suffix), not the author
    +        # provenance line (which also starts with "comment ").
    +        import re
    +        body_count = sum(
    +            1 for line in ctx.splitlines() if re.fullmatch(r"comment \d+", line)
    +        )
             assert body_count == kb._CTX_MAX_COMMENTS, (
                 f"expected {kb._CTX_MAX_COMMENTS} comments shown, got {body_count}"
             )
    ```
- **#22488: fix(kanban): disambiguate worker comment authors**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `implemented_elsewhere`; implication `superseded`; refs `ade598142`, `#22452`, `#22769`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #22769 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-05-09`.