# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Email gateway OOM bug from blank env vars

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

A bug where blank-but-present EMAIL_* environment variables caused the email gateway to enable itself and retry IMAP connections against an empty host, leading to out-of-memory crashes on small servers. The associated items address failing fast and validating email config before attempting connections.

## 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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

- #40715: \[Bug\]: Email gateway: blank-but-present EMAIL_* env vars enable the platform and retry IMAP against an empty host forever (host OOM on small VPS)

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#40745: fix(gateway): fail fast on blank email config**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `uncategorized`; implication `needs_llm`; refs `#40715`, `#50368`
- **#40829: fix(gateway): validate email config before connect to prevent OOM on blank env vars**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `uncategorized`; implication `needs_llm`; refs `#40715`, `#50368`, `#40745`

## Fix status

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