# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Agent loop detection and guardrail improvements

## Open now

- 1 issue, 2 PRs open on GitHub.
- #41490: \[Bug\]: Agent loops on identical tool calls despite being blocked — need better re-prompting after repeat detection
- PR #34614: feat(agent): add tool_repetition guardrail for repeated mutating calls
- PR #41492: fix(tools): add actionable strategy hints to loop-detection BLOCKED messages

These items address detecting, warning about, and blocking repeated or looping tool calls in the agent, including improvements to re-prompting messages and guardrail strategies after repetition is detected.

## TL;DR

- 4 member(s): 1 open issue(s), 0 closed issue(s), 2 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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 `0.50`: 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

- #41490: \[Bug\]: Agent loops on identical tool calls despite being blocked — need better re-prompting after repeat detection

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#34614: feat(agent): add tool_repetition guardrail for repeated mutating calls**. open
  - maintainer direction: category `uncategorized`; implication `needs_llm`
  - files: `agent/tool_guardrails.py`, `cli-config.yaml.example`, `hermes_cli/config_defaults.py`, `tests/agent/test_tool_guardrails.py`, `website/docs/user-guide/configuration.md`
- **#41492: fix(tools): add actionable strategy hints to loop-detection BLOCKED messages**. open
  - maintainer direction: category `uncategorized`; implication `needs_llm`
  - files: `tests/tools/test_read_loop_detection.py`, `tools/file_tools.py`
- **#57303: fix(guardrails): soft-block exact repeated tool-call failures by default**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `uncategorized`; implication `needs_llm`

## Fix status

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