# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Intercepting long sleep commands that block agents

## Open now

- 1 issue, 1 PR open on GitHub.
- #4162: \[Bug\] Agent enters uninterruptible sleep+tail polling loop instead of using background mode
- PR #8612: fix: intercept long sleep commands that block agent and prevent user interaction

These issues and PRs address a problem where agents enter uninterruptible sleep or polling loops in terminal/tmux contexts, blocking user interaction. The work focuses on detecting and intercepting long foreground sleep commands and improving interrupt resilience in gateway and monitor tasks.

## TL;DR

- 5 member(s): 1 open issue(s), 1 closed issue(s), 1 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_PARTIAL`): some members are connected by structural evidence (shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference); the rest are joined by an automated relevance judgement over their text.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 `0.34`: 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

- #4162: \[Bug\] Agent enters uninterruptible sleep+tail polling loop instead of using background mode

## Closed / duplicate issues

- #39868: Async feedback loop for tmux workers

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#4164: fix: intercept long sleep commands that block agent and prevent user interaction**. closed without merge · fix tier `suggested`
  - maintainer direction: category `superseded_by_pr`; implication `superseded`
  - _suggested-tier fix detail withheld; re-request with `?tier=all` to include it._
- **#4192: fix(terminal): intercept long sleep commands to prevent agent blocking**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `stale_abandoned`; implication `active`
- **#8612: fix: intercept long sleep commands that block agent and prevent user interaction**. open
  - maintainer direction: category `silent_close`; implication `active`
  - files: `tools/terminal_tool.py`

## Fix status

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