# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Observation masking and two-phase context compression proposals

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These members propose reducing token usage in conversation history by masking or pruning older tool outputs before or instead of full context compaction. The ideas appear across multiple feature requests and implementation attempts addressing the same core mechanism.

## TL;DR

- 5 member(s): 0 open issue(s), 2 closed issue(s), 0 open PR(s), 0 merged PR(s), 3 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_PARTIAL`): some members are connected by structural evidence (shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference); the rest are joined by an automated relevance judgement over their text.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.

## Closed / duplicate issues

- #513: Feature: Two-Phase Context Management — Prune Tool Outputs Before Full Compaction (inspired by Kilocode)
- #2046: \[Feature\]: Observation masking for older turns: reduce conversation history tokens without LLM summarization

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#2093: feat(context): add observation masking to reduce token usage**. closed without merge · fix tier `suggested`
  - maintainer direction: category `partial_fix`; implication `needs_llm`
  - _suggested-tier fix detail withheld; re-request with `?tier=all` to include it._
- **#588: feat(agent): two-phase context compression — tool pruning + structured compaction**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `implemented_elsewhere`; implication `superseded`; refs `#1231`
- **#2245: feat(context): observation masking — zero-cost context reduction for older tool outputs**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `superseded_by_pr`; implication `superseded`; refs `#2323`

## Fix status

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