# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Persist protect_first_n decay across gateway restarts

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

One bug report says protect_first_n decay state is held only in memory, so a gateway restart may re-protect old compaction summaries and let the head grow. Two fix-oriented pull requests appear to address decaying head or summary protection after a restart when a persisted summary exists.

## 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 #69342. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #69342 (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-69342`. 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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

- #57814: \[Bug\]: protect_first_n decay state is in-memory — a gateway restart re-protects old compaction summaries, head grows unboundedly

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#69342: fix(compression): decay head protection after restart when a persisted summary exists**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `agent/context_compressor.py`, `tests/agent/test_context_compressor.py`, `tests/agent/test_context_compressor_summary_continuity.py`
- **#57835: fix(agent): decay protected summaries after restart**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `merged_via`; implication `superseded`; refs `76e17bc32`, `#69342`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #69342 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-07-22`.
- Subsystem: `agent`