# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Configurable empty-response retries and reasoning message fix

## Open now

- 1 issue, 1 PR open on GitHub.
- #58670: Make empty response retry count configurable (hardcoded to 3)
- PR #58706: feat(agent): make empty-response retry count configurable

Two related changes: making the hardcoded empty-response retry count configurable via agent settings, and fixing the turn finalizer to avoid persisting delivery-only reasoning excerpts as assistant messages.

## TL;DR

- 3 member(s): 1 open issue(s), 0 closed issue(s), 1 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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 `0.67`: 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.

## Open related issues

- #58670: Make empty response retry count configurable (hardcoded to 3)

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#58706: feat(agent): make empty-response retry count configurable**. open
  - maintainer direction: category `superseded_by_pr`; implication `superseded`; refs `c711d9b947`, `#58670`
  - files: `agent/agent_init.py`, `agent/empty_response_guard.py`, `agent/turn_empty_response.py`, `cli-config.yaml.example`, `hermes_cli/config_defaults.py`, `tests/agent/test_empty_response_guard.py`, `website/docs/user-guide/configuration.md`
- **#74596: fix(turn_finalizer): don't persist delivery-only reasoning excerpt as assistant message**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `implemented_elsewhere`; implication `superseded`; refs `214ae7b77ce642f7369d13bbce3510405f759800`

## Fix status

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