# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Context engine plugin discovery and loading fixes

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These members address a bug where context engines were not found during initial agent startup, and introduce fixes and features around plugin discovery, re-discovery on failure, and a unified plugin UI slot.

## TL;DR

- 4 member(s): 0 open issue(s), 1 closed issue(s), 0 open PR(s), 1 merged PR(s), 2 PR(s) closed without merging.
- A fix was merged to main in PR #118842. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #118842 (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-118842`. 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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.

## Closed / duplicate issues

- #61839: \[Bug\]: Context engine context_chunking not found during first auxiliary agent initialization despite plugin being available

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#118842: Provider-plugin contracts: chronos no longer eagerly loaded, narrow plugin tool handlers survive dispatch, -q wires _cli_ref, builtin memory sentinel, context-engine clone/user-dir (#62951 #68318 #67597 #75647 #115113 #99640 #61839)**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `agent/agent_init.py`, `agent/context_engine.py`, `agent/memory_provider.py`, `hermes_cli/cli_single_query.py`, `hermes_cli/doctor_state.py`, `hermes_cli/memory_provider_migration.py`, `hermes_cli/plugins_discovery.py`, `hermes_cli/plugins_manifest.py`, `hermes_cli/update_cmd_deps.py`, `hermes_cli/web_server_memory.py`, `plugins/context_engine/__init__.py`, `tests/agent/test_context_engine.py`, `tests/agent/test_plugin_context_engine_clone.py`, `tests/hermes_cli/test_memory_provider_core_sentinels.py`, `tests/hermes_cli/test_plugins.py`, `tests/hermes_cli/test_single_query_plugin_cli_ref.py`, `tests/plugins/test_context_engine_user_dir.py`, `tests/tools/test_registry.py`, `tools/registry.py`, `website/docs/developer-guide/context-engine-plugin.md` (+1 more)
- **#61995: fix(agent): load user-installed context engines without false not-found warning (#61839)**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `implemented_elsewhere`; implication `superseded`; refs `913c045c53`, `#118842`, `#61839`
- **#62465: fix(agent): force plugin re-discovery when context engine not found on first try**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `uncategorized`; implication `needs_llm`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #118842 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-09-22`.
- Subsystem: `agent`