# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Auth errors incorrectly marked retryable in message classifier

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These issues and PRs address a bug where message-based authentication errors are classified with retryable=True in _classify_by_message(), causing unintended retry loops. The fixes set retryable=False for these auth error cases.

## 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 #7027. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #7027 (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-7027`. 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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

- #7026: bug: message-based auth errors use retryable=True in _classify_by_message() causing retry loops

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#7027: fix: set retryable=False for message-based auth errors in _classify_by_message()**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `agent/error_classifier.py`
  - fix hunks:
  - `agent/error_classifier.py`

    ```diff
    @@ -725,10 +725,14 @@ def _classify_by_message(
             )
     
         # Auth patterns
    +    # Auth errors should NOT be retried directly — the credential is invalid and
    +    # retrying with the same key will always fail.  Set retryable=False so the
    +    # caller triggers credential rotation (should_rotate_credential=True) or
    +    # provider fallback rather than an immediate retry loop.
         if any(p in error_msg for p in _AUTH_PATTERNS):
             return result_fn(
                 FailoverReason.auth,
    -            retryable=True,
    +            retryable=False,
                 should_rotate_credential=True,
             )
     
    ```
- **#7033: fix(agent): set retryable=False for auth errors in _classify_by_message**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `superseded_by_pr`; implication `superseded`; refs `#7027`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #7027 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-04-10`. This confirmation is old and may be out of date (a revert/reopen would not have invalidated it here); re-verify.