# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Desktop startup skin not applied before first paint

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These issues and fixes address the desktop client failing to apply the correct saved or backend-authored skin before the initial render. The work focuses on ensuring the skin setting is honored at startup, including on first profile use.

## 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 #121607. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #121607 (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: `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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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.

## Closed / duplicate issues

- #73987: Desktop startup ignores display.skin for backend-authored/user skins

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#121607: fix(desktop): apply the saved skin before the first paint**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `apps/desktop/electron/local-skin.test.ts`, `apps/desktop/electron/local-skin.ts`, `apps/desktop/electron/main.ts`, `apps/desktop/electron/preload-local-skin.test.ts`, `apps/desktop/electron/preload.ts`, `apps/desktop/package.json`, `apps/desktop/src/global.d.ts`, `apps/desktop/src/themes/backend-sync.ts`, `apps/desktop/src/themes/context.test.tsx`, `apps/desktop/src/themes/context.tsx`
- **#74018: fix(desktop): honor backend skin on first profile use**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `implemented_elsewhere`; implication `superseded`; refs `ca67828504`, `#121607`, `#73987`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #121607 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-09-24`.
- Subsystem: `apps/desktop`