# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Gateway starvation from leaked background subprocesses

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

An abandoned agent turn fails to clean up its background subprocesses, causing unbounded memory growth in the gateway cgroup and event loop starvation. The associated fixes scope subprocess reaping to only those created by the abandoned turn.

## TL;DR

- 5 member(s): 0 open issue(s), 1 closed issue(s), 0 open PR(s), 1 merged PR(s), 3 PR(s) closed without merging.
- A fix was merged to main in PR #76687. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #76687 (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-76687`. 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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 `0.40`: 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

- #76115: Abandoned agent turn leaks its background subprocess (e.g. next build) unbounded → gateway cgroup hits MemoryHigh, event loop starves, all platforms/crons time out

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#76687: fix(gateway): reap only the background processes an abandoned turn created**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`; implication `superseded`
  - files: `gateway/platforms/api_server.py`, `gateway/run.py`, `gateway/turn_context.py`, `tests/gateway/test_abandoned_turn_process_cleanup.py`, `tests/gateway/test_api_server.py`, `tests/gateway/test_tool_response_drop_recovery.py`, `tests/tools/test_process_registry.py`, `tools/process_registry.py`
- **#76172: fix: reap stale background processes to prevent gateway starvation (#76115)**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `duplicate_of`; implication `duplicate`; refs `#76188`, `#76183`
- **#76183: fix: reap stale background processes to prevent gateway starvation (#76115)**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `duplicate_of`; implication `duplicate`; refs `#76188`, `#76172`
- **#76188: fix(gateway): reap only the background processes an abandoned turn created**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `merged_via`; implication `superseded`; refs `80e4fb599`, `a35691781`, `1b886822d`, `#76687`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #76687 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-08-02`.