# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Hermes update safety and venv mutation guards

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These issues and fixes relate to protecting against destructive behavior during updates, specifically warning or refusing to proceed when a dependency reinstall could break the Hermes launcher or when a virtual environment contains files not owned by the package manager.

## 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 #99542. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #99542 (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-99542`. 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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

- #83529: \[Bug\]: hermes update - destroys hermes

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#99542: fix(update): refuse to mutate a venv containing foreign-owned files (#83529)**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `hermes_cli/update_cmd.py`, `tests/hermes_cli/test_update_venv_ownership_preflight.py`
- **#83564: fix(update): warn when a failed dependency reinstall breaks the hermes launcher**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `implemented_elsewhere`; implication `superseded`; refs `#83529`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #99542 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-08-31`.
- Subsystem: `hermes_cli`