# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Goal-mode review handoff judge transport error handling

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These issues and PRs concern how goal-mode review handoff behaves when the judge transport fails, specifically whether such failures should be treated as rejections or handled with fail-open behavior. The work involves distinguishing transport failures from actual rejections and ensuring relay affinity keys are carried correctly.

## 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 #114791. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #114791 (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-114791`. 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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

- #83610: Bug: goal-mode review handoff rejects transient judge transport failures instead of failing open

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#114791: fix(kanban): goal-mode complete/request-review no longer fails when the judge transport fails; headless judge carries the relay affinity key (#113669, #83610, salvage #113691, #78605)**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `contributors/emails/[redacted:email]`, `hermes_cli/goals.py`, `hermes_cli/kanban.py`, `tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_goal_judge_affinity.py`, `tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_goal_mode.py`, `tools/kanban_tools.py`, `website/docs/user-guide/features/kanban.md`
- **#83746: fix(kanban): fail open on goal judge transport errors during handoff**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `superseded_by_pr`; implication `superseded`; refs `9ee7da83fa21`, `#114791`, `#113669`, `#83610`, `#113691`, `#78605`
- **#94288: fix(kanban): distinguish judge transport failures from rejection**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `superseded_by_pr`; implication `superseded`; refs `9ee7da83fa21`, `#114791`, `#113669`, `#83610`, `#113691`, `#78605`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #114791 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-09-18`.
- Subsystem: `cron`