# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Todo/policy state bugs during compression compaction

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These items concern bugs where compaction incorrectly handles todo items and policy state, including stale todos persisting beyond their policy and todos being re-injected without revalidation. The focus is on correctness of todo and policy lifecycle during compression.

## TL;DR

- 7 member(s): 0 open issue(s), 1 closed issue(s), 0 open PR(s), 2 merged PR(s), 4 PR(s) closed without merging.
- A fix was merged to main in PR #85962. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #85962 (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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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 `0.33`: 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

- #84718: Compaction keeps the imperative and drops the policy: skills pruned mid-task while todos are re-injected verbatim (v0.19.1, gpt-5.6-luna)

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#85962: fix(compaction): gate checkpoint replay/prune on current request eligibility (salvage #85919)**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`; implication `superseded`
  - files: `agent/auxiliary_client.py`, `agent/codex_responses_adapter.py`, `agent/transports/codex.py`, `tests/run_agent/test_native_compaction.py`
- **#86852: fix(compression): couple pruned-skill reload instruction to the preserved todo snapshot**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`; implication `superseded`
  - files: `agent/conversation_compression.py`, `tests/agent/test_skill_todo_retention_parity.py`
- **#84808: fix(compression): stop stale todos from outliving their policy**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `stale_abandoned`; implication `active`; refs `#84718`
- **#85878: fix(compression): require todo revalidation after compaction**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `implemented_elsewhere`; implication `superseded`; refs `#85919`, `#85962`, `#84718`
- **#86267: fix(compression): reframe preserved todos as planning context**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `superseded_by_pr`; implication `superseded`; refs `#87090`, `#86852`
- **#87090: fix(compression): close the compaction retention asymmetry completely (skills, todos, provenance, telemetry, anchor) - #84718**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `implemented_elsewhere`; implication `superseded`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #85962 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-08-15`.
- Subsystem: `agent`