# NousResearch/hermes-agent · TERMINAL_TIMEOUT=0 causes instant timeout bug

## Open now

- 1 issue, 1 PR open on GitHub.
- #85809: TERMINAL_TIMEOUT=0 silently accepted — causes every command to instantly timeout with 'timed out after 0s'
- PR #85811: fix(tools): TERMINAL_TIMEOUT<=0 falls back to the documented 180s default

A bug where setting TERMINAL_TIMEOUT to zero or a non-positive value is silently accepted, causing every command to immediately time out. The members cover the problem report and proposed fixes to fall back to the documented 180-second default in that case.

## TL;DR

- 3 member(s): 1 open issue(s), 0 closed issue(s), 1 open PR(s), 0 merged PR(s), 1 PR(s) closed without merging.
- No fix has been merged to main; one or more PRs were attempted (see below).
- **Recommended:** review the prior/competing PR(s) below. A fix was attempted but not merged; your case may extend or revive that work.

## 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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.

## Open related issues

- #85809: TERMINAL_TIMEOUT=0 silently accepted — causes every command to instantly timeout with 'timed out after 0s'

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#85811: fix(tools): TERMINAL_TIMEOUT<=0 falls back to the documented 180s default**. open
  - maintainer direction: category `implemented_elsewhere`; implication `superseded`; refs `9155f80d5`
  - files: `tests/test_terminal_timeout_shared_helper_85811.py`, `tests/tools/test_parse_env_var.py`, `tools/process_registry.py`, `tools/terminal_tool.py`, `utils.py`
- **#85958: fix(terminal): guard against TERMINAL_TIMEOUT=0 (instant timeout)**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `duplicate_of`; implication `duplicate`; refs `#85811`, `#85809`

## Fix status

- No merged fix on record.
- Subsystem: `agent`