# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Placeholder text shown for empty LLM responses

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These items concern empty LLM responses being replaced by the literal "(No response generated)" text and delivered to users and cron targets. One issue reports the behavior, and two pull requests propose changes to stop the placeholder leaking; one of them also mentions an empty response nudge crash.

## 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 #11021. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #11021 (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-11021`. 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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

- #9270: Empty LLM responses get replaced with literal "(No response generated)" and delivered to users, including cron targets

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#11021: fix: empty response nudge crash + placeholder leak to cron targets**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `cron/scheduler.py`, `gateway/run.py`, `run_agent.py`, `scripts/release.py`
  - fix hunks:
  - `cron/scheduler.py`

    ```diff
    @@ -837,6 +837,9 @@ def run_job(job: dict) -> tuple[bool, str, str, Optional[str]]:
                 )
     
             final_response = result.get("final_response", "") or ""
    +        # Strip leaked placeholder text that upstream may inject on empty completions.
    +        if final_response.strip() == "(No response generated)":
    +            final_response = ""
             # Use a separate variable for log display; keep final_response clean
             # for delivery logic (empty response = no delivery).
             logged_response = final_response if final_response else "(No response generated)"
    ```
  - `gateway/run.py`

    ```diff
    @@ -8886,7 +8886,7 @@ def _approval_notify_sync(approval_data: dict) -> None:
                 _resolved_model = getattr(_agent, "model", None) if _agent else None
     
                 if not final_response:
    -                error_msg = f"⚠️ {result['error']}" if result.get("error") else "(No response generated)"
    +                error_msg = f"⚠️ {result['error']}" if result.get("error") else ""
                     return {
                         "final_response": error_msg,
                         "messages": result.get("messages", []),
    ```
  - `run_agent.py`

    ```diff
    @@ -10945,8 +10945,9 @@ def _stop_spinner():
                                 #   tool(result) → assistant("(empty)") → user(nudge)
                                 # Without this, we'd have tool → user which most
                                 # APIs reject as an invalid sequence.
    -                            assistant_msg["content"] = "(empty)"
    -                            messages.append(assistant_msg)
    +                            _nudge_msg = self._build_assistant_message(assistant_message, finish_reason)
    +                            _nudge_msg["content"] = "(empty)"
    +                            messages.append(_nudge_msg)
                                 messages.append({
                                     "role": "user",
                                     "content": (
    ```
  - `scripts/release.py`

    ```diff
    @@ -179,6 +179,7 @@
         "[redacted:email]": "limars874",
         "[redacted:email]": "lesterli",
         "[redacted:email]": "MagicRay1217",
    +    "[redacted:email]": "GenKoKo",
         "[redacted:email]": "spniyant",
         "[redacted:email]": "olafthiele",
         "[redacted:email]": "sprmn24",
    ```
- **#9292: fix: stop leaking placeholder text to users and cron targets**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `merged_via`; implication `superseded`; refs `#11021`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #11021 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-04-16`. This confirmation is old and may be out of date (a revert/reopen would not have invalidated it here); re-verify.