# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Group chat bot sentinel string leaking as raw message

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

A bug where the literal '(empty)' sentinel string appears as a visible bot message in desktop group chats, along with related fixes to suppress or render it more gracefully.

## 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 #96239. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #96239 (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-96239`. 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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

- #94308: \[Bug\]: Desktop Bot Mode group chat appends the raw "(empty)" sentinel as a bot message

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#96239: fix(desktop): group chats stop leaking (empty) sentinels and stop swallowing real answers behind (pass) (#94308, #94376)**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `apps/desktop/src/plugins/hermes-bots/plugin.js`, `apps/desktop/src/plugins/hermes-bots/tests/group-chat-empty-sentinel.test.mjs`, `apps/desktop/src/plugins/hermes-bots/tests/group-chat.test.mjs`, `apps/desktop/src/plugins/hermes-bots/tests/group-turn-lease.test.mjs`, `contributors/emails/[redacted:email]`
- **#94310: fix(desktop,bots): render "(empty)" sentinel as a friendly message in group chat**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `merged_via`; implication `superseded`; refs `a588685fb957a0c55de84d5bfba69ff44ebfb31b`, `#96239`, `#94386`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #96239 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-08-27`.