# NousResearch/hermes-agent · FTS probe Unicode errors and state corruption handling

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These issues and PRs concern UnicodeDecodeError failures in the FTS table probe during SessionDB initialization, and related state corruption detection and healing logic including decode errors, zero-byte quarantine races, and CJK edge cases.

## 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 #99513. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #99513 (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-99513`. 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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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

- #98924: read-only SessionDB init dies on UnicodeDecodeError inside _fts_table_probe — breaks all non-FTS read paths + TUI silently drops messages

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#99513: fix(state): corruption detection & heal cluster — 0-byte quarantine race, decode-error probe/heal, CJK never-raises**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `contributors/emails/[redacted:email]`, `hermes_cli/backup.py`, `hermes_cli/web_server.py`, `hermes_state.py`, `hermes_state_schema.py`, `tests/hermes_cli/test_web_server.py`, `tests/test_98924_readonly_fts_decode_error.py`, `tests/test_fts_update_of_narrowing.py`, `tests/test_state_db_malformed_repair.py`, `tests/test_tui_gateway_server.py`, `tests/test_zeroed_state_db.py`, `tui_gateway/methods_prompt.py`, `tui_gateway/server.py`
- **#98935: fix(state): _fts_table_probe catches UnicodeDecodeError (#98924)**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `merged_via`; implication `superseded`; refs `#99513`, `#98948`, `#98947`, `#97580`
- **#98948: fix(state): decode errors now reach the heal path and fail loud in TUI (residual #98924 surfaces)**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `merged_via`; implication `superseded`; refs `#99513`, `#98935`, `#98947`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #99513 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-08-31`.