NousResearch/hermes-agent · error · GatewayLifecycleBlocked

Blocked: cron job contains a gateway lifecycle command or pe

Error message

Blocked: cron job contains a gateway lifecycle command or persistent launchctl submit operation. This is blocked to prevent agent-driven SIGTERM-respawn loops under launchd/systemd supervision (#30719). Run `hermes gateway restart` from a shell outside the running gateway instead.

What it means

Error "Blocked: cron job contains a gateway lifecycle command or persistent launchctl submit operation. This is blocked to prevent agent-driven SIGTERM-respawn loops under launchd/systemd supervision (#30719). Run `hermes gateway restart` from a shell outside the running gateway instead." thrown in NousResearch/hermes-agent.

Source

Thrown at cron/lifecycle_guard.py:708

    if python_script:
        # Python is executed by the interpreter, never through a POSIX
        # shell: the shell-script reference walk is a false-positive
        # generator on Python sources (pathlib's "/" operator resolves to
        # the filesystem root and trips the regular-file check, blocking
        # every innocent .py cron script, #77131). The direct command
        # regex below still scans the full text, so a literal
        # `hermes gateway restart` embedded in a .py script is still
        # blocked. Non-regular/oversized script files still fail closed
        # via the lifecycle-shaped sentinel in _read_script_for_scanning.
        unsafe = _lifecycle_command_scan_with_data_exemption(combined)
    else:
        script_dir = _resolve_script_directory(script) if script else None
        unsafe = contains_gateway_lifecycle_command_or_referenced_script(
            combined,
            cwd=script_dir,
        )
    if unsafe:
        raise GatewayLifecycleBlocked(
            "Blocked: cron job contains a gateway lifecycle command or persistent "
            "launchctl submit operation. This is blocked to prevent agent-driven "
            "SIGTERM-respawn loops under launchd/systemd supervision "
            "(#30719). Run `hermes gateway restart` from a shell outside "
            "the running gateway instead."
        )

View on GitHub (pinned to c896c09c42)

Solutions

1. Run `hermes gateway restart` from a shell outside the running gateway.
2. Remove the gateway lifecycle/launchctl command from the cron job.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cron/lifecycle_guard.py:708 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of NousResearch/hermes-agent@c896c09c42 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/60d4d9d719e8875f. Report an issue: GitHub.