GUI onboarding picked models[0] from /api/model/options, which ignores the
Nous free/paid tier — a free user could land on a paid default (e.g.
anthropic/claude-opus-4). Now the recommended default mirrors what `hermes
model` does.
- web_server.py: new GET /api/model/recommended-default?provider=<slug>. For
Nous it runs the same curation as the CLI (get_curated_nous_model_ids +
pricing + check_nous_free_tier + union_with_portal_{free,paid}_recommendations
+ partition_nous_models_by_tier) so free users get a free model and paid users
get the curated default. Other providers fall back to the first curated model.
Never 500s — returns empty model on error so onboarding degrades gracefully.
- hermes.ts: getRecommendedDefaultModel client + RecommendedDefaultModel type.
- onboarding.ts: fetchProviderDefaultModel prefers the recommended endpoint,
falls back to models[0] when unavailable.
- tests: free-tier picks free model, paid-tier picks curated default, failure
returns empty without 500.
When the GUI sets the main provider to Nous via POST /api/model/set, call
the same apply_nous_managed_defaults the CLI uses after model selection, so
GUI/onboarding users land on the Nous Tool Gateway the same way CLI users do
— no separate prompt, no duplicated logic.
Purely additive: apply_nous_managed_defaults skips any tool where the user
has a direct key (FIRECRAWL_API_KEY, FAL_KEY, etc.) or explicit config, so it
never overwrites a user's own setup. Only unconfigured tools get routed.
- web_server.py: in set_model_assignment (scope=main, provider=nous), resolve
enabled toolsets and apply managed defaults; guarded so a Portal hiccup never
blocks saving the model. Returns routed tools as gateway_tools.
- onboarding.ts: surface a 'Tool Gateway enabled' toast listing routed tools.
- types/hermes.ts: add gateway_tools to ModelAssignmentResponse.
- tests: cover nous-applies, non-nous-skips, and failure-doesnt-block-save.
After OAuth/API-key login completes, onboarding now shows a confirmation
card with the curated default model and a Change button before dropping
the user into chat. Closes the gap where the desktop's `model.default`
was empty after first launch and the agent had to fall back to whatever
heuristic happened to fire — leaving users wondering "why am I getting
sonnet-4 when I logged into Nous Portal?"
Why
- Desktop onboarding only persisted credentials, never `model.default`.
The CLI's `hermes model` command pairs provider + model selection,
but the desktop's onboarding skipped the model step entirely.
- Result: users saw whichever model the agent's auto-fallback picked,
unpredictably and undocumented.
- For the BUILD demo we want users to land on the model they expect
for their provider, with a clear "this is what you're getting" UI
and a one-click path to change it before chatting.
How
- New `confirming_model` flow status carries the just-authenticated
provider slug, current default model, label, and a saving flag.
- `completeWithModelConfirm()` runs after credentials succeed: reloads
env, verifies runtime, fetches /api/model/options to find the curated
first-model for the provider, persists it via /api/model/set, then
transitions into `confirming_model`.
- If anything fails (no providers returned, network error), falls
through to the previous behaviour — onboarding completes without
the confirm step. Polish, not a hard requirement.
- All four credential paths (device_code OAuth, PKCE OAuth, external
CLI flow, API key) now use completeWithModelConfirm instead of
reloadAndConnect.
UI
- `ConfirmingModelPanel` shows: green "<provider> connected" banner,
card with "Default model: <name>" + Change button, and a "Start
chatting" CTA that finalises onboarding.
- Reuses the existing `ModelPickerDialog` (the same picker available
from the chat shell) for the change-model UX. Search, filtering,
multi-provider listing — all already built.
- Stacking: ModelPickerDialog defaults to z-130, which renders UNDER
the onboarding overlay (z-1300) and breaks pointer events. Added
optional `contentClassName` prop to ModelPickerDialog so callers
can override; onboarding passes `z-[1310]`.
Provider-slug matching
- For OAuth flows: pass `provider.id` directly as the preferred slug.
- For API-key flows: `OPENROUTER_API_KEY` → "openrouter" via env-key
prefix strip. Also includes the user-visible label as a fallback
candidate.
- fetchProviderDefaultModel falls back to the first authenticated
provider in the response if no preferred slug matches — so even a
miss still surfaces a reasonable default.
Files
- apps/desktop/src/store/onboarding.ts:
+ new `confirming_model` flow variant
+ fetchProviderDefaultModel + completeWithModelConfirm helpers
+ setOnboardingModel (optimistic update + revert on failure)
+ confirmOnboardingModel (finalises onboarding from the card)
- reloadAndConnect (replaced; the four call sites now go through
completeWithModelConfirm)
- apps/desktop/src/components/desktop-onboarding-overlay.tsx:
+ ConfirmingModelPanel component
+ new branch in FlowPanel for status `confirming_model`
+ ModelPickerDialog usage with z-[1310] content class
- apps/desktop/src/components/model-picker.tsx:
+ optional `contentClassName` prop on ModelPickerDialog so the
dialog can be stacked on top of other fixed overlays
Tested
- `npm run type-check` passes
- `npx eslint` clean on touched files
- Live test in `npm run dev`: cleared onboarding cache, walked
through Nous device-code flow, saw confirm card with curated
default, clicked Change → ModelPickerDialog rendered above the
onboarding overlay with working pointer events, picked a different
model, "Start chatting" persisted to ~/.hermes/config.yaml.
- chat-messages: match tool rows by overlapping query/context/preview values
so preview-first `tool.progress` rows reliably adopt later stable-id
`tool.start` payloads instead of spawning ghost rows or mis-merging
parallel same-name calls; preserve prior args/result across phases.
- tui_gateway: emit full args + parsed result on `tool.start` / `tool.complete`,
drop redundant `tool.started` re-emit from `tool.progress`.
- electron/main: prefer SOURCE_REPO_ROOT before PATH `hermes` in dev so
local backend edits actually run; split hardening helpers into
`electron/hardening.cjs` with tests.
- thread/tool UI: one-shot enter animation keyed by stable ids, braille
spinner for running rows, Cursor-like disclosure rows, drill-down +
duration/count formatting via new tool-fallback-model.
- composer: extract `text-utils`, drop liquid-glass overrides.
- right-rail: split preview-pane into preview-console / preview-file.
- runtime: incremental external-store runtime + runtime-readiness gate;
onboarding store + tests; route-resume hook test.
- regression tests for live tool reconciliation (parallel tools, id-less
progress, preview-first rows, structured args/results).
Default onboarding.configured to null (unknown until the runtime check resolves) and have the onboarding overlay render whenever it's not yet confirmed true. The boot overlay now yields to it, so the very first paint is the Welcome card with a "While we get you set up..." progress strip instead of a flash of the chat shell between boot dismiss and onboarding mount.
The picker swaps in cleanly once the gateway opens and the runtime check confirms the user is not configured. Already-configured users see the same prep card briefly while their existing runtime warms up, then the overlay dismisses without touching the chat shell.
Drop the dead isOnboardingBusy/BUSY set, factor the catch-fallback dance into safeReq, and share a single reloadAndConnect helper between PKCE submit, device-code success, external recheck, and api-key save.
In the overlay, extract Step / CodeBlock / FlowFooter / CancelBtn / DocsLink atoms so the four sign-in panels share the same chrome instead of repeating it inline. Net effect: fewer literal divs, one place to touch the spacing, and the code-block + footer rows are reusable across future flows.
External-CLI providers (Claude Code, Qwen Code) now open an in-overlay panel with the CLI command, copy button, and an "I've signed in" recheck instead of firing an invisible toast. Center the Sign in / API key tab control so it sits under the heading instead of hugging the left edge.
Move the OAuth state machine, runtime check, copy-to-clipboard, and api-key save into store/onboarding.ts (matching the boot.ts pattern), leaving the overlay as a presentation layer that subscribes via useStore. Tabs are now table-driven, child panels read flow from the store instead of prop-drilling, and the polling/PKCE/error/success branches share a small Status atom.
Show the desktop provider onboarding flow before prompt submission when no inference provider is configured, preventing fresh installs from falling through to backend credential errors.
emozilla