AgentFixboard
WorkaroundLast checked Hermes Agent#setup#regression

hermes update stops with Could not resolve the stable source channel

hermes update on the stable channel stops before it fetches. The line is ✗ Could not resolve the stable source channel and then No update was applied.

From GitHub

NousResearch/hermes-agent

IssuePull request

Difficulty
Easy
Time
~5 min
Steps
2
Fixed in
—
Last checked

No upstream fix: these steps work around it. Source: PR #139079 merged after tag v0.22.2 was published. Last checked 2026-10-17.

Symptom

hermes update on the stable channel stops before it fetches. The line is ✗ Could not resolve the stable source channel and then No update was applied.

Evidence what you'll see

  • The report's full line is ✗ Could not resolve the stable source channel: Command '['git', 'merge-base', '--is-ancestor', '71d34bad1045610252eda02ee79549436896e784', 'dce1e9b37581dd62e480a9064dc04a709c2940d3']' timed out after 10 seconds. No update was applied.
  • The same git merge-base --is-ancestor of those two commits took 11.838 seconds of real time and 11.610 seconds of user time. The issue says no network was involved. Issue #138716 prints the same channel line on Hermes 0.22.1.

Why it happens

Before fetching, _head_containing runs git merge-base --is-ancestor of the release commit and HEAD, with a 10 second cap. On git 2.43 and a blob:none clone, a release commit that is not in the object store can take longer than that cap. The timeout is reported as an unresolvable channel, so the fetch that would bring the commit in does not start.

Affected versions

Ubuntu 24.04, git 2.43.0, a source install, a blob:none partial clone, and the stable channel. The report's HEAD is dce1e9b37581 and the release commit it could not see is v0.21.7 (71d34bad1045). The same line is also reported on Hermes 0.22.1, Ubuntu 24.04, Python 3.14, and a 16 Oct 2026 comment still sees it on v0.22.2.

Fix steps

0 of 2 done

Your check marks stay in this browser only.

How to check it worked

  • hermes update gets past the channel line and applies the update. It does not print Could not resolve the stable source channel.

If it still fails

  • A comment on 15 Oct 2026, Linux Lite 7.8, Hermes v0.21.6+387.gdce1e9b, ran cd ~/.hermes/hermes-agent && git fetch origin --tags && hermes update and still printed Could not resolve the stable source channel with timed out after 10 seconds.
  • A comment on 16 Oct 2026 says tag v0.22.2 (d923a5eb), Ubuntu 24.04.5, git 2.43.0, and a blob:none clone still print the line, and that hermes_cli/source_releases.py still has timeout=10. Pull request 139079 was merged at 2026-10-15 12:46 UTC, after that tag was published. The linked issue does not name a later release tag.

Sources and credit

Summarized in our own words from these public reports. Credit goes to their authors.

Provided as is, without warranty. Try changes in a non-production environment and back up first. Security-related steps: verify against the official docs. Terms · Request removal or attribution change

Hit an error we don't cover? Submit it