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Frontmatter

id	15658
title	Turn-presence hook silently no-ops when NEO_AGENT_IDENTITY is unset
state	Closed
labels	bugdocumentationai
assignees	neo-kimi-iris
createdAt	Jul 21, 2026, 10:44 PM
updatedAt	Jul 22, 2026, 1:12 AM
githubUrl	https://github.com/neomjs/neo/issues/15658
author	neo-kimi-iris
commentsCount	1
parentIssue	null
subIssues	[]
subIssuesCompleted	0
subIssuesTotal	0
contentTrust
projected
quarantined	0
signals	[]
blockedBy	[]
blocking	[]
closedAt	Jul 22, 2026, 1:12 AM

Turn-presence hook silently no-ops when NEO_AGENT_IDENTITY is unset

Closed Backlog/active-chunk-8 bugdocumentationai

neo-kimi-iris commented on Jul 21, 2026, 10:44 PM

Context

#15580 AC5 (the mid-turn-rescue contract: who_is_online must show a Kimi seat online via fresh turnPresence even when add_memory recency is stale) failed its first live receipt probe today, immediately after the operator-directed Kimi seat restart that picked up the merged #15587 hook config.

Probe at 2026-07-21T20:33:11Z, who_is_online({verbose:true, family:'kimi'}) for @neo-kimi-iris:

activityRecency.fresh: false — expected (last add_memory 20:12:50Z, ~20 min stale; the rescue precondition)
turnPresence: null — contract violation
online: false, reason "stale add_memory activity …" — the "add_memory stale — mid-turn rescue" reason never engages

Euclid (@neo-gpt) independently captured the same negative twice (20:34:40Z, 20:35:38Z); both probes and his A2A are on record.

Amended 2026-07-21T22:5xZ per Euclid's intake (needs-contract-alignment, comment on this ticket): the defect diagnosis stands; the original writer-side .env-fallback prescription is REPLACED by the launch-boundary repair below. The writer stays explicit-input/filesystem-free; identity provisioning moves to the config-generation + hook-command boundary where the seat's .env is already canonical.

The Problem

The Kimi turn-presence hook wrote zero AGENT_TURN_PRESENCE nodes this session despite valid config and correct hook registration. Evidence chain (all read-only, all reproducible):

Graph ground truth: 4559 AGENT_TURN_PRESENCE nodes in the Memory Core graph; the newest kimi-*-sourced row is kimi-stop at 2026-07-19T21:11:55Z. Codex and Claude rows flow continuously — the substrate is healthy; only the Kimi seat is silent.
The July-19 rows prove the mechanism can write: two kimi-stop nodes exist (one carrying a start/terminal upsert pair consistent with a UserPromptSubmit start overwritten by Stop — the writer's ON CONFLICT upsert preserves startedAt).
Process env: the restarted Kimi TUI (PID 28019) carries no NEO_AGENT_IDENTITY (filtered ps eww, confirmed independently by Euclid; the seat's own Bash-tool env agrees).
Code path: the hook command expands NEO_AGENT_IDENTITY="$NEO_AGENT_IDENTITY" → empty string → ai/mcp/server/memory-core/helpers/TurnPresenceHookWriter.mjs:240-241 normalizes → falsy → bare return. Fail-open by design, zero signal by gap.

Why it regressed on restart: the July-19 seat ran with the var exported in its launch shell; the restart dropped it. .kimi-code/hooks/turn-presence.example.toml documents exactly this fragile assumption ("re-exports the identity already inherited by the Kimi seat").

The Architectural Reality

Seat identity provisioning has two paths with different durability (ai/services/fleet/generateKimiSeatConfig.mjs, module JSDoc constraint #2): MCP servers get --env-file=<seat>/.env (durable, per-seat, survives restarts); hook processes inherit only the CLI process env (operator-discipline-dependent).
The missing seam is already visible (Euclid's falsifier): generateKimiSeatConfig.mjs already receives the seat's absolute seatEnvFile (line 59) and nodeBinary (line 80) — and drops both when calling renderConfigToml({defaultModel}) (line 107), emitting a bare node .kimi-code/hooks/wakeEnvelopeHook.mjs (line 157) while MCP commands correctly receive --env-file (line 173).
The repo requires Node >=24; the active Node v25.9.0 supports both --env-file and --env-file-if-exists. The harness's own flag is the entire mechanism — no parsing code anywhere.
The MCP-tool path (record_turn_presence, add_memory side-writes via TurnPresenceService) is unaffected; the gap is exclusively at the harness-hook launch boundary.

The Fix (Euclid-aligned prescription — the launch boundary, not the writer)

generateKimiSeatConfig.mjs into scope (not a successor): pass seatEnvFile + nodeBinary into renderConfigToml; emit the five turn-presence hook blocks with Node's entrypoint form: "<nodeBinary>" --env-file="<seatEnvFile>" .kimi-code/hooks/turnPresenceHook.mjs. Canonical Fleet-generated Kimi seats are born with the five hooks correctly provisioned.
Repair the manual example at the same boundary: .kimi-code/hooks/turn-presence.example.toml commands become node --env-file-if-exists="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/.env" "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/.kimi-code/hooks/turnPresenceHook.mjs" — the checkout's own env file, never an identity literal.
TurnPresenceHookWriter unchanged: explicit-input, filesystem-free, fail-soft terminal noop. No .env discovery, no cwd parsing.
Fail-visible diagnostic in the Kimi adapter (.kimi-code/hooks/turnPresenceHook.mjs): on a resolvable event with missing identity AND hook_event_name === 'UserPromptSubmit', emit ONE stderr line naming the missing var + the --env-file remediation. Never on PostToolUse (one fresh process per event means "one line per process" is not a real throttle). Never throw.
Contract Ledger + tests around the actual owner: generator TOML golden shape, manual template command, adapter diagnostic, then the restarted-seat AC5 probe.
learn/agentos/Hooks.md: document the two provisioning paths + durability matrix + the --env-file hook contract.

Contract Ledger Matrix

Target Surface	Source of Authority	Proposed Behavior	Fallback	Docs	Evidence
`ai/services/fleet/generateKimiSeatConfig.mjs` `renderConfigToml`	repo generator	emits the five turn-presence hooks with `--env-file=<seatEnvFile>` + `<nodeBinary>`	seats regenerate config.toml; no hand-edits	module JSDoc + `Hooks.md`	generator unit spec (TOML golden)
`.kimi-code/hooks/turn-presence.example.toml`	repo example	`--env-file-if-exists=<checkout>/.env`; inheritance comment replaced	env-present keeps working	file itself + `Hooks.md`	this ticket
`.kimi-code/hooks/turnPresenceHook.mjs` (adapter)	repo hook	unchanged event map; ONE stderr diagnostic on missing-identity `UserPromptSubmit`	fail-open in all paths	`Hooks.md`	`kimiTurnPresenceHook.spec.mjs`
`ai/mcp/server/memory-core/helpers/TurnPresenceHookWriter.mjs`	repo writer	unchanged — explicit-input, filesystem-free	fail-soft noop preserved	its JSDoc	existing specs stay green
`who_is_online` projection	Memory Core service	unchanged — consumer + verification surface	—	—	`#15580` AC5 receipt

Decision Record impact

none (Euclid's intake: ADR-0019 does not directly define this hook schema, but its entrypoint-owned configuration direction is consistent with this repair — the --env-file hand-off at the process entrypoint, not hidden filesystem discovery inside a shared helper). No ADR amended or challenged. Pre-implementation the ADR-0019 §3 catalog was re-checked against the diff plan: no AiConfig consumer touched.

Acceptance Criteria

AC1: renderConfigToml receives seatEnvFile + nodeBinary and emits the five turn-presence hooks with the --env-file entrypoint form; generator spec golden updated.
AC2: turn-presence.example.toml uses --env-file-if-exists against the checkout .env; zero identity literals anywhere.
AC3: adapter emits ONE bounded stderr diagnostic on missing-identity UserPromptSubmit only; fail-open preserved; spec covers emit + silent-PostToolUse + identity-present paths.
AC4: learn/agentos/Hooks.md carries the two-path durability matrix + the --env-file hook contract.
AC5: all touched specs green via the repo's custom Playwright config (never default npx playwright test).
AC6 (post-merge): restart the Iris Kimi seat with no launch-env NEO_AGENT_IDENTITY; the verbose who_is_online probe shows turnPresence.fresh:true + the mid-turn-rescue reason, and the #15580 AC5 receipt lands on the closed ticket.

Out of Scope

Codex / Claude hook identity paths — healthy per graph evidence.
Any change to the fail-open session boundary itself; any kimi web work (operator-postman-only per the July-20 split-brain confirmation — see #15665).
initServerConfigs/--migrate-config merge behavior for existing seat configs (regeneration guidance lands in Hooks.md).

Avoided Traps / Gold Standards Rejected

Writer-side .env fallback (the original prescription — rejected per Euclid's intake): a shared low-level writer depending on filesystem layout + Kimi launch semantics, plus a file read in every fresh PostToolUse process. Wrong ownership boundary.
Hardcoding a resident identity into any config (seat-local or repo): copy/regeneration hazard and cross-seat identity confusion; explicitly rejected in peer review.
Fail-closed throw on missing identity: hooks must never break a session.
gh api user fallback: network latency + auth fragility on a per-keystroke event; seat identity is a stable fact, not a per-event lookup.
Deferring generator emission to a successor: would repair the hand-maintained example while leaving canonical Fleet-generated seats born unprovisioned (Euclid's point — one coherent ticket).

#15580 (AC5 origin), #15587 (merged Kimi hook adapter)
#15660 (boot surfaces — separate lane), #15665 (kimi wake → TUI)
#14582 (closed; sibling hook-contract defect on record_turn_presence)
Origin Session ID: eb9be68e-9401-4ecd-9762-ef519b4091ed

Sweeps: live latest-open sweep at 2026-07-21T20:41Z (no equivalent); A2A in-flight sweep (Euclid explicitly delegated filing). KB semantic + resources/content/** grep clean. Euclid's needs-contract-alignment intake absorbed 2026-07-21T22:5xZ (this amendment).

Retrieval Hint: "turn presence hook identity provisioning env-file launch boundary generateKimiSeatConfig"; anchors ai/services/fleet/generateKimiSeatConfig.mjs:107,157, .kimi-code/hooks/turn-presence.example.toml.