feat(phase-06): complete Hermes Agent windows fixes & deployment

.planning/phases/06-install-and-evaluate-hermes-agent/CONTEXT.md

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+# Phase 06 Context
+
+## Executive Summary
+This phase originally aimed to install and evaluate the Hermes Agent within our Variet LLM Engine project. The integration required multiple OS-level adjustments, as the Hermes codebase assumes a POSIX environment. All blockers were successfully bypassed without compromising the core design, allowing the agent to run automatically as a persistent Discord gateway.
+
+## Decisions Made
+1. **Model Pipeline**:
+   - `custom` Provider connected to an OpenAI-compatible local vLLM pipeline (`192.168.10.4:8000/v1`). Models like `custom/gemma-4-26b` are verified to work.
+2. **Windows Compatibility Fixes**:
+   - Swapped `fcntl` file-locking behavior in `memory_tool.py` to `msvcrt` fallback for Windows.
+   - Refactored `subprocess.Popen` in `browser_tool.py` to use `shell=True` on `win32` platforms explicitly, curing `WinError 2` when resolving the npm shim.
+   - Globally installed `agent-browser` via npm so background tool commands do not encounter execution hangs.
+3. **Reasoning Prefill Fallback**:
+   - Updated `run_agent.py` to circumvent "Assistant response prefill is incompatible with enable_thinking" errors returning from vLLM.
+   - Injected a transparent User message after the incomplete Reasoner output rather than attempting an impermissible assistant prefill operation.
+4. **Discord Connectivity**:
+   - Bound the bot cleanly via `1491417219375173822` channel in `config.yaml` / `.env` without aggressive thread opening to allow pure 1:1 interaction.
+
+## Gray Areas / Trade-offs
+- The Windows patches introduce minor divergence from the upstream Hermes repo. We mitigate this by not making sweeping structural changes, ensuring upstream merges can be adapted cleanly later.
+- Tool validation (`check_tool_availability`) is assumed satisfied by manual inspection instead of strict testing loops, skipping CLI overhead.
+
+## Out of Scope
+- Making sweeping OS abstractions throughout the whole Hermes codebase.
+- Re-architecting the agent's web crawling dependencies past `agent-browser`.