fix(gateway): quiet corrupt kanban dispatcher boards

gateway/run.py

@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ import signal
 import tempfile
 import threading
 import time
+import sqlite3
 from collections import OrderedDict
 from contextvars import copy_context
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -4678,6 +4679,28 @@ class GatewayRunner:
         HEALTH_WINDOW = 6
         bad_ticks = 0
         last_warn_at = 0
+        disabled_corrupt_boards: dict[str, tuple[str, int | None, int | None]] = {}
+
+        def _board_db_fingerprint(slug: str) -> tuple[str, int | None, int | None]:
+            path = _kb.kanban_db_path(slug)
+            try:
+                resolved = str(path.expanduser().resolve())
+            except Exception:
+                resolved = str(path)
+            try:
+                stat = path.stat()
+            except OSError:
+                return (resolved, None, None)
+            return (resolved, stat.st_mtime_ns, stat.st_size)
+
+        def _is_corrupt_board_db_error(exc: Exception) -> bool:
+            if not isinstance(exc, sqlite3.DatabaseError):
+                return False
+            msg = str(exc).lower()
+            return (
+                "file is not a database" in msg
+                or "database disk image is malformed" in msg
+            )
 
         def _tick_once_for_board(slug: str) -> "Optional[object]":
             """Run one dispatch_once for a specific board.
@@ -4689,6 +4712,16 @@ class GatewayRunner:
             connection handle or accidentally claim across each other.
             """
             conn = None
+            fingerprint = _board_db_fingerprint(slug)
+            disabled_fingerprint = disabled_corrupt_boards.get(slug)
+            if disabled_fingerprint == fingerprint:
+                return None
+            if disabled_fingerprint is not None:
+                logger.info(
+                    "kanban dispatcher: board %s database changed; retrying dispatch",
+                    slug,
+                )
+                disabled_corrupt_boards.pop(slug, None)
             try:
                 conn = _kb.connect(board=slug)
                 # `connect()` runs the schema + idempotent migration on
@@ -4703,6 +4736,21 @@ class GatewayRunner:
                     max_spawn=max_spawn,
                     failure_limit=failure_limit,
                 )
+            except sqlite3.DatabaseError as exc:
+                if _is_corrupt_board_db_error(exc):
+                    disabled_corrupt_boards[slug] = fingerprint
+                    logger.error(
+                        "kanban dispatcher: board %s database %s is not a valid "
+                        "SQLite database; disabling dispatch for this board "
+                        "until the file changes or the gateway restarts. Move "
+                        "or restore the file, then run `hermes kanban init` if "
+                        "you need a fresh board.",
+                        slug,
+                        fingerprint[0],
+                    )
+                    return None
+                logger.exception("kanban dispatcher: tick failed on board %s", slug)
+                return None
             except Exception:
                 logger.exception("kanban dispatcher: tick failed on board %s", slug)
                 return None

tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_core_functionality.py

@@ -3414,6 +3414,82 @@ def test_gateway_dispatcher_watcher_env_truthy_uses_config(monkeypatch):
     )
 
 
+def test_gateway_dispatcher_disables_corrupt_board_without_traceback(
+    monkeypatch, tmp_path, caplog
+):
+    """Corrupt board DBs log one actionable error and stop retrying per tick."""
+    import asyncio
+    import logging
+    import sqlite3
+
+    from gateway.run import GatewayRunner
+    import hermes_cli.config as _cfg_mod
+    import hermes_cli.kanban_db as _kb
+
+    runner = object.__new__(GatewayRunner)
+    runner._running = True
+    corrupt_db = tmp_path / "kanban.db"
+    corrupt_db.write_text("not sqlite", encoding="utf-8")
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        _cfg_mod,
+        "load_config",
+        lambda: {
+            "kanban": {
+                "dispatch_in_gateway": True,
+                "dispatch_interval_seconds": 1,
+            }
+        },
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        _kb,
+        "list_boards",
+        lambda include_archived=False: [{"slug": _kb.DEFAULT_BOARD}],
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        _kb,
+        "read_board_metadata",
+        lambda slug: {"slug": slug},
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(_kb, "kanban_db_path", lambda board=None: corrupt_db)
+
+    calls = {"connect": 0, "to_thread": 0}
+
+    def _connect(*args, **kwargs):
+        calls["connect"] += 1
+        raise sqlite3.DatabaseError("file is not a database")
+
+    async def _to_thread(fn, *args, **kwargs):
+        calls["to_thread"] += 1
+        result = fn(*args, **kwargs)
+        if calls["to_thread"] >= 4:
+            runner._running = False
+        return result
+
+    async def _sleep(_delay):
+        return None
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(_kb, "connect", _connect)
+    monkeypatch.setattr("gateway.run.asyncio.to_thread", _to_thread)
+    monkeypatch.setattr("gateway.run.asyncio.sleep", _sleep)
+
+    with caplog.at_level(logging.ERROR, logger="gateway.run"):
+        asyncio.run(
+            asyncio.wait_for(
+                runner._kanban_dispatcher_watcher(),
+                timeout=3.0,
+            )
+        )
+
+    messages = [record.getMessage() for record in caplog.records]
+    assert sum("not a valid SQLite database" in msg for msg in messages) == 1
+    assert not any("tick failed on board" in msg for msg in messages)
+    assert not any(record.exc_info for record in caplog.records)
+    # First tick connect + two ready-queue probes. The second dispatch tick
+    # skips connect because the corrupt board fingerprint is disabled.
+    assert calls["connect"] == 3
+
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Hallucination gate (created_cards verify + prose scan)
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

tests/run_agent/test_provider_parity.py

@@ -254,8 +254,12 @@ class TestDeveloperRoleSwap:
         assert messages[0]["role"] == "system"
 
     def test_developer_role_via_nous_portal(self, monkeypatch):
-        agent = _make_agent(monkeypatch, "nous", base_url="https://inference-api.nousresearch.com/v1")
-        agent.model = "gpt-5"
+        agent = _make_agent(
+            monkeypatch,
+            "nous",
+            base_url="https://inference-api.nousresearch.com/v1",
+            model="gpt-5",
+        )
         messages = [
             {"role": "system", "content": "You are helpful."},
             {"role": "user", "content": "hi"},
@@ -346,14 +350,24 @@ class TestBuildApiKwargsAIGateway:
 class TestBuildApiKwargsNousPortal:
     def test_includes_nous_product_tags(self, monkeypatch):
         from agent.portal_tags import nous_portal_tags
-        agent = _make_agent(monkeypatch, "nous", base_url="https://inference-api.nousresearch.com/v1")
+        agent = _make_agent(
+            monkeypatch,
+            "nous",
+            base_url="https://inference-api.nousresearch.com/v1",
+            model="gpt-5",
+        )
         messages = [{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}]
         kwargs = agent._build_api_kwargs(messages)
         extra = kwargs.get("extra_body", {})
         assert extra.get("tags") == nous_portal_tags()
 
     def test_uses_chat_completions_format(self, monkeypatch):
-        agent = _make_agent(monkeypatch, "nous", base_url="https://inference-api.nousresearch.com/v1")
+        agent = _make_agent(
+            monkeypatch,
+            "nous",
+            base_url="https://inference-api.nousresearch.com/v1",
+            model="gpt-5",
+        )
         messages = [{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}]
         kwargs = agent._build_api_kwargs(messages)
         assert "messages" in kwargs