[Ubuntu 24.04][Upgrade] rebuild does not restore the Slack home channel

[mercl-lau]

Warning

Regression — the Slack home channel was configured before the v0.0.93 rebuild and was missing after restore

Description

After rebuilding a stateful Hermes sandbox during a NemoClaw v0.0.71 to v0.0.93 upgrade, the Slack app connection was restored but its previously configured home channel was missing. Every mention emitted a setup warning until a user ran the supported set-home command again.

Platform scope: Reproduced on Ubuntu 24.04 only; other platforms not tested
Regression: Yes — the Slack home channel was configured before the v0.0.93 rebuild and was missing after restore

Environment

Device:        Ubuntu server
OS:            Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS
Architecture:  x86_64
Node.js:       v22.23.1
npm:           10.9.8
Docker:        Docker 29.5.3
OpenShell CLI: openshell 0.0.85
NemoClaw:      v0.0.71 upgraded to v0.0.93
OpenClaw:      N/A (Hermes Agent 0.17.0 upgraded to 0.18.0)

Steps to Reproduce

1. Configure Slack for a stateful Hermes sandbox and set a home channel with the supported Hermes command.
2. Confirm normal Slack conversations and scheduled output work in the home channel.
3. Run nemoclaw backup-all.
4. Upgrade NemoClaw from v0.0.71 to v0.0.93 and rebuild the sandbox from the backup.
5. Mention the restored Slack bot in the previously configured home channel.

Expected Result

The rebuild should restore the home-channel setting together with the Slack connection, or explicitly migrate and validate it before declaring recovery successful.

Actual Result

Slack connectivity was present, but the home-channel setting was absent. Every mention produced a setup warning until a user configured the home channel again.

Logs

No home channel is set for Slack. A home channel is where Hermes delivers cron job results and cross-platform messages.
Type /hermes sethome to make this chat your home channel, or ignore to skip.

[mercl-lau]

V2C result: FAIL on NemoClaw v0.0.101.

Fix availability:

• Fix PR fix(hermes): preserve home channels across rebuilds #7817 merge commit 8c542b2 is included in v0.0.101.

Environment:

• Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS, x86_64
• Docker 29.5.3
• NemoClaw v0.0.101
• OpenShell 0.0.85
• Hermes Agent v0.19.0

Test performed:

1. Created a fresh stateful Hermes sandbox with real Slack app credentials and the Slack policy.
2. Set SLACK_HOME_CHANNEL to the real test channel using the supported Hermes configuration mechanism.
3. Confirmed the key existed before rebuild and captured its value hash.
4. Ran nemoclaw backup-all.
5. Ran nemoclaw slack-home-v2c rebuild --yes --verbose.
6. Inspected the rebuilt Hermes environment and sent a real Slack mention.

Relevant log:
--- LOG START ---
nemoclaw v0.0.101
openshell 0.0.85
Sandbox: slack-home-v2c
Phase: Ready
Hermes Agent: running

Supported Hermes config set completed; SLACK_HOME_CHANNEL=
Home channel baseline: key present, hash captured

Backing up slack-home-v2c...
Pre-upgrade backup: 1 backed up, 0 failed, 0 skipped
BACKUP_EXIT=0

[rebuild] Stashed messaging config for rebuild: SLACK_ALLOWED_USERS,SLACK_ALLOWED_CHANNELS
[rebuild] Messaging manifest rebuild plan staged: slack
State backed up (15 directories, 5 files)
Old sandbox deleted
Sandbox slack-home-v2c created
State restored (15 directories, 5 files)
Hermes gateway health verified after state restore
Sandbox slack-home-v2c rebuilt successfully
REBUILD_EXIT=0

Post-rebuild status:
Phase: Ready
Hermes Agent: running
SLACK_HOME_CHANNEL=
Home channel value hash: unavailable because key is absent

Post-rebuild Slack mention: ok=true
Post-rebuild Slack mention reply_count=0
--- LOG END ---

Conclusion: the sandbox rebuild succeeds and Slack reconnects, but v0.0.101 still drops SLACK_HOME_CHANNEL. The rebuild stash contains the Slack allowlist keys but not the home-channel key, reproducing the original issue. Reopening for investigation.

from kookies

[mercl-lau]

[QA Verification] Corrected verification on 2026-08-04 on Ubuntu (x86_64, Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS) with NemoClaw v0.0.101.

Correction to the previous FAIL result: the earlier test used hermes config set SLACK_HOME_CHANNEL .... Hermes reported that this is not a recognized config key and saved it to config.yaml; however, the /hermes sethome handler persists SLACK_HOME_CHANNEL to /sandbox/.hermes/.env. PR #7817 preserves allowlisted home-channel assignments from that .env file. Therefore, the previous test did not establish the required precondition and its FAIL conclusion was invalid.

Environment:

• Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS, x86_64
• Docker 29.5.3
• NemoClaw v0.0.101
• OpenShell 0.0.85
• Hermes Agent v0.19.0
• PR fix(hermes): preserve home channels across rebuilds #7817 merge commit 8c542b214f15561f71b262523d80a61ed4a5e9c7 is included in v0.0.101

Corrected test:

1. Created a fresh Hermes sandbox and registered Slack with real app credentials and the Slack policy.
2. Invoked the same save_env_value("SLACK_HOME_CHANNEL", chat_id) persistence function used by the Hermes /hermes sethome handler, with HERMES_HOME=/sandbox/.hermes.
3. Verified the exact key existed in /sandbox/.hermes/.env, and verified no invalid copy existed in config.yaml.
4. Ran NEMOCLAW_REBUILD_VERBOSE=1 nemoclaw backup-all and inspected the sanitized rebuild manifest.
5. Ran NEMOCLAW_REBUILD_VERBOSE=1 nemoclaw slack-home-retest rebuild --yes --verbose.
6. Verified sandbox health, Slack channel registration/policy, and the exact .env assignment after rebuild. Values and Slack identifiers are redacted; SHA-256 was used for equality comparison only.

Relevant log:

nemoclaw v0.0.101
OpenShell 0.0.85
Hermes Agent v0.19.0

== exact pre-rebuild target verification ==
SAVE_ENV_EXIT=0
env_metadata=sandbox:sandbox:640
exact_env_key_present=yes
pre_rebuild_hash=7924d3e613878cee54f091e0ba15c8a4bd0bedf5d487a8f5afb1b1780afea04b
invalid_yaml_key_present=no

== backup evidence ==
Capturing preserved environment assignments from .env
Captured 1 preserved environment key from .env
Pre-upgrade backup: 1 backed up, 0 failed, 0 skipped
BACKUP_EXIT=0
manifest_found=yes
manifest_preserved_keys=SLACK_HOME_CHANNEL
manifest_home_channel_captured=yes

== rebuild evidence ==
Captured 1 preserved environment key from .env
State restored (15 directories, 5 files)
Policy presets restored: npm, pypi, huggingface, brew, slack
Hermes gateway health verified after state restore
Sandbox 'slack-home-retest' rebuilt successfully
Now running: Hermes Agent v0.19.0
REBUILD_EXIT=0

== post-rebuild verification ==
Model: nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b
Provider: nvidia-prod
Inference: reachable
Agent: Hermes Agent v0.19.0
Phase: Ready
Hermes Agent: running
exact_env_key_present_after_rebuild=yes
post_rebuild_hash=7924d3e613878cee54f091e0ba15c8a4bd0bedf5d487a8f5afb1b1780afea04b
hash_match=yes
[ok] Channel registration: slack registered
[ok] Policy coverage: slack preset applied

Conclusion: PASS. On v0.0.101, the Slack home-channel assignment produced by the actual /hermes sethome persistence path is captured during backup and restored unchanged after rebuild. The previous FAIL should be superseded, and this issue can be closed.

from kookies