From 26c24867e664ef23833d257d13a246635cfed047 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Nathan Esquenazi <nesquena@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2026 13:27:21 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix: Docker container restart without recreating (#324)
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uv venv fails with 'A virtual environment already exists' when the
container is stopped and started (not removed). The venv persists in
the container filesystem between stop/start cycles.

Fix: skip venv creation and dependency installation if they already
exist from a previous run. Uses two checks:
- /app/venv/bin/python3 exists → skip venv creation
- /app/venv/.deps_installed marker → skip pip install

This also makes restarts much faster since deps don't need to be
reinstalled every time the container starts.

Fixes #324

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 docker_init.bash | 24 +++++++++++++++++-------
 1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/docker_init.bash b/docker_init.bash
index acb9899..86dbbdf 100644
--- a/docker_init.bash
+++ b/docker_init.bash
@@ -204,7 +204,12 @@ sudo mkdir -p ${UV_CACHE_DIR} || error_exit "Failed to create /uv_cache director
 sudo chown hermeswebui:hermeswebui ${UV_CACHE_DIR} || error_exit "Failed to set owner of ${UV_CACHE_DIR} to hermeswebui user"
 
 cd /app
-uv venv venv
+if [ -f /app/venv/bin/python3 ]; then
+  echo ""; echo "== Existing virtual environment found — reusing (fast restart)"
+else
+  echo ""; echo "== Creating new virtual environment"
+  uv venv venv
+fi
 export VIRTUAL_ENV=/app/venv
 test -d /app/venv
 test -f /app/venv/bin/activate
@@ -213,13 +218,18 @@ echo "";echo "== Activating hermes webui's virtual environment"
 source /app/venv/bin/activate || error_exit "Failed to activate hermeswebui virtual environment"
 test -x /app/venv/bin/python3
 
-echo ""; echo "== Installing hermes-webui dependencies"
-uv pip install -r requirements.txt --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org
-uv pip install -U pip setuptools --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org
-test -x /app/venv/bin/pip
+if [ -f /app/venv/.deps_installed ]; then
+  echo ""; echo "== Dependencies already installed — skipping (fast restart)"
+else
+  echo ""; echo "== Installing hermes-webui dependencies"
+  uv pip install -r requirements.txt --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org
+  uv pip install -U pip setuptools --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org
+  test -x /app/venv/bin/pip
 
-echo ""; echo "== Adding hermes-agent's pyproject.toml base dependencies to the virtual environment"
-uv pip install /home/hermeswebui/.hermes/hermes-agent --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org || error_exit "Failed to install hermes-agent's requirements"
+  echo ""; echo "== Adding hermes-agent's pyproject.toml base dependencies to the virtual environment"
+  uv pip install /home/hermeswebui/.hermes/hermes-agent --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org || error_exit "Failed to install hermes-agent's requirements"
+  touch /app/venv/.deps_installed
+fi
 
 echo ""; echo "== Running hermes-webui"
 cd /app; python server.py || error_exit "hermes-webui failed or exited with an error"