fix: make hermes-agent source optional in Docker startup — v0.50.62

Squash-merges PR #577 (rebased from #573 by @nesquena). Docker hard-exit on missing hermes-agent → graceful warning. 1319 tests pass. Fixes #570.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 # Hermes Web UI -- Changelog
 
+## [v0.50.62] — 2026-04-16
+
+### Fixed
+- **Docker startup no longer hard-exits when hermes-agent source is not mounted** — previously `docker_init.bash` would call `error_exit` if the agent source directory was missing, preventing the container from starting at all. Users running a minimal `docker run` without the two-container compose setup hit this immediately. Now the script checks for the directory and `pyproject.toml` first, prints a clear warning explaining reduced functionality, and continues startup. The WebUI already has `try/except` fallbacks throughout for when hermes-agent is unavailable. (Fixes #570, PR #573)
+
 ## [v0.50.61] — 2026-04-16
 
 ### Added

docker_init.bash

@@ -235,7 +235,17 @@ else
   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[honcho]" --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org || error_exit "Failed to install hermes-agent's requirements"
+  if [ -d "/home/hermeswebui/.hermes/hermes-agent" ] && [ -f "/home/hermeswebui/.hermes/hermes-agent/pyproject.toml" ]; then
+    uv pip install "/home/hermeswebui/.hermes/hermes-agent[honcho]" --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org || error_exit "Failed to install hermes-agent's requirements"
+  else
+    echo ""
+    echo "!! WARNING: hermes-agent source not found at /home/hermeswebui/.hermes/hermes-agent"
+    echo "!! The WebUI will start with reduced functionality (no model auto-detection,"
+    echo "!! no personality routing, no CLI session imports)."
+    echo "!! To fix: mount the agent source volume into the container. See:"
+    echo "!!   https://github.com/nesquena/hermes-webui/blob/master/docker-compose.two-container.yml"
+    echo ""
+  fi
   touch /app/venv/.deps_installed
 fi
 

static/index.html

@@ -553,7 +553,7 @@
                 <div class="settings-section-title">System</div>
                 <div class="settings-section-meta">Instance version and access controls.</div>
               </div>
-              <span class="settings-version-badge">v0.50.61</span>
+              <span class="settings-version-badge">v0.50.62</span>
             </div>
             <div class="settings-field" style="border-top:1px solid var(--border);padding-top:12px;margin-top:8px">
               <label for="settingsPassword" data-i18n="settings_label_password">Access Password</label>