fix(agent): make CLI agent turns work via profile cookie + provisioner recovery

AgentChatClient now switches hermes_profile (CookieManager) before session/chat
calls so CLI/Slack match the browser Agent tab. Surface SSE error events instead
of empty answers. Local provisioner recovers corrupt profile config.yaml (which
dropped model: and caused Missed model deployment) and validates dumps.

Co-authored-by: Venkat SF <venkatesh.sakamuri@stayflexi.com>

Author: cursoragent

AGENTS.md

@@ -235,7 +235,24 @@ only covers cloud-specific, non-obvious caveats.
   `http://deepsql-agent:8788/provision`) with `AGENT_PROVISION_SECRET`. In this VM run
   `python3 scripts/local-agent-provisioner.py` (needs those two env vars in `.env`).
   Without it, Spring logs `agent.provision-secret is unset — skipping…` and the
-  `u-admin` agent profile is never created/token-refreshed.
+  `u-admin` agent profile is never created/token-refreshed. If provision returns HTTP
+  500 with a PyYAML parse error on `config.yaml`, the profile is corrupt (often a
+  mangled `agent.personalities` block that also drops `model:`) — the provisioner
+  now restores from `~/.hermes/config.yaml`. Manual recovery: copy that default
+  over `~/.hermes/profiles/u-<user>/config.yaml` and re-POST `/provision`. Symptom
+  of a bad profile: Hermes logs `Missed model deployment` and CLI agent returns
+  empty / “ended before producing an answer”.
+- **`AGENT_WEBUI_URL` for native runs.** Default is `http://deepsql-agent:8787`
+  (Compose DNS). Native local must set `AGENT_WEBUI_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8787` in
+  `.env` or CLI/Slack `AgentChatClient` cannot reach the agent API.
+- **DeepSQL CLI (`deepsql`) for agent testing.** Install from the repo package:
+  `cd mcp && DEEPSQL_SKIP_AGENT_SETUP=1 npm install -g .` (prefix
+  `~/.npm-global`, keep that on `PATH`). Auth against local backend with an MCP
+  token (`POST /api/auth/mcp-tokens` when auth is disabled stores into
+  `~/.config/deepsql/auth.json`). One-shot:
+  `deepsql agent --connection <uuid> "…"`. Interactive: `deepsql` / `deepsql agent`.
+  The CLI is a thin client over `POST /api/agent/chat` (not a local agent runtime);
+  backend + agent API (:8787) + provisioner must already be up.
 - **Spring CORS must allow both loopback hosts.** Set
   `CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=http://localhost:3000,http://127.0.0.1:3000` in `.env`. Opening
   the UI as `http://127.0.0.1:3000` while only `localhost` is allowlisted yields **403**

backend/src/main/java/com/dbaagent/service/AgentChatClient.java

@@ -26,9 +26,14 @@
 /**
  * Synchronous client for the DeepSQL Agent webui API, reached over the compose
  * network (internal — not via the gated /agent-api proxy). Used by non-browser
- * channels (Slack, etc.) that need a single final answer rather than a live SSE
+ * channels (Slack, CLI, etc.) that need a single final answer rather than a live SSE
  * stream: it starts a turn, consumes the stream server-side, and returns the
  * assembled text plus a compact tool-step summary.
+ *
+ * <p>Sessions are scoped by the upstream {@code hermes_profile} cookie. This client
+ * keeps a {@link CookieManager} and calls {@code /api/profile/switch} before
+ * session/chat calls so CLI/Slack turns see the same profile Spring provisioned
+ * ({@code u-<user>}), matching the browser Agent tab.
  */
 @Service
 public class AgentChatClient {
@@ -62,11 +67,6 @@ public record AgentReply(boolean ok, String text, List<String> toolSteps, String
         public static AgentReply fail(String error) { return new AgentReply(false, null, List.of(), error); }
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Return a usable session id for the given profile: reuse {@code existingSessionId}
-     * when present, otherwise create a fresh session and auto-approve its read-only
-     * tool surface (channels are non-interactive). Returns null on failure.
-     */
     /**
      * Why a session could not be created, for callers that surface a reason to the user.
      * {@code sessionId} non-null means success and {@code failureReason} is null.
@@ -75,17 +75,18 @@ public record SessionAttempt(String sessionId, String failureReason) {
         boolean ok() { return sessionId != null; }
     }
 
+    /** Convenience wrapper around {@link #ensureSessionDetailed}. */
     public String ensureSession(String profile, String existingSessionId) {
         return ensureSessionDetailed(profile, existingSessionId).sessionId();
     }
-
     public SessionAttempt ensureSessionDetailed(String profile, String existingSessionId) {
         try {
             switchProfile(profile);
         } catch (Exception e) {
             log.warn("Could not switch agent profile to {} (webui={}): {}",
                 profile, webuiUrl, e.toString());
-            return new SessionAttempt(null, describe(e));
+            log.debug("agent profile/switch failure detail", e);
+            return new SessionAttempt(null, "could not switch agent profile: " + describe(e));
         }
         if (existingSessionId != null && !existingSessionId.isBlank()) {
             return new SessionAttempt(existingSessionId, null);
@@ -123,7 +124,9 @@ public SessionAttempt ensureSessionDetailed(String profile, String existingSessi
 
     /** Activate the hermes_profile cookie for subsequent webui API calls. */
     private void switchProfile(String profile) throws Exception {
-        if (profile == null || profile.isBlank()) return;
+        if (profile == null || profile.isBlank()) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("agent profile is required");
+        }
         postJson("/api/profile/switch", Map.of("name", profile));
     }
 
@@ -142,7 +145,7 @@ public AgentReply sendAndAwait(String sessionId, String message) {
                 return AgentReply.fail("agent did not start a turn");
             }
         } catch (Exception e) {
-            return AgentReply.fail("could not start agent turn: " + e.getMessage());
+            return AgentReply.fail("could not start agent turn: " + describe(e));
         }
         return consumeStream(streamId);
     }
@@ -157,6 +160,7 @@ private AgentReply consumeStream(String streamId) {
         StringBuilder answer = new StringBuilder();
         List<String> toolSteps = new ArrayList<>();
         boolean ended = false;
+        String streamError = null;
         try {
             HttpResponse<InputStream> resp = http.send(req, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofInputStream());
             if (resp.statusCode() / 100 != 2) {
@@ -182,6 +186,13 @@ private AgentReply consumeStream(String streamId) {
                                 // after the LAST tool is the real reply.
                                 answer.setLength(0);
                             }
+                            case "error", "apperror" -> {
+                                String err = textField(data, "message");
+                                if (err == null || err.isBlank()) err = textField(data, "error");
+                                if (err == null || err.isBlank()) err = data;
+                                streamError = err;
+                                ended = true;
+                            }
                             case "stream_end", "done" -> ended = true;
                             default -> { /* metering, context_status, interim_assistant, title — ignore */ }
                         }
@@ -192,8 +203,11 @@ private AgentReply consumeStream(String streamId) {
         } catch (Exception e) {
             return AgentReply.fail("agent stream error: " + e.getMessage());
         }
+        if (streamError != null && !streamError.isBlank()) {
+            return AgentReply.fail("agent runtime error: " + streamError);
+        }
         String text = answer.toString().trim();
-        if (text.isEmpty() && !ended) {
+        if (text.isEmpty()) {
             return AgentReply.fail("agent run ended before producing an answer");
         }
         return AgentReply.ok(text, toolSteps);

scripts/local-agent-provisioner.py

@@ -74,12 +74,37 @@ def write_profile_env(home: Path, *, user: str, token: str) -> None:
     os.chmod(env_path, 0o600)
 
 
+def _load_profile_config(home: Path):
+    """Load profile config.yaml, recovering from a corrupt file by cloning the default.
+
+    A prior dump race (or a partial write) can leave personas/model keys mangled so
+    PyYAML refuses to parse. Without recovery, every subsequent /provision 500s and
+    the agent profile never gets a fresh MCP token — which surfaces to CLI users as
+    empty agent turns, not as a clear provisioner error.
+    """
+    import yaml  # agent venv / system PyYAML
+
+    cfg_path = home / "config.yaml"
+    default_path = HERMES_HOME / "config.yaml"
+    if cfg_path.exists():
+        try:
+            cfg = yaml.safe_load(cfg_path.read_text())
+            if isinstance(cfg, dict) and cfg.get("model"):
+                return cfg
+        except Exception as e:
+            sys.stderr.write(f"[agent-provisioner] corrupt {cfg_path}: {e}; restoring from default\n")
+    if default_path.exists():
+        cfg = yaml.safe_load(default_path.read_text()) or {}
+    else:
+        cfg = {}
+    return cfg if isinstance(cfg, dict) else {}
+
+
 def write_profile_mcp(home: Path, *, user: str, token: str) -> None:
     import yaml  # agent venv / system PyYAML
 
     cfg_path = home / "config.yaml"
-    cfg = yaml.safe_load(cfg_path.read_text()) if cfg_path.exists() else {}
-    cfg = cfg or {}
+    cfg = _load_profile_config(home)
     # Token must live on the MCP subprocess env — the agent runtime does not auto-forward
     # the profile .env into mcp_servers.*.env.
     cfg.setdefault("mcp_servers", {})["deepsql"] = {
@@ -94,7 +119,10 @@ def write_profile_mcp(home: Path, *, user: str, token: str) -> None:
     }
     cfg.setdefault("skills", {})["external_dirs"] = [str(REPO_ROOT / "agent" / "skills")]
     cfg.setdefault("approvals", {})["mode"] = "smart"
-    cfg_path.write_text(yaml.safe_dump(cfg, sort_keys=False))
+    dumped = yaml.safe_dump(cfg, sort_keys=False, allow_unicode=True)
+    # Refuse to write unparseable YAML — better a loud 500 than a silent corrupt profile.
+    yaml.safe_load(dumped)
+    cfg_path.write_text(dumped)
     soul_src = REPO_ROOT / "agent" / "SOUL.md"
     if soul_src.exists():
         (home / "SOUL.md").write_text(soul_src.read_text())