fix: resolve lazy session creation regressions (#18370 fallout)

cli.py

@@ -940,6 +940,18 @@ def _run_state_db_auto_maintenance(session_db) -> None:
         except Exception as _prune_exc:
             logger.debug("Ghost session prune skipped: %s", _prune_exc)
 
+        # One-time finalize of orphaned compression continuations (#20001).
+        try:
+            if not session_db.get_meta("orphaned_compression_finalize_v1"):
+                finalized = session_db.finalize_orphaned_compression_sessions()
+                session_db.set_meta("orphaned_compression_finalize_v1", "1")
+                if finalized:
+                    logger.info(
+                        "Finalized %d orphaned compression sessions", finalized
+                    )
+        except Exception as _finalize_exc:
+            logger.debug("Orphan compression finalize skipped: %s", _finalize_exc)
+
         cfg = (_load_full_config().get("sessions") or {})
         if not cfg.get("auto_prune", False):
             return

gateway/run.py

@@ -939,6 +939,52 @@ def _format_gateway_process_notification(evt: dict) -> "str | None":
 _gateway_runner_ref: _weakref.ref = lambda: None
 
 
+def _normalize_empty_agent_response(
+    agent_result: dict,
+    response: str,
+    *,
+    history_len: int = 0,
+) -> str:
+    """Normalize empty/None agent responses into user-facing messages.
+
+    Consolidates the existing ``failed`` handler and adds a catch-all for
+    the case where the agent did work (api_calls > 0) but returned no text.
+    Fix for #18765.
+    """
+    if response:
+        return response
+
+    if agent_result.get("failed"):
+        error_detail = agent_result.get("error", "unknown error")
+        error_str = str(error_detail).lower()
+        is_context_failure = any(
+            p in error_str
+            for p in ("context", "token", "too large", "too long", "exceed", "payload")
+        ) or ("400" in error_str and history_len > 50)
+        if is_context_failure:
+            return (
+                "⚠️ Session too large for the model's context window.\n"
+                "Use /compact to compress the conversation, or "
+                "/reset to start fresh."
+            )
+        return (
+            f"The request failed: {str(error_detail)[:300]}\n"
+            "Try again or use /reset to start a fresh session."
+        )
+
+    api_calls = int(agent_result.get("api_calls", 0) or 0)
+    if api_calls > 0 and not agent_result.get("interrupted"):
+        if agent_result.get("partial"):
+            err = agent_result.get("error", "processing incomplete")
+            return f"⚠️ Processing stopped: {str(err)[:200]}. Try again."
+        return (
+            "⚠️ Processing completed but no response was generated. "
+            "This may be a transient error — try sending your message again."
+        )
+
+    return response
+
+
 class GatewayRunner:
     """
     Main gateway controller.
@@ -6439,33 +6485,11 @@ async def _handle_message_with_agent(self, event, source, _quick_key: str, run_g
                         session_key, _e,
                     )
 
-            # Surface error details when the agent failed silently (final_response=None)
-            if not response and agent_result.get("failed"):
-                error_detail = agent_result.get("error", "unknown error")
-                error_str = str(error_detail).lower()
-
-                # Detect context-overflow failures and give specific guidance.
-                # Generic 400 "Error" from Anthropic with large sessions is the
-                # most common cause of this (#1630).
-                _is_ctx_fail = any(p in error_str for p in (
-                    "context", "token", "too large", "too long",
-                    "exceed", "payload",
-                )) or (
-                    "400" in error_str
-                    and len(history) > 50
-                )
-
-                if _is_ctx_fail:
-                    response = (
-                        "⚠️ Session too large for the model's context window.\n"
-                        "Use /compact to compress the conversation, or "
-                        "/reset to start fresh."
-                    )
-                else:
-                    response = (
-                        f"The request failed: {str(error_detail)[:300]}\n"
-                        "Try again or use /reset to start a fresh session."
-                    )
+            # Normalize empty responses: surface errors, partial failures, and
+            # the case where agent did work but returned no text. Fix for #18765.
+            response = _normalize_empty_agent_response(
+                agent_result, response, history_len=len(history),
+            )
 
             # If the agent's session_id changed during compression, update
             # session_entry so transcript writes below go to the right session.

hermes_state.py

@@ -718,6 +718,45 @@ def _do(conn):
                 self._remove_session_files(sessions_dir, sid)
         return len(removed_ids)
 
+    def finalize_orphaned_compression_sessions(self) -> int:
+        """Mark orphaned compression continuation sessions as ended.
+
+        Targets child sessions that were never finalized: parent is ended
+        with reason='compression', child has messages but no end_reason/ended_at
+        and api_call_count=0.  Non-destructive: preserves all messages and sets
+        end_reason='orphaned_compression'.  Fix for #20001.
+        """
+        cutoff = time.time() - 604800  # 7 days
+
+        def _do(conn):
+            now = time.time()
+            result = conn.execute(
+                """
+                UPDATE sessions
+                SET ended_at = ?,
+                    end_reason = 'orphaned_compression'
+                WHERE api_call_count = 0
+                  AND end_reason IS NULL
+                  AND ended_at IS NULL
+                  AND started_at < ?
+                  AND parent_session_id IS NOT NULL
+                  AND EXISTS (
+                      SELECT 1 FROM sessions p
+                      WHERE p.id = sessions.parent_session_id
+                        AND p.end_reason = 'compression'
+                        AND p.ended_at IS NOT NULL
+                  )
+                  AND EXISTS (
+                      SELECT 1 FROM messages m
+                      WHERE m.session_id = sessions.id
+                  )
+                """,
+                (now, cutoff),
+            )
+            return result.rowcount
+
+        return self._execute_write(_do) or 0
+
     def get_session(self, session_id: str) -> Optional[Dict[str, Any]]:
         """Get a session by ID."""
         with self._lock: