## Release v0.51.256 — Release HX (stage-r4)
Performance — bound WebUI memory growth & idle CPU on large installs.
### Fixed
| Issue | Author | Fix |
|-------|--------|-----|
| #3506 | @nesquena-hermes (reported w/ profiling by @djenttleman) | On a large install (~615 sessions / 40k messages / 454 MB state.db) the WebUI process climbed ~100 MB → ~1.5 GB RSS over days and held high idle CPU. Three root causes fixed: (1) `session_lifecycle._sessions` grew unbounded → new `discard_session()` drops the entry at agent-eviction boundaries, only when no in-flight commit / no uncommitted memory work (retry invariant preserved); (2) cache caps now operator-tunable (`HERMES_WEBUI_AGENT_CACHE_MAX` default 50→25, `HERMES_WEBUI_SESSIONS_MAX`); (3) GatewayWatcher computes a cheap fingerprint before the expensive per-session `MAX(messages.timestamp)` projection and only re-projects on change. |
### Rebase + review notes
- Rebased onto current master; the code diff was verified **byte-identical to the nesquena-APPROVED head** at rebase time (only CHANGELOG re-resolved).
- The Codex regression gate then surfaced **two correctness gaps** the approval didn't catch, both fixed here with regression tests:
1. **Watcher fingerprint missed same-count transcript rewrites.** `/retry`,`/undo`,`/compress` (`SessionDB.replace_messages`) rewrite messages with new timestamps but can leave `message_count` unchanged → stale sidebar `last_activity`. Fixed with a **per-session** grouped message aggregate (`id, count, user_count, MAX(timestamp)`) over the same non-excluded sessions (a global MAX would miss a rewrite of an older, non-newest session); cron/webui stay excluded so idle churn still doesn't re-project.
2. **LRU agent-cache eviction could close a live worker's agent** (`popitem(last=False)`, liveness-blind — pre-existing, but the lower 50→25 cap made it more likely). Eviction now snapshots `ACTIVE_RUNS` session_ids (before the cache lock — no nested lock) and skips live sessions, deferring (temporarily exceeding cap) rather than closing a live agent.
### Gate
- Full pytest suite: **7612 passed, 0 failed** (one boot-cascade flake re-run; clean on re-run)
- ruff: CLEAN · Codex (regression): 4 rounds → both gaps + a stale test fixed → **SAFE TO SHIP**
Co-authored-by: nesquena <nesquena@users.noreply.github.com>
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