fix(compression): preserve steer display identity

(cherry picked from commit a8570878bc848a42cc8029fc45219a57e76be4c4)

agent/transcript_repair.py

@@ -77,11 +77,13 @@ def _active_assistant_row(conn: sqlite3.Connection, session_id: str, row_id: int
 
 
 def sync_flushed_message_markers(batch_msgs: List[Dict[str, Any]], batch_rows: List[Dict[str, Any]]) -> None:
-    """Stamp _DB_PERSISTED_MARKER and sync canonical row ID / content onto live dicts after commit."""
+    """Stamp _DB_PERSISTED_MARKER and sync canonical durable fields onto live dicts after commit."""
     for written, row in zip(batch_msgs, batch_rows):
         written[_DB_PERSISTED_MARKER] = True
         if isinstance(row.get("_row_id"), int):
             written["_row_id"] = row["_row_id"]
+        if isinstance(row.get("timestamp"), (int, float)):
+            written["timestamp"] = row["timestamp"]
         if "_canonical_content" in row:
             written["content"] = row["_canonical_content"]
 

hermes_state_messages.py

@@ -515,6 +515,11 @@ class SessionMessagesMixin:
             message_timestamp = _coerce_timestamp(msg.get("timestamp"), now_ts)
             cur = conn.execute(_INSERT_MESSAGE_SQL, self._message_row_params(
                 session_id, role, msg, tool_calls, message_timestamp, keep_reasoning=role == "assistant"))
+            # Keep the caller's live row aligned with the durable identity. Rows created without an explicit
+            # timestamp (notably mid-turn steers) may be carried through several compaction generations; if
+            # the generated timestamp exists only in SQLite, every copy receives a new identity and renders
+            # as another logical message.
+            msg["timestamp"] = message_timestamp
             if cur.lastrowid is not None:
                 msg["_row_id"] = cur.lastrowid
             inserted += 1

tests/agent/test_steer_compaction_persistence.py

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+"""Regression coverage for steer display identity across compactions (#117137)."""
+
+from unittest.mock import patch
+
+from agent.prompt_builder import steer_user_row
+from hermes_state import SessionDB
+from run_agent import AIAgent
+
+
+def test_flushed_steer_keeps_one_display_identity_across_compactions(tmp_path):
+    db = SessionDB(tmp_path / "state.db")
+    session_id = "steer-compaction"
+    with patch.dict("os.environ", {"OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "test-key"}):
+        agent = AIAgent(
+            api_key="test-key",
+            base_url="https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
+            model="test/model",
+            quiet_mode=True,
+            session_db=db,
+            session_id=session_id,
+            skip_context_files=True,
+            skip_memory=True,
+        )
+    agent._ensure_db_session()
+    steer = steer_user_row("focus on the persistence failure")
+
+    agent._flush_messages_to_session_db([steer], [])
+
+    durable_timestamp = db.get_messages(session_id)[0]["timestamp"]
+    assert steer["timestamp"] == durable_timestamp
+
+    for _ in range(2):
+        db.archive_and_compact(session_id, [dict(steer)])
+
+    physical = db.get_messages(session_id, include_inactive=True)
+    assert len([row for row in physical if row["display_kind"] == "steer"]) == 3
+    visible = db.get_messages(session_id, include_compacted=True)
+    assert [(row["display_kind"], row["content"]) for row in visible] == [
+        ("steer", steer["content"]),
+    ]