From e62a47ab680bf952b26559e540c28bc18571017c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: kshitijk4poor <82637225+kshitijk4poor@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:56:21 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] fix(curator): floor interval_hours at 1 and warn once per bad
 value

interval_hours <= 0 made should_run_now() true on every idle tick,
re-running the review pass each time. Route it through the same
floor-with-default helper as the day counts (renamed _bounded_count),
and log the fallback warning once per (key, value) since the dashboard
status endpoint polls these getters.
---
 agent/curator.py            | 19 +++++++++++++------
 tests/agent/test_curator.py | 30 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 43 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/agent/curator.py b/agent/curator.py
index d5482c9e20..9f08609278 100644
--- a/agent/curator.py
+++ b/agent/curator.py
@@ -107,32 +107,39 @@ def is_enabled() -> bool:  # default ON when no config says otherwise
 
 
 def get_interval_hours() -> int:
-    return _config_number("interval_hours", DEFAULT_INTERVAL_HOURS, int)
+    # < 1 would make should_run_now() true on every idle tick (a review pass each time), so floor it the same way.
+    return _bounded_count("interval_hours", DEFAULT_INTERVAL_HOURS)
 
 
 def get_min_idle_hours() -> float:
     return _config_number("min_idle_hours", DEFAULT_MIN_IDLE_HOURS, float)
 
 
-def _bounded_days(key: str, default: int) -> int:
-    """*key* (a ``curator.<key>`` day count), floored at 1 like ``curator prune --days`` already
+_warned_bad_values: set = set()
+
+
+def _bounded_count(key: str, default: int) -> int:
+    """*key* (a ``curator.<key>`` day/hour count), floored at 1 like ``curator prune --days`` already
     refuses (hermes_cli/curator.py::_cmd_prune). A value < 1 collapses stale_cutoff/archive_cutoff
     onto or past "now" in apply_automatic_transitions(), mass-transitioning every skill with any
     past activity on the next automatic pass — unlike the manual prune path this runs unconfirmed,
     so it falls back to the default instead of acting on the bad value."""
     value = _config_number(key, default, int)
     if value < 1:
-        logger.warning("curator.%s must be >= 1 (got %d); using the default of %d", key, value, default)
+        # Warn once per (key, bad value): the dashboard status endpoint polls these getters.
+        if (key, value) not in _warned_bad_values:
+            _warned_bad_values.add((key, value))
+            logger.warning("curator.%s must be >= 1 (got %d); using the default of %d", key, value, default)
         return default
     return value
 
 
 def get_stale_after_days() -> int:
-    return _bounded_days("stale_after_days", DEFAULT_STALE_AFTER_DAYS)
+    return _bounded_count("stale_after_days", DEFAULT_STALE_AFTER_DAYS)
 
 
 def get_archive_after_days() -> int:
-    return _bounded_days("archive_after_days", DEFAULT_ARCHIVE_AFTER_DAYS)
+    return _bounded_count("archive_after_days", DEFAULT_ARCHIVE_AFTER_DAYS)
 
 
 def get_consolidate() -> bool:
diff --git a/tests/agent/test_curator.py b/tests/agent/test_curator.py
index c15ca6b727..13d63b2a81 100644
--- a/tests/agent/test_curator.py
+++ b/tests/agent/test_curator.py
@@ -163,6 +163,36 @@ def test_non_positive_stale_after_days_falls_back_to_default(curator_env, monkey
     assert c.get_stale_after_days() == c.DEFAULT_STALE_AFTER_DAYS
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("bad_hours", [0, -3])
+def test_non_positive_interval_hours_falls_back_to_default(curator_env, monkeypatch, bad_hours):
+    """``curator.interval_hours: 0`` (or negative) made should_run_now() true on every idle tick,
+    re-running the review pass each time; it must fall back to the default interval instead."""
+    c = curator_env["curator"]
+    monkeypatch.setattr(c, "_load_config", lambda: {"interval_hours": bad_hours})
+    now = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
+    c.save_state({"last_run_at": (now - timedelta(minutes=1)).isoformat()})
+
+    assert c.get_interval_hours() == c.DEFAULT_INTERVAL_HOURS
+    assert c.should_run_now(now=now) is False
+
+
+def test_bad_bounded_value_warns_once_per_distinct_value(curator_env, monkeypatch, caplog):
+    """The dashboard status endpoint polls these getters, so a bad value logs once, not per poll;
+    a different bad value (the user edited config again) logs again."""
+    c = curator_env["curator"]
+    cfg = {"archive_after_days": 0}
+    monkeypatch.setattr(c, "_load_config", lambda: cfg)
+    with caplog.at_level("WARNING", logger=c.logger.name):
+        for _ in range(3):
+            c.get_archive_after_days()
+        cfg["archive_after_days"] = -1
+        c.get_archive_after_days()
+        c.get_archive_after_days()
+    msgs = [r.getMessage() for r in caplog.records if "archive_after_days" in r.getMessage()]
+    assert len(msgs) == 2, msgs
+    assert "got 0" in msgs[0] and "got -1" in msgs[1]
+
+
 def test_pinned_skill_is_never_touched(curator_env):
     c = curator_env["curator"]
     u = curator_env["usage"]