From 4b281409123490a2f10685c0fd8214258bcc4bd9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Brooklyn Nicholson <brooklyn.bb.nicholson@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2026 22:49:49 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] fix(cli): tighten MRU lookup and session DB cleanup

- use a grouped last_active join in search_sessions to avoid per-row correlated max lookups
- always close SessionDB in _resolve_last_session via finally and add regression coverage for search failure cleanup
---
 hermes_cli/main.py                            |  8 +++++++-
 hermes_state.py                               | 19 +++++++++++--------
 tests/hermes_cli/test_resolve_last_session.py | 18 ++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 36 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/hermes_cli/main.py b/hermes_cli/main.py
index cb877fe60..cb1ad1596 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/main.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/main.py
@@ -597,15 +597,21 @@ def _session_browse_picker(sessions: list) -> Optional[str]:
 
 def _resolve_last_session(source: str = "cli") -> Optional[str]:
     """Look up the most recently-used session ID for a source."""
+    db = None
     try:
         from hermes_state import SessionDB
 
         db = SessionDB()
         sessions = db.search_sessions(source=source, limit=1)
-        db.close()
         return sessions[0]["id"] if sessions else None
     except Exception:
         pass
+    finally:
+        if db is not None:
+            try:
+                db.close()
+            except Exception:
+                pass
     return None
 
 
diff --git a/hermes_state.py b/hermes_state.py
index 226c44e71..bfa36d599 100644
--- a/hermes_state.py
+++ b/hermes_state.py
@@ -1487,22 +1487,25 @@ class SessionDB:
         message timestamp for the session, falling back to ``started_at``),
         ordered by most-recently-used first.
         """
-        select_last_active = (
-            "COALESCE("
-            "(SELECT MAX(m.timestamp) FROM messages m WHERE m.session_id = s.id),"
-            " s.started_at"
-            ") AS last_active"
+        select_with_last_active = (
+            "SELECT s.*, COALESCE(m.last_active, s.started_at) AS last_active "
+            "FROM sessions s "
+            "LEFT JOIN ("
+            "SELECT session_id, MAX(timestamp) AS last_active "
+            "FROM messages GROUP BY session_id"
+            ") m ON m.session_id = s.id "
         )
         with self._lock:
             if source:
                 cursor = self._conn.execute(
-                    f"SELECT s.*, {select_last_active} FROM sessions s "
-                    "WHERE s.source = ? ORDER BY last_active DESC, s.started_at DESC, s.id DESC LIMIT ? OFFSET ?",
+                    f"{select_with_last_active}"
+                    "WHERE s.source = ? "
+                    "ORDER BY last_active DESC, s.started_at DESC, s.id DESC LIMIT ? OFFSET ?",
                     (source, limit, offset),
                 )
             else:
                 cursor = self._conn.execute(
-                    f"SELECT s.*, {select_last_active} FROM sessions s "
+                    f"{select_with_last_active}"
                     "ORDER BY last_active DESC, s.started_at DESC, s.id DESC LIMIT ? OFFSET ?",
                     (limit, offset),
                 )
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_resolve_last_session.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_resolve_last_session.py
index 4ba54003e..1a82d1a79 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_resolve_last_session.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_resolve_last_session.py
@@ -89,6 +89,24 @@ def test_resolve_last_session_returns_none_when_empty(monkeypatch):
     assert _resolve_last_session("cli") is None
 
 
+def test_resolve_last_session_closes_db_on_search_error(monkeypatch):
+    class _FailingDB:
+        def __init__(self):
+            self.closed = False
+
+        def search_sessions(self, source=None, limit=20, **_kw):
+            raise RuntimeError("boom")
+
+        def close(self):
+            self.closed = True
+
+    db = _FailingDB()
+    monkeypatch.setattr("hermes_state.SessionDB", lambda: db)
+
+    assert _resolve_last_session("cli") is None
+    assert db.closed is True
+
+
 def test_resolve_last_session_falls_back_to_started_at(monkeypatch):
     # When last_active is missing entirely (legacy row), fall back to
     # started_at so the helper still picks the newest session.