hermes: normalize image edit references

services/hermes/chat-statefulset.yaml

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ spec:
         ai.bstein.dev/router-wire-contract: ollama-numeric-keepalive
         ai.bstein.dev/isolation: one Hermes process and PVC per Keycloak subject
         ai.bstein.dev/model-policy: uniform automatic policy with per-user overrides
-        ai.bstein.dev/config-rev: "20260812-keycloak-image-continuation"
+        ai.bstein.dev/config-rev: "20260812-image-reference-normalization"
         vault.hashicorp.com/agent-inject: "true"
         vault.hashicorp.com/role: hermes-chat
         vault.hashicorp.com/agent-inject-secret-anthropic-token: kv/data/atlas/hermes/agent-tokens

services/hermes/plugins/image-gen-broker/__init__.py

@@ -151,6 +151,11 @@ def _request(
 def _local_image_data_url(value: str) -> str:
     """Convert a private uploaded image to a data URL for broker transport."""
     candidate = value.strip()
+    # Hermes presents generated artifacts to the model as ``MEDIA:<path>``.
+    # Most models pass only the path back to an edit tool, but accepting the
+    # marked form makes natural follow-up edits provider-independent.
+    if candidate.upper().startswith("MEDIA:"):
+        candidate = candidate[6:].strip()
     lowered = candidate.lower()
     if lowered.startswith(("http://", "https://", "data:image/")):
         return candidate

testing/tests/test_hermes_chat_quality.py

@@ -379,6 +379,7 @@ def test_chat_image_generation_uses_private_owner_broker():
     assert 'name="image_generate_local"' in plugin
     assert 'name="image_generate_hosted"' in plugin
     assert "newest MEDIA: path from the conversation" in plugin
+    assert 'candidate.upper().startswith("MEDIA:")' in plugin
     assert "override=True" not in plugin
 
     agent = _documents(HERMES / "agent-deployment.yaml")[0]
@@ -484,7 +485,7 @@ def test_chat_reasoning_uses_switchyard_without_owner_credentials():
     statefulset = _documents(HERMES / "chat-statefulset.yaml")[0]
     assert statefulset["spec"]["template"]["metadata"]["annotations"][
         "ai.bstein.dev/config-rev"
-    ] == "20260812-keycloak-image-continuation"
+    ] == "20260812-image-reference-normalization"
     hermes = next(
         item
         for item in statefulset["spec"]["template"]["spec"]["containers"]