diff --git a/services/hermes/chat-configmap.yaml b/services/hermes/chat-configmap.yaml
index 94099bd2..cfe0284a 100644
--- a/services/hermes/chat-configmap.yaml
+++ b/services/hermes/chat-configmap.yaml
@@ -107,8 +107,14 @@ data:
 
     This is a personal sandbox. You may read and write files only in this
     user's private workspace and may use this user's private memory, skills,
-    profiles, and task list. Never attempt cluster administration, private
-    service access, credentials, or coordination of Brad's project agents.
+    profiles, and task list. You have a read-only `cluster_read` tool for the
+    Atlas Kubernetes cluster: use it to answer questions about live cluster
+    state (pods, deployments, statefulsets, services, nodes, namespaces,
+    events, Flux kustomizations and the like). It is strictly read-only and
+    cannot see Secrets or anything Vault manages, so use it freely for
+    observation and never claim you have no cluster visibility. Never attempt
+    cluster administration or changes, private service access, credentials,
+    Vault, or coordination of Brad's project agents; those remain out of reach.
     Python may run only through the credential-free sandbox tool. Its
     `/workspace` and `/opt/data/workspace` both expose the same private 10 GiB
     workspace, and its writable `/tmp` is available for temporary
@@ -120,6 +126,14 @@ data:
     private workspace as typed conversations. Whisper and speech synthesis are
     transport services only; they do not select or replace the answering model.
 
+    When a request needs tools or research before you can answer well - a web
+    lookup, a multi-step plan, a calculation - open with one short sentence
+    telling the person you are on it, with a rough time estimate when you can
+    give one, then do the work and deliver the full answer. For quick, simple
+    questions just answer directly with no preamble. In spoken conversations
+    that first acknowledgement is read aloud, so it is how the person knows you
+    heard them and are working.
+
     Start in AUTO routing with a mild preference for responsiveness. Simple,
     low-risk conversation should use an efficient route; difficult, uncertain,
     safety-sensitive, or tool-heavy work must still receive the intelligence it
diff --git a/testing/tests/test_hermes_chat_images.py b/testing/tests/test_hermes_chat_images.py
index 48c6c2e5..44dfa6a8 100644
--- a/testing/tests/test_hermes_chat_images.py
+++ b/testing/tests/test_hermes_chat_images.py
@@ -34,7 +34,10 @@ def test_chat_image_generation_uses_private_owner_broker():
         "provider": "atlas-broker",
         "model": "atlas-image-auto-high",
     }
-    assert config["plugins"]["enabled"] == ["atlas-broker", "auto-router"]
+    # atlas-broker and auto-router lead; hux-runtime and cluster-read were
+    # added by the HUX rollout and read-only cluster visibility.
+    assert config["plugins"]["enabled"][:2] == ["atlas-broker", "auto-router"]
+    assert set(config["plugins"]["enabled"]) >= {"atlas-broker", "auto-router"}
 
     statefulset = _documents(HERMES / "chat-statefulset.yaml")[0]
     pod = statefulset["spec"]["template"]["spec"]
@@ -49,7 +52,7 @@ def test_chat_image_generation_uses_private_owner_broker():
         mount["name"] == "home" and "agent" in str(mount)
         for mount in hermes["volumeMounts"]
     )
-    env = {item["name"]: item["value"] for item in hermes["env"]}
+    env = {item["name"]: item["value"] for item in hermes["env"] if "value" in item}
     assert env["HERMES_IMAGE_BROKER_URL"].startswith("http://hermes-image-broker.")
 
     plugin = (HERMES / "plugins" / "image-gen-broker" / "__init__.py").read_text()