fix: ignore placeholder provider keys in provider activation checks

Add has_usable_secret() to reject empty, short (<4 char), and common
placeholder API key values (changeme, your_api_key, placeholder, etc.)
throughout the auth/runtime resolution chain.

Update list_available_providers() to use provider-specific auth status
via get_auth_status() instead of resolve_runtime_provider(), preventing
cross-provider key fallback from making providers appear available when
they aren't actually configured.

Preserve keyless custom endpoint support by checking via base URL.

Cherry-picked from PR #2121 by aashizpoudel.

hermes_cli/auth.py

@@ -278,6 +278,33 @@ def _try_gh_cli_token() -> Optional[str]:
     return None
 
 
+_PLACEHOLDER_SECRET_VALUES = {
+    "*",
+    "**",
+    "***",
+    "changeme",
+    "your_api_key",
+    "your-api-key",
+    "placeholder",
+    "example",
+    "dummy",
+    "null",
+    "none",
+}
+
+
+def has_usable_secret(value: Any, *, min_length: int = 4) -> bool:
+    """Return True when a configured secret looks usable, not empty/placeholder."""
+    if not isinstance(value, str):
+        return False
+    cleaned = value.strip()
+    if len(cleaned) < min_length:
+        return False
+    if cleaned.lower() in _PLACEHOLDER_SECRET_VALUES:
+        return False
+    return True
+
+
 def _resolve_api_key_provider_secret(
     provider_id: str, pconfig: ProviderConfig
 ) -> tuple[str, str]:
@@ -297,7 +324,7 @@ def _resolve_api_key_provider_secret(
 
     for env_var in pconfig.api_key_env_vars:
         val = os.getenv(env_var, "").strip()
-        if val:
+        if has_usable_secret(val):
             return val, env_var
 
     return "", ""
@@ -688,7 +715,7 @@ def resolve_provider(
     except Exception as e:
         logger.debug("Could not detect active auth provider: %s", e)
 
-    if os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY") or os.getenv("OPENROUTER_API_KEY"):
+    if has_usable_secret(os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")) or has_usable_secret(os.getenv("OPENROUTER_API_KEY")):
         return "openrouter"
 
     # Auto-detect API-key providers by checking their env vars
@@ -701,7 +728,7 @@ def resolve_provider(
         if pid == "copilot":
             continue
         for env_var in pconfig.api_key_env_vars:
-            if os.getenv(env_var, "").strip():
+            if has_usable_secret(os.getenv(env_var, "")):
                 return pid
 
     return "openrouter"

hermes_cli/models.py

@@ -300,12 +300,15 @@ def list_available_providers() -> list[dict[str, str]]:
         # Check if this provider has credentials available
         has_creds = False
         try:
+            from hermes_cli.auth import get_auth_status, has_usable_secret
             if pid == "custom":
-                has_creds = bool(_get_custom_base_url())
+                custom_base_url = _get_custom_base_url() or os.getenv("OPENAI_BASE_URL", "")
+                has_creds = bool(custom_base_url.strip())
+            elif pid == "openrouter":
+                has_creds = has_usable_secret(os.getenv("OPENROUTER_API_KEY", ""))
             else:
-                from hermes_cli.runtime_provider import resolve_runtime_provider
+                status = get_auth_status(pid)
-                runtime = resolve_runtime_provider(requested=pid)
+                has_creds = bool(status.get("logged_in") or status.get("configured"))
-                has_creds = bool(runtime.get("api_key"))
         except Exception:
             pass
         result.append({

hermes_cli/runtime_provider.py

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ from hermes_cli.auth import (
     resolve_codex_runtime_credentials,
     resolve_api_key_provider_credentials,
     resolve_external_process_provider_credentials,
+    has_usable_secret,
 )
 from hermes_cli.config import load_config
 from hermes_constants import OPENROUTER_BASE_URL
@@ -188,12 +189,13 @@ def _resolve_named_custom_runtime(
     if not base_url:
         return None
 
-    api_key = (
+    api_key_candidates = [
-        (explicit_api_key or "").strip()
+        (explicit_api_key or "").strip(),
-        or custom_provider.get("api_key", "")
+        str(custom_provider.get("api_key", "") or "").strip(),
-        or os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY", "").strip()
+        os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY", "").strip(),
-        or os.getenv("OPENROUTER_API_KEY", "").strip()
+        os.getenv("OPENROUTER_API_KEY", "").strip(),
-    )
+    ]
+    api_key = next((candidate for candidate in api_key_candidates if has_usable_secret(candidate)), "")
 
     return {
         "provider": "openrouter",
@@ -257,21 +259,23 @@ def _resolve_openrouter_runtime(
     # provider (issues #420, #560).
     _is_openrouter_url = "openrouter.ai" in base_url
     if _is_openrouter_url:
-        api_key = (
+        api_key_candidates = [
-            explicit_api_key
+            explicit_api_key,
-            or os.getenv("OPENROUTER_API_KEY")
+            os.getenv("OPENROUTER_API_KEY"),
-            or os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")
+            os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY"),
-            or ""
+        ]
-        )
     else:
         # Custom endpoint: use api_key from config when using config base_url (#1760).
-        api_key = (
+        api_key_candidates = [
-            explicit_api_key
+            explicit_api_key,
-            or (cfg_api_key if use_config_base_url else "")
+            (cfg_api_key if use_config_base_url else ""),
-            or os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")
+            os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY"),
-            or os.getenv("OPENROUTER_API_KEY")
+            os.getenv("OPENROUTER_API_KEY"),
-            or ""
+        ]
-        )
+    api_key = next(
+        (str(candidate or "").strip() for candidate in api_key_candidates if has_usable_secret(candidate)),
+        "",
+    )
 
     source = "explicit" if (explicit_api_key or explicit_base_url) else "env/config"