fix(agent): harden routing and retry guards

pkg/agent/loop.go

@@ -404,6 +404,9 @@ func (al *AgentLoop) ProcessDirectWithChannel(
 // Each heartbeat is independent and doesn't accumulate context.
 func (al *AgentLoop) ProcessHeartbeat(ctx context.Context, content, channel, chatID string) (string, error) {
 	agent := al.registry.GetDefaultAgent()
+	if agent == nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("no default agent for heartbeat")
+	}
 	return al.runAgentLoop(ctx, agent, processOptions{
 		SessionKey:      "heartbeat",
 		Channel:         channel,
@@ -468,6 +471,9 @@ func (al *AgentLoop) processMessage(ctx context.Context, msg bus.InboundMessage)
 	if !ok {
 		agent = al.registry.GetDefaultAgent()
 	}
+	if agent == nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("no agent available for route (agent_id=%s)", route.AgentID)
+	}
 
 	// Use routed session key, but honor pre-set agent-scoped keys (for ProcessDirect/cron)
 	sessionKey := route.SessionKey
@@ -534,6 +540,9 @@ func (al *AgentLoop) processSystemMessage(ctx context.Context, msg bus.InboundMe
 
 	// Use default agent for system messages
 	agent := al.registry.GetDefaultAgent()
+	if agent == nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("no default agent for system message")
+	}
 
 	// Use the origin session for context
 	sessionKey := routing.BuildAgentMainSessionKey(agent.ID)
@@ -790,10 +799,35 @@ func (al *AgentLoop) runLLMIteration(
 			}
 
 			errMsg := strings.ToLower(err.Error())
-			isContextError := strings.Contains(errMsg, "token") ||
+
-				strings.Contains(errMsg, "context") ||
+			// Check if this is a network/HTTP timeout — not a context window error.
+			isTimeoutError := errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) ||
+				strings.Contains(errMsg, "deadline exceeded") ||
+				strings.Contains(errMsg, "client.timeout") ||
+				strings.Contains(errMsg, "timed out") ||
+				strings.Contains(errMsg, "timeout exceeded")
+
+			// Detect real context window / token limit errors, excluding network timeouts.
+			isContextError := !isTimeoutError && (strings.Contains(errMsg, "context_length_exceeded") ||
+				strings.Contains(errMsg, "context window") ||
+				strings.Contains(errMsg, "maximum context length") ||
+				strings.Contains(errMsg, "token limit") ||
+				strings.Contains(errMsg, "too many tokens") ||
+				strings.Contains(errMsg, "max_tokens") ||
 				strings.Contains(errMsg, "invalidparameter") ||
-				strings.Contains(errMsg, "length")
+				strings.Contains(errMsg, "prompt is too long") ||
+				strings.Contains(errMsg, "request too large"))
+
+			if isTimeoutError && retry < maxRetries {
+				backoff := time.Duration(retry+1) * 5 * time.Second
+				logger.WarnCF("agent", "Timeout error, retrying after backoff", map[string]any{
+					"error":   err.Error(),
+					"retry":   retry,
+					"backoff": backoff.String(),
+				})
+				time.Sleep(backoff)
+				continue
+			}
 
 			if isContextError && retry < maxRetries {
 				logger.WarnCF("agent", "Context window error detected, attempting compression", map[string]any{
@@ -1493,9 +1527,15 @@ func (al *AgentLoop) handleCommand(ctx context.Context, msg bus.InboundMessage)
 func extractPeer(msg bus.InboundMessage) *routing.RoutePeer {
 	peerKind := msg.Metadata["peer_kind"]
 	if peerKind == "" {
-		return nil
+		peerKind = msg.Peer.Kind
 	}
 	peerID := msg.Metadata["peer_id"]
+	if peerID == "" {
+		peerID = msg.Peer.ID
+	}
+	if peerKind == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
 	if peerID == "" {
 		if peerKind == "direct" {
 			peerID = msg.SenderID