fix: default wss:// URL, better JSON error messages

hermes_node_agent.py

@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 DEFAULT_GATEWAY_TOKEN = 'GATEWAY_TOKEN_MUST_BE_PROVIDED'
 
 DEFAULT_CONFIG = {
-    'gateway_url': 'ws://127.0.0.1:8765',
+    'gateway_url': 'wss://localhost:8765',
     'node_name': 'unknown',
     'token': DEFAULT_GATEWAY_TOKEN,
     'sexec_path': '~/.config/hermes-node/sexec/sexec.sh',
@@ -438,9 +438,15 @@ class NodeAgent:
         cfg_path = Path(path).expanduser() if path else Path.home() / '.config' / 'hermes-node' / 'config.json'
         if not cfg_path.exists():
             logger.error(f"Config not found: {cfg_path}")
+            logger.error(f"Run the installer or copy config-template.json to {cfg_path}")
             sys.exit(1)
+        try:
             with open(cfg_path) as f:
                 data = json.load(f)
+        except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
+            logger.error(f"Config file is not valid JSON: {e}")
+            logger.error(f"File: {cfg_path}")
+            sys.exit(1)
         # Merge defaults
         merged = {**DEFAULT_CONFIG, **data}
         if not merged['token']: