Hermes Desktop
Native desktop app to install, configure, and chat with the Hermes Agent AI assistant.
- Stars
- 14.5k
- Forks
- 1.6k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- TypeScript
- Last update
- 23 days ago
- Type
- App
What it is
Hermes Desktop is a community-maintained desktop app that installs and sets up Hermes Agent, an AI assistant with tool use and messaging integrations, and gives you a graphical interface for chatting with it. Instead of managing the Hermes command-line tool by hand, you can handle installation, provider setup, sessions, profiles, memory, skills, and scheduled tasks from one window. The README says it uses the official Hermes install script and stores Hermes data in ~/.hermes.
- Install Hermes Agent and configure a model provider through the app's guided first-run setup
- Chat with the agent in a streaming chat window that shows tool progress
- Search and resume past conversations, which the README says uses SQLite full-text search
- Create scheduled tasks with a cron job builder and send results to one of the listed delivery targets
- Edit the agent's SOUL.md personality and manage memory entries from the GUI
Great for
- People who want to use Hermes Agent without working in the command line
- Users who want to connect Hermes to providers like OpenRouter, Anthropic, or a local Ollama server from a GUI
- Anyone who wants to manage several separate Hermes profiles
- Users who want to connect messaging apps such as Telegram or Discord to their agent through a graphical setup
Not ideal for
- Developers who want to contribute code, since the README points them to the source checkout and Contributing Guide instead of the packaged app
- People who need a stable product, because the README says the project is in active development and features may change
- Users on Windows who are unwilling to bypass a SmartScreen warn-on-first-launch, because the installer is not code-signed
- Users who need a Fedora RPM with auto-update, since the README says auto-update is not supported for .rpm builds
How to get it
- 1
Download the app
Fedora RPM install (from README, replace <version> with the downloaded file version)
sudo dnf install ./hermes-desktop-<version>.rpmClone the repository for development
git clone https://github.com/fathah/hermes-desktop - 2
Run it
- Download the app for your operating system from hermesone.org or GitHub Releases
- Install it using the normal method for your system (on Windows, click 'More info' then 'Run anyway' if SmartScreen warns)
- Launch the app; on first launch it walks through installing Hermes Agent
- Set up a model provider and start chatting from the chat screen
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Connect to a remote Hermes API server by entering its URL and API key instead of running locally
- Use slash commands such as /new, /usage, and /model in the chat window
- Use Profiles to keep separate Hermes environments with isolated configuration
- Set up messaging gateways like Telegram or Discord from the Gateway screen
- Use the Backup and debug dump options in Settings to save data or diagnose problems
Downloads
Strengths
- Replaces manual CLI setup with a guided install and provider configuration flow
- Supports many providers, including local OpenAI-compatible servers such as Ollama and LM Studio
- Available for macOS, Windows, and Linux through downloads from the project site or GitHub Releases
Trade-offs
- The README describes the project as in active development, so features and behavior may change or break
- The Windows installer is not code-signed, and the Fedora .rpm is not GPG-signed, which may trigger security warnings
- The README covers only the desktop app; it does not explain how well it works with every feature of Hermes Agent
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hermes-desktop (this) | 14.5k | App | beginner | 23 days ago | People who want to use Hermes Agent without working in the command line |
| nanobot | 49.8k | App | intermediate | 4 days ago | People who want a self-hosted personal assistant they can inspect and customize |
| invisible_dots | 32.4k | AI model / agent | intermediate | 6 days ago | Developers who want a self-hosted agent and are comfortable with a command-line setup |
| hermes-agent | 260k | AI model / agent | intermediate | 4 days ago | Developers who want a personal agent they can host on their own server or machine |
| brigade | 11.4k | AI model / agent | intermediate | 4 days ago | Developers who want to run their own multi-agent setup on a laptop or server |
| paperclip | 110k | App | advanced | 4 days ago | Developers already running several AI coding agents who want one place to track them |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.