Hermes Agent

Host entry

A terminal command owns the process, current working directory, stdin/stdout, shell environment, and project file discovery.

Host owns

The CLI host owns agent loop timing, approval prompts, tool execution, session files, and how hook or MCP subprocesses are launched.

Connector role

agent-connector can only write the host's documented CLI config, prompt, memory, hook, MCP, or package files and point them at the home binary. Current wired connector surfaces: MCP server, Hooks, Skills, Memory, Action affordances.

Implementation consequence

A CLI surface is byte-addressable and smoke-testable from a temporary HOME, but terminal UI behavior still belongs to the host process. No visible host-native gap is currently tracked for this surface.

Host entry

A desktop app or standalone editor owns window state, sign-in, project indexing, embedded terminal behavior, and local product storage.

Host owns

The desktop host owns orchestration UI, model routing, approval UX, background jobs, and any cloud or app-store managed extension points.

Connector role

agent-connector can write documented workspace/global config and content files, but it does not replace the desktop runtime or UI shell. Current wired connector surfaces: MCP server, Hooks, Skills, Memory, Action affordances.

Implementation consequence

Desktop surfaces need source-review separation because product pages often document capabilities while runtime state lives in app-managed storage. No visible host-native gap is currently tracked for this surface.

Source pass

Current source review findings are kept as the first architecture section so readers can separate external evidence from the generated local coverage model.

• Hermes is open source and product-described as an agent that grows with the user, so the page keeps its learning-loop identity visible rather than flattening it into a generic CLI.
• The same adapter id spans CLI and desktop entry points; the diagram therefore renders CLI + Desktop together.
• Gateway channels, user-scope skills, memory, and actions are the important host-only affordance cluster for this row.

Runtime boundary

Hermes is intentionally multi-surface in the archive. The same adapter id spans CLI and desktop because the public repository presents both Hermes Agent and Hermes Desktop, while also emphasizing cloud and messaging deployment.

• The README describes a self-improving agent with a built-in learning loop.
• Hermes can run on a VPS, GPU cluster, serverless infrastructure, or cloud VM rather than being tied to a local laptop.
• The page should keep CLI and desktop badges together instead of forcing Hermes into one form factor.

MCP registration

Hermes belongs in the MCP-capable host set, but its public identity is broader than tools alone. MCP should be documented beside channels, memory, and learning loops rather than treated as the entire architecture.

• The repository links a Linux desktop-control MCP server for Hermes and other MCP hosts.
• That community server evidence supports desktop-control integration, not a generic claim that every Hermes affordance is MCP.

Hook bridge

agent-connector wires Hermes as a json-stdio hook host, but the host-specific story is the feedback loop around skills and memory. Hook documentation should therefore explain how callbacks fit into learning and channel orchestration.

• Hooks can be used to observe or shape the runtime boundary, while Hermes-owned learning remains a host behavior.
• The adapter should avoid flattening Hermes into a generic CLI event bridge.

Content surfaces

Skills and memory are first-class Hermes concepts. The README says Hermes creates skills from experience, improves them during use, nudges itself to persist knowledge, searches past conversations, and builds a model of the user across sessions.

• User-scope skills and memory are therefore not decorative content; they are central to the host identity.
• Past-conversation search and user modeling should be called out as host-owned memory behavior.

Marketplace and host-only affordances

Hermes has a Skills Hub, desktop application, model switching, messaging channels, and community bridges. These are host-only affordances that should remain visible next to standard connector surfaces.

• Model switching through `hermes model` is a host control surface, not an agent-connector setting.
• Telegram, WeChat bridge, desktop-control MCP, and Skills Hub links show a gateway/channel architecture beyond a terminal process.

Host-specific shape

Hermes spans CLI and desktop under one adapter id: the architecture emphasizes learning loops, gateway channels, user-scope skills, memory, and actions.

• Form factor: CLI + Desktop.
• Native surfaces: MCP server, Hooks, Skills, Memory, Action affordances.
• Wired surfaces: MCP server, Hooks, Skills, Memory, Action affordances.
• Visible gaps: none.

Hooks

Hooks enter through a host-launched command that exchanges event JSON over stdio.

MCP

The adapter writes this host's native MCP registration dialect, including its root key, scope, transport fields, and environment syntax.

Memory

Managed memory text is written into the rules or memory file this host actually reads, with ownership markers for reversible uninstall.

Marketplace and affordances

Current install is a direct native-file write path; any package artifact is manual unless a driver is added.

• Runtime handlers: Action affordances.
• User-visible affordances: Users see managed skills + actions + memory surfaces after install; runtime-only surfaces stay behind the host boundary..