Re: [NonGNU] new: hermes

Thanos Apollo <[email protected]> Fri, 07 Aug 2026 09:45:06 +0300
Newsgroups	gmane.emacs.devel
Message-ID	<[email protected]>
Richard Stallman <[email protected]> writes:

> Could you please post a description of Hermes Agent?

Hermes Agent is an MIT-licensed free software agent developed by Nous
Research.  Its runtime and persistent state can be self-hosted, while
its language model may run locally or through a chosen provider.  It has
a terminal interface, web dashboard, and messaging gateways including
xmpp, irc, telegram and whatsapp.

Hermes can inspect and edit files, run commands, search the web, operate
Git repositories and schedule recurring work.  Its unusual feature is a
learning system based on skills.[1]  When it solves a non-trivial
problem, it can save the procedure as an editable skill and reuse it in
later sessions.  It can update skills when their instructions prove
incomplete or wrong.  Persistent memory stores preferences and facts
about the working environment.

Hermes profiles are separate agent instances, each with its own tools,
skills, memory, permissions and configuration.  A default profile can
handle conversation and route work, while specialist profiles may handle
programming, review, teaching or system administration.  They may work
in isolated sandboxes or git worktrees.

Short jobs can be delegated to several agents in parallel.  Longer jobs
can use Hermes's Kanban system, a durable local SQLite task board whose
cards record assignees, dependencies, comments, status and handoffs.  A
dispatcher starts the appropriate profile when work becomes ready and
records its progress and result.  Blocked work can wait for another task
or human input, and it survives the original chat session.  I use this
for work that takes many hours and needs separate implementation and
review agents.

Hermes also has a built-in scheduler.  Cron jobs can run prompts,
scripts or saved skills at fixed times.  Each job runs within a profile,
may use a chosen model, and can deliver results through a messaging
gateway e.g maintenance task reports, health checks or unattended work.

> why we would want this in Emacs?

Emacs is a particularly good interface for hermes because it is already
a programmable working environment rather than merely a text editor.
Source files, shells, compilation results, diffs, conversations and task
lists can all be represented as ordinary Emacs buffers.  An Emacs
interface lets the user inspect what the agent is doing, edit its input,
review changes and control long-running tasks without leaving Emacs.

Hermes does not currently treat Emacs as a first-class interface, so this
package fills that gap.


[1] https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/skills

-- 
Thanos Apollo ☧
https://thanosapollo.org
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