hermes-agent/apps/desktop

Hermes Desktop ☤

The native desktop app for Hermes Agent — the self-improving AI agent from Nous Research. Same agent, same skills, same memory as the CLI and gateway, in a polished native window — chat with streaming tool output, side-by-side previews, a file browser, voice, and settings, no terminal required. Available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Chat with the full agent	Streaming responses, live tool activity, structured tool summaries, and the same conversation history as every other Hermes surface.
Side-by-side previews	Render web pages, files, and tool outputs in a right-hand pane while you keep chatting.
File browser	Explore and preview the working directory without leaving the app.
Voice	Talk to Hermes and hear it back.
Settings & onboarding	Manage providers, models, tools, and credentials from a real UI. First-run setup gets you to your first message in seconds.
Stays current	Built-in updates pull the latest agent and rebuild the app in place.

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Install

Install with Hermes (recommended)

Already have the Hermes CLI? Just run:

hermes desktop

It builds and launches the GUI against your existing install — same config, keys, sessions, and skills. If Desktop cannot find a usable runtime or saved remote connection, first launch lets you connect to an existing Hermes gateway or install Hermes locally. Local onboarding then walks you through choosing a provider and model.

Prebuilt installers

Prebuilt installers are built and distributed via the Hermes Desktop website..

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Updating

The app checks for updates in the background and offers a one-click update when one is ready. You can also update any time from the CLI:

hermes update

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Requirements

The installer handles everything for you (Python 3.11+, a portable Git, ripgrep).

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Development

Want to hack on the app itself? Install workspace deps from the repo root once, then run the dev server from this directory:

npm install          # from repo root — links apps/desktop, web, apps/shared
cd apps/desktop
npm run dev          # Vite renderer + Electron, which boots the Python backend

Point the app at a specific source checkout, or sandbox it away from your real config:

# throwaway HERMES_HOME, separate Electron userData, distinct app name to avoid the single-instance lock
../scripts/dev-sandbox.sh npm run dev
HERMES_DESKTOP_HERMES_ROOT=/path/to/clone npm run dev
HERMES_HOME=/tmp/throwaway npm run dev
npm run dev:fake-boot   # exercise the startup overlay with deterministic delays

Building installers

npm run dist:mac     # DMG + zip
npm run dist:win     # NSIS + MSI
npm run dist:linux   # AppImage + deb + rpm
npm run pack         # unpacked app under release/ (no installer)

Installers are built and uploaded to GitHub Releases manually. macOS/Windows signing & notarization happen automatically when the relevant credentials are present in the environment (CSC_LINK / CSC_KEY_PASSWORD / APPLE_* for macOS, WIN_CSC_* for Windows).

How it works

The packaged app ships the Electron shell and a native React chat surface. On first launch it can install the Hermes Agent runtime into HERMES_HOME (~/.hermes, or %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes on Windows), using the same layout as a CLI install.

The app has three boundaries:

• Electron resolves and validates a runnable backend, owns native filesystem/git/window capabilities, and exposes a narrow preload bridge.
• React owns the Desktop routes, panes, interaction state, and @assistant-ui/react transcript.
• Hermes Agent runs as a headless hermes serve process and exposes the tui_gateway JSON-RPC/WebSocket API. The renderer connects through apps/shared, which is also used by the browser dashboard.

Backend resolution is an ordered ladder:

1. HERMES_DESKTOP_HERMES_ROOT
2. the current source checkout during development
3. a completed managed install
4. HERMES_DESKTOP_HERMES, or hermes on PATH
5. a system Python that can import the Hermes runtime
6. the first-launch bootstrap installer

Candidates are probed before use; an existing shim or interpreter is not enough. A runtime that predates serve falls back to headless dashboard --no-open. This is compatibility for the backend command only and does not launch or embed the dashboard UI.

The Electron orchestration entry point is electron/main.ts; pure resolution, probe, hardening, and platform policies live in focused modules beside it. The renderer is under src/, with shared atoms in src/store and transport/native adapters in src/lib.

Before changing the app, read:

• AGENTS.md: architecture, state ownership, resolver/fallback, transport, performance, and testing rules.
• DESIGN.md: visual system, information architecture, motion, direct manipulation, and keyboard behavior.

Connections, projects, and switching

Desktop supports a managed local backend, explicit remote gateways, and Hermes Cloud connections. Remote and cloud modes use the same remote-capability path; authentication and discovery differ, not the renderer feature model.

When no usable local runtime or saved remote connection exists, the first-run screen offers Connect to existing Hermes before starting the local installer. Desktop probes the gateway to discover token or OAuth authentication, requires a successful HTTP and WebSocket connection test, and saves the connection using the same encrypted Desktop configuration used by Settings. A saved remote connection bypasses this choice on later launches. The regular Desktop build still includes the local-install option; this is a remote operating mode, not a separate client-only application.

In remote mode the gateway host is the execution boundary: agent tools, terminal commands, and file operations run against the remote Hermes host, not the computer displaying the Desktop UI.

Remote gateways that sit behind an access proxy may require extra headers on every HTTP and WebSocket request. Configure them per connection in Settings → Connections (Extra gateway headers), or add a headers object to Desktop's Electron userData/connection.json remote block:

{
  "mode": "remote",
  "remote": {
    "url": "https://hermes.example.com",
    "authMode": "token",
    "token": { "encoding": "safeStorage", "value": "..." },
    "headers": {
      "CF-Access-Client-Id": { "encoding": "safeStorage", "value": "..." },
      "CF-Access-Client-Secret": { "encoding": "safeStorage", "value": "..." }
    }
  }
}

Per-profile remote entries under profiles[name].headers use the same shape. Desktop applies these headers only to matching remote gateway requests, treats https and wss as the same gateway origin for WebSocket upgrades, and drops transport- or Hermes-managed header names such as Authorization, Cookie, Host, Origin, Referer, and X-Hermes-Session-Token.

Projects are the workspace abstraction. A project may own multiple folders, repositories, worktrees, and sessions; a bare new chat remains detached unless the user enters a project or configures a default project directory. Use the Projects UI rather than adding a second per-session folder-picker workflow.

Changing profiles or connection modes is a soft workspace switch, not another cold boot. The shell and current management overlay remain mounted while gateway-bound nanostores are wiped, query-backed data is invalidated, and the new connection repopulates skeletons. This prevents rows or transcripts from the previous gateway bleeding into the next one.

Verification

Run before opening a PR (lint may surface pre-existing warnings but must exit cleanly):

npm run fix
npm run typecheck
npm run lint
npm run test:ui
npm run test:desktop:platforms

Run npm run test:desktop:all for install, boot, update, packaging, or other release-path changes.

Troubleshooting

Boot logs land in HERMES_HOME/logs/desktop.log (includes backend output and recent Python tracebacks) — check it first if the app reports a boot failure.

macOS / Linux:

# Force a clean first-launch setup
rm "$HOME/.hermes/hermes-agent/.hermes-bootstrap-complete"
# Rebuild a broken Python venv
rm -rf "$HOME/.hermes/hermes-agent/venv"
# Reset a stuck macOS microphone prompt (macOS only)
tccutil reset Microphone com.nousresearch.hermes

Windows (PowerShell):

# Force a clean first-launch setup
Remove-Item "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\hermes\hermes-agent\.hermes-bootstrap-complete"
# Rebuild a broken Python venv
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\hermes\hermes-agent\venv"

The default Hermes home on Windows is %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes. Set the HERMES_HOME env var if you've relocated it.

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Community

• 💬 Discord
• 📖 Documentation
• 🐛 Issues

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License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Built by Nous Research.