hermes-agent/apps/desktop
brooklyn! 3ffbdfbcc0
desktop: registry-driven slash commands + first-class /resume & /handoff (#42351)
* desktop: surface /tools, /save, /personality and fix /help skill count

Move /tools and /save out of TERMINAL_ONLY_COMMANDS and /personality out of
ADVANCED_COMMANDS so they appear in the desktop slash palette and execute via
the existing slash.exec → command.dispatch fallback. The backend gateway already
accepts these through slash.exec (none are in _PENDING_INPUT_COMMANDS or the
skill list), so no backend change is required.

Recompute skill_count in filterDesktopCommandsCatalog from the filtered pairs.
Previously the /help footer echoed the unfiltered backend total — e.g. "60
skill commands available" while only ~29 actually appeared in the rendered
list, because the desktop hides terminal-only, picker-owned, and advanced
commands.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* desktop: keep slash popover live while typing args

The trigger regex `(?:^|[\s])([@/])([^\s@/]*)$` stopped matching the moment
the user typed a space after a slash command, so the popover never showed arg
completions for `/personality`, `/tools`, etc. — even though the backend's
`complete.slash` already returns them with a `replace_from` indicator.

Split the trigger detection so `/` allows args (`/cmd arg1 arg2`) while `@`
keeps the strict no-space behavior. Restrict the slash command name to
`[a-zA-Z][\w-]*` so file paths like `src/foo/bar` don't accidentally trigger
the popover.

Rewrite arg-completion items in useSlashCompletions to insert the full
`/personality alice` token instead of stranding `/alice`: when `replace_from`
is past the command base, prepend the existing prefix to each item's text so
the chip serializer produces a coherent replacement.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* cli: complete toolset names after /tools enable|disable

SlashCommandCompleter previously only auto-derived the first subcommand level
from args_hint, so `/tools enable <tab>` yielded nothing — the user had to
remember every toolset key (web, file, spotify, …) and every MCP server prefix.

Add `_tools_completions` that handles both stages: subcommand (list|disable|enable)
and tool name. Filter by current enable state so `/tools enable <tab>` only
offers disabled toolsets and `/tools disable <tab>` only offers enabled ones —
no point suggesting a no-op. MCP server prefixes (server:) come from the
saved mcp_servers config; per-tool completion under a server would require
runtime MCP introspection and is left as follow-up.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* desktop: registry-driven slash commands with first-class pickers

Collapse the if/else slash dispatch into one DESKTOP_COMMAND_SPECS table
that drives popover suggestions, per-type composer pills, and execution.

- /resume, /sessions, /switch: inline session completions (like /skin) plus
  a "Browse all sessions…" entry that opens a dedicated session picker overlay
- /handoff: inline platform completion + handoff.request/handoff.state
  gateway bridge so desktop reaches CLI parity
- colored per-type pills (command/skill/theme) in the composer
- strip ANSI and fix width/alignment of slash output in the chat panel

* desktop: fold repeated slash session/output boilerplate into one helper

runExec, /title, /help and the unavailable case each re-derived the same
ensure-session → bail-with-notify → build-renderSlashOutput dance.
withSlashOutput() returns {sessionId, render} or null, so each handler is
a two-line resolve instead of an eight-line preamble.

* desktop: keep backend meta on slash arg completions

Arg suggestions (/personality <name>, /tools enable <toolset>, /handoff
<platform>) were having their meta overwritten with the parent command's
registry description: desktopSlashDescription("/personality none") canonicalizes
back to /personality and returns its blurb. Skip the lookup for arg rows so the
backend's own display_meta ("clear personality overlay", etc.) survives.

* cli: list real personalities in /personality completion

_personality_completions resolved load_config().agent.personalities — but that
schema has no agent.personalities key, so completion always returned just
`none` even though the runtime (load_cli_config().agent.personalities) ships a
dozen built-ins (helpful, kawaii, pirate, …). Read from the same source the
command actually applies, so `/personality ` surfaces the real options.

* desktop: expand bare arg-commands to their options on pick

Picking a command like /personality from the slash popover committed it
immediately instead of advancing to its argument list. Mark arg-taking
commands (/skin, /resume, /handoff, /personality, /tools) in the registry
and, when one is picked bare, insert "/cmd " as plain text and re-open the
popover on its inline options — mirroring typing "/cmd " by hand. Arg picks
(serialized text already contains a space) still commit a single pill.

Also realign trigger-popover loading test with the redesigned popover (the
/help empty-state hint shows when resolved, not while the spinner is up);
the merge from main reintroduced the pre-redesign expectation.

* tui_gateway: fold session-db close into a context manager

Both handoff RPCs repeated the same `db, close_db = _session_db_handle()`
+ `finally: if close_db: db.close()` dance. Turn the helper into a
`_session_db` contextmanager that owns the close, so callers just
`with _session_db(session) as db:`.

* desktop: unblock handoff retries and exact resume ids

Clear timed-out desktop handoffs through the gateway so retries are not stuck behind a pending row, and let typed /resume session ids bypass the loaded sidebar cache.

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-06-11 01:49:24 +00:00
..
assets fix(desktop): pad app icon to Apple grid so dock size matches peers (#42946) 2026-06-09 11:48:26 -05:00
electron fix(desktop): hide Windows console children launched by GUI 2026-06-10 03:04:54 -07:00
pr-assets Show messaging source folders in desktop sessions 2026-06-07 23:44:04 -07:00
public fix(desktop): pad app icon to Apple grid so dock size matches peers (#42946) 2026-06-09 11:48:26 -05:00
scripts fix(desktop): fail loudly instead of blank-paging when the renderer bundle is missing (#41729) 2026-06-07 22:04:39 -07:00
src desktop: registry-driven slash commands + first-class /resume & /handoff (#42351) 2026-06-11 01:49:24 +00:00
.prettierrc Add Hermes desktop app (#20059) 2026-05-31 17:46:56 -05:00
components.json Add Hermes desktop app (#20059) 2026-05-31 17:46:56 -05:00
DESIGN.md docs(desktop): add DESIGN.md design-system guide + close two consistency gaps (#40823) 2026-06-06 22:13:17 +00:00
eslint.config.mjs change(tooling): remove react-compiler eslint, update concurrently 2026-06-10 11:59:34 -04:00
index.html fix(desktop): triage batch of GUI quality-of-life fixes (#37536) 2026-06-02 16:33:22 -04:00
package.json change(tooling): remove react-compiler eslint, update concurrently 2026-06-10 11:59:34 -04:00
preview-demo.html Add Hermes desktop app (#20059) 2026-05-31 17:46:56 -05:00
README.md change(tooling): typecheck in CI, update ts to 6 2026-06-10 11:59:34 -04:00
tsconfig.json fix(desktop): set tsconfig lib/target to ES2023 for findLast/findLastIndex 2026-06-08 22:14:28 -07:00
vite.config.ts fix(desktop): pin empty PostCSS config so Vite stops walking up the home tree (#40609) 2026-06-07 18:10:32 -07:00

Hermes Desktop ☤

Download Documentation Discord License: MIT

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 agentStreaming responses, live tool activity, structured tool summaries, and the same conversation history as every other Hermes surface.
Side-by-side previewsRender web pages, files, and tool outputs in a right-hand pane while you keep chatting.
File browserExplore and preview the working directory without leaving the app.
VoiceTalk to Hermes and hear it back.
Settings & onboardingManage providers, models, tools, and credentials from a real UI. First-run setup gets you to your first message in seconds.
Stays currentBuilt-in updates pull the latest agent and rebuild the app in place.

Install

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. On first launch Hermes walks you through picking a provider and model; nothing else to configure.

Prebuilt installers

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


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

Requirements

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


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:

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 only the Electron shell. On first launch it installs the Hermes Agent runtime into HERMES_HOME (~/.hermes, or %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes on Windows) — the same layout a CLI install uses, so the two are interchangeable. The renderer (React, in src/) talks to a hermes dashboard backend over the standard gateway APIs and reuses the embedded TUI rather than reimplementing chat. The install, backend-resolution, and self-update logic all live in electron/main.cjs.

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:desktop:all

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.


Community


License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Built by Nous Research.