* feat(desktop): hover-reveal collapsed chat sidebar as a fixed overlay
When the sessions sidebar is collapsed, hovering the left edge now floats
it back in as a fixed overlay over the main content instead of just being
hidden. The collapsed grid track stays at 0px so the panel never reserves
space — it slides over whatever's underneath and retracts on pointer-leave.
- PaneShell: new hoverReveal prop. When a pane is collapsed + hoverReveal,
render an edge hot-zone + a side-anchored floating panel (absolute, full
height, honors any persisted resize width) that slides in on hover/focus.
- ChatSidebar: force the (otherwise opacity-0 when collapsed) sidebar fully
visible + interactive while the overlay is revealed, via an
in-data-[pane-hover-reveal=open] variant.
- desktop-controller: opt the chat-sidebar pane into hoverReveal.
* feat(desktop): lower window minWidth 900→400
Lets the window shrink to a narrow rail (e.g. for the collapsed
hover-reveal sidebar) instead of being floored at 900px.
* fix(desktop): render full sidebar content in hover-reveal overlay
The hover-reveal overlay showed only the nav rail — session rows, search,
pinned/recents were gated behind `sidebarOpen` (false while collapsed), so
they never mounted in the floated panel.
Add a $sidebarRevealed store the PaneShell overlay drives via a new
onHoverRevealChange callback, and gate ChatSidebar's content on
`sidebarOpen || sidebarRevealed` (contentVisible) instead of raw open
state. The overlay now shows the complete sidebar.
* fix(desktop): drop shadow on hover-reveal sidebar overlay
* feat(desktop): hover-reveal the file-browser sidebar too
The reveal mechanism already lives in the shared Pane primitive — the
right rail just opts in with hoverReveal. Its content renders
unconditionally, so (unlike the chat sidebar) it needs no extra
content-visibility gating.
* clean(desktop): tighten hover-reveal pane code
KISS pass — flatten the translate ternary, derive a single `revealed`,
inline the edge style, drop the redundant set-guard, and trim comments to
the house one-liner style. No behavior change.
* fix(desktop): stop hiding sidebar nav labels on narrow windows
The nav labels (New session, Skills, …) and the ⌘N hint were gated on a
viewport breakpoint (max-[46.25rem]:hidden), so shrinking the window hid
them even when the sidebar itself was wide — including in the hover-reveal
overlay. Drop the gate; the label already truncates (min-w-0 flex-1) so it
ellipsizes gracefully in a narrow rail, and contentVisible already hides it
when collapsed to the icon rail.
* feat(desktop): auto-collapse both sidebars below 600px into hover-reveal
Add a Pane `forceCollapsed` prop — collapses the track without writing to
the store (so the saved open state restores when the window widens) while
keeping hoverReveal alive (unlike `disabled`, which suppresses it).
desktop-controller watches (max-width: 600px) and force-collapses the chat
sidebar + file browser, so on a narrow window both rails get out of the way
and the hover-reveal overlay becomes the way in.
* feat(desktop): hover-intent + refined easing for sidebar reveal
- Gate the reveal on pointer velocity: the full-height edge hot-zone now
only arms on a slow, deliberate pass (<=0.55 px/ms). Fast sweeps toward
the titlebar/statusbar — or off the window — blow past the threshold and
never trigger, so the wide hit area stops being a nuisance.
- Swap the slide easing to cubic-bezier(0.32,0.72,0,1) at 260ms (snappy-out,
soft-land) for a more serious-app feel.
* fix(desktop): don't reveal sidebar during window resize
Resizing the window parks the cursor on the screen edge and fires slow
pointermoves over the hot-zone, reading as deliberate intent. Guard the
reveal on (a) e.buttons !== 0 — any button-held drag, incl. edge-resize —
and (b) a 250ms cooldown after any window resize event.
* feat(desktop): hoverIntent-style poll gate + inert contents during slide
Replace the single-sample velocity check (too eager — fired on any one slow
move, incl. resize drift) with a port of Brian Cherne's hoverIntent: poll
the pointer every 90ms and only arm once it has *settled* (moved <5px between
two consecutive polls inside the edge zone). Fly-bys, pass-throughs, and
resize drift never produce two close samples in a row, so they don't trigger.
Also keep the revealed panel's CONTENTS pointer-events-none until the slide-in
transition finishes (onTransitionEnd → settled), so you can't misclick a
session row mid-animation. Resets on retract.
* fix(desktop): no cursor/hit-test leak before reveal settles
The edge hot-zone showed cursor:pointer the instant the pointer touched it —
before the panel was armed or in view. And contents were inert but the panel
itself still hit-tested, so the cursor could flip mid-slide. Fix: hot-zone is
cursor-default (it's invisible), and the whole panel is pointer-events-none
until revealed && settled, so the cursor never changes or lands on a row
before the slide-in finishes.
* fix(desktop): geometry-driven close so revealed panel always retracts
The revealed panel relied on its own onPointerLeave to close — but a panel
that slid in under a still cursor (or whose contents were inert during the
slide) never fires enter/leave, so it got stuck open (esp. the file browser).
onTransitionEnd also bubbled from the file-tree's own row transitions,
tripping the settled flag wrongly.
Replace with a document-level pointermove watcher that closes once the cursor
leaves the panel's bounding rect + a 24px grace — independent of pointer-events
state or what the contents do. Gate interactivity on a simple slide-duration
timer (interactive) instead of the fragile transitionEnd, so the cursor still
can't flip or land on a row before the panel is in view.
* feat(desktop): make sidebar toggle shortcuts reveal when force-collapsed
mod+b / mod+j were no-ops on a narrow (force-collapsed) window — they
flipped the store but the pane ignores it. Now the toggle handlers also
dispatch PANE_TOGGLE_REVEAL_EVENT; a force-collapsed Pane listens (only while
overlayActive) and flips its hover-reveal, so the shortcut floats the rail in
(and back out) at this responsive breakpoint.
* refactor(desktop): name the 600px sidebar collapse breakpoint
Hoist the inline '(max-width: 600px)' literal into
SIDEBAR_COLLAPSE_BREAKPOINT_PX + SIDEBAR_COLLAPSE_MEDIA_QUERY in
layout-constants, so the responsive collapse point is a single named source
of truth instead of a magic string in the controller.
* tweak(desktop): sidebar auto-collapse breakpoint 600px -> 768px
768 is the standard md breakpoint and a more honest 'no room to dock' point.
* tweak(desktop): halve sidebar reveal slide duration 260ms -> 130ms
* Revert "tweak(desktop): halve sidebar reveal slide duration 260ms -> 130ms"
This reverts commit
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| components.json | ||
| DESIGN.md | ||
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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. |
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. 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 type-check
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 theHERMES_HOMEenv var if you've relocated it.
Community
- 💬 Discord
- 📖 Documentation
- 🐛 Issues
License
MIT — see LICENSE.
Built by Nous Research.