d94fb47717
Codebase-wide fix for Python-on-Windows UTF-8 footguns, complementing
the earlier execute_code sandbox fixes (which remain load-bearing for
when the sandbox explicitly scrubs child env).
Problem: Python on Windows has two long-standing text-encoding pitfalls:
1. sys.stdout/stderr are bound to the console code page (cp1252 on
US-locale installs) — print('café') crashes with UnicodeEncodeError.
2. Subprocess children don't know to use UTF-8 unless PYTHONUTF8 and/or
PYTHONIOENCODING are set in their env — so any Python we spawn
(linters, sandbox children, delegation workers) hits the same bug.
Solution: A tiny bootstrap module (hermes_bootstrap.py) imported as the
first statement of every Hermes entry point:
- hermes_cli/main.py (hermes / hermes-agent console_script)
- run_agent.py (hermes-agent direct)
- acp_adapter/entry.py (hermes-acp)
- gateway/run.py (messaging gateway)
- batch_runner.py (parallel batch mode)
- cli.py (legacy direct-launch CLI)
On Windows, the bootstrap:
- os.environ.setdefault('PYTHONUTF8', '1') (PEP 540 UTF-8 mode)
- os.environ.setdefault('PYTHONIOENCODING', 'utf-8')
- sys.stdout/stderr/stdin.reconfigure(encoding='utf-8', errors='replace')
Children inherit the env vars → they run in UTF-8 mode.
Current process's stdio is reconfigured → print('café') works now.
On POSIX (Linux/macOS), the bootstrap is a complete no-op. We don't
touch LANG, LC_*, or anything else — users who have intentionally
configured a non-UTF-8 locale aren't affected. POSIX systems are
already UTF-8 by default in 99% of modern setups, so there's nothing
to fix.
setdefault() (not overwrite) means users who explicitly set PYTHONUTF8=0
or PYTHONIOENCODING=cp1252 in their environment are respected.
What this does NOT fix: bare open(path, 'w') calls in the *parent*
process still default to locale encoding because PYTHONUTF8 is only
read at interpreter init. A ruff PLW1514 sweep (separate follow-up)
will add explicit encoding='utf-8' at those ~219 call sites for
belt-and-suspenders.
Tests (17): 16 passed, 1 skipped on Windows.
- Windows: env vars set, stdio reconfigured, child inherits UTF-8 mode
- POSIX: complete no-op (verified on fake POSIX + skipped on real
POSIX since we don't have a Linux box in this session)
- Idempotence: multiple calls safe
- Graceful degradation: non-reconfigurable streams don't crash
- User opt-out: explicit PYTHONUTF8=0 is respected
- Load order: every entry point's FIRST top-level import is
hermes_bootstrap, enforced by an AST-level parametrized test
pyproject.toml: added hermes_bootstrap to py-modules so it ships with
pip installs.
|
||
|---|---|---|
| .github | ||
| .plans | ||
| acp_adapter | ||
| acp_registry | ||
| agent | ||
| assets | ||
| cron | ||
| datagen-config-examples | ||
| docker | ||
| docs | ||
| environments | ||
| gateway | ||
| hermes_cli | ||
| locales | ||
| nix | ||
| optional-skills | ||
| packaging/homebrew | ||
| plans | ||
| plugins | ||
| providers | ||
| scripts | ||
| skills | ||
| tests | ||
| tinker-atropos@65f084ee80 | ||
| tools | ||
| tui_gateway | ||
| ui-tui | ||
| web | ||
| website | ||
| .dockerignore | ||
| .env.example | ||
| .envrc | ||
| .gitattributes | ||
| .gitignore | ||
| .gitmodules | ||
| .mailmap | ||
| AGENTS.md | ||
| batch_runner.py | ||
| cli-config.yaml.example | ||
| cli.py | ||
| constraints-termux.txt | ||
| CONTRIBUTING.md | ||
| docker-compose.yml | ||
| Dockerfile | ||
| flake.lock | ||
| flake.nix | ||
| hermes | ||
| hermes-already-has-routines.md | ||
| hermes_bootstrap.py | ||
| hermes_constants.py | ||
| hermes_logging.py | ||
| hermes_state.py | ||
| hermes_time.py | ||
| LICENSE | ||
| MANIFEST.in | ||
| mcp_serve.py | ||
| mini_swe_runner.py | ||
| model_tools.py | ||
| package-lock.json | ||
| package.json | ||
| pyproject.toml | ||
| README.md | ||
| README.zh-CN.md | ||
| RELEASE_v0.2.0.md | ||
| RELEASE_v0.3.0.md | ||
| RELEASE_v0.4.0.md | ||
| RELEASE_v0.5.0.md | ||
| RELEASE_v0.6.0.md | ||
| RELEASE_v0.7.0.md | ||
| RELEASE_v0.8.0.md | ||
| RELEASE_v0.9.0.md | ||
| RELEASE_v0.10.0.md | ||
| RELEASE_v0.11.0.md | ||
| RELEASE_v0.12.0.md | ||
| RELEASE_v0.13.0.md | ||
| rl_cli.py | ||
| run_agent.py | ||
| SECURITY.md | ||
| setup-hermes.sh | ||
| toolset_distributions.py | ||
| toolsets.py | ||
| trajectory_compressor.py | ||
| utils.py | ||
| uv.lock | ||
Hermes Agent ☤
The self-improving AI agent built by Nous Research. It's the only agent with a built-in learning loop — it creates skills from experience, improves them during use, nudges itself to persist knowledge, searches its own past conversations, and builds a deepening model of who you are across sessions. Run it on a $5 VPS, a GPU cluster, or serverless infrastructure that costs nearly nothing when idle. It's not tied to your laptop — talk to it from Telegram while it works on a cloud VM.
Use any model you want — Nous Portal, OpenRouter (200+ models), NVIDIA NIM (Nemotron), Xiaomi MiMo, z.ai/GLM, Kimi/Moonshot, MiniMax, Hugging Face, OpenAI, or your own endpoint. Switch with hermes model — no code changes, no lock-in.
| A real terminal interface | Full TUI with multiline editing, slash-command autocomplete, conversation history, interrupt-and-redirect, and streaming tool output. |
| Lives where you do | Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, and CLI — all from a single gateway process. Voice memo transcription, cross-platform conversation continuity. |
| A closed learning loop | Agent-curated memory with periodic nudges. Autonomous skill creation after complex tasks. Skills self-improve during use. FTS5 session search with LLM summarization for cross-session recall. Honcho dialectic user modeling. Compatible with the agentskills.io open standard. |
| Scheduled automations | Built-in cron scheduler with delivery to any platform. Daily reports, nightly backups, weekly audits — all in natural language, running unattended. |
| Delegates and parallelizes | Spawn isolated subagents for parallel workstreams. Write Python scripts that call tools via RPC, collapsing multi-step pipelines into zero-context-cost turns. |
| Runs anywhere, not just your laptop | Seven terminal backends — local, Docker, SSH, Singularity, Modal, Daytona, and Vercel Sandbox. Daytona and Modal offer serverless persistence — your agent's environment hibernates when idle and wakes on demand, costing nearly nothing between sessions. Run it on a $5 VPS or a GPU cluster. |
| Research-ready | Batch trajectory generation, Atropos RL environments, trajectory compression for training the next generation of tool-calling models. |
Quick Install
Linux, macOS, WSL2, Termux
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
Windows (native, PowerShell)
Run this in PowerShell:
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex
The installer handles everything: uv, Python 3.11, Node.js, ripgrep, ffmpeg, and a portable Git Bash (MinGit, unpacked to %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes\git — no admin required, completely isolated from any system Git install). Hermes uses this bundled Git Bash to run shell commands.
If you already have Git installed, the installer detects it and uses that instead. Otherwise a ~45MB MinGit download is all you need — it won't touch or interfere with any system Git.
Android / Termux: The tested manual path is documented in the Termux guide. On Termux, Hermes installs a curated
.[termux]extra because the full.[all]extra currently pulls Android-incompatible voice dependencies.Windows: Native Windows is supported — the PowerShell one-liner above installs everything. If you'd rather use WSL2, the Linux command works there too. Native Windows install lives under
%LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes; WSL2 installs under~/.hermesas on Linux. The only Hermes feature that currently needs WSL2 specifically is the browser-based dashboard chat pane (it uses a POSIX PTY — classic CLI and gateway both run natively).
After installation:
source ~/.bashrc # reload shell (or: source ~/.zshrc)
hermes # start chatting!
Getting Started
hermes # Interactive CLI — start a conversation
hermes model # Choose your LLM provider and model
hermes tools # Configure which tools are enabled
hermes config set # Set individual config values
hermes gateway # Start the messaging gateway (Telegram, Discord, etc.)
hermes setup # Run the full setup wizard (configures everything at once)
hermes claw migrate # Migrate from OpenClaw (if coming from OpenClaw)
hermes update # Update to the latest version
hermes doctor # Diagnose any issues
CLI vs Messaging Quick Reference
Hermes has two entry points: start the terminal UI with hermes, or run the gateway and talk to it from Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, or Email. Once you're in a conversation, many slash commands are shared across both interfaces.
| Action | CLI | Messaging platforms |
|---|---|---|
| Start chatting | hermes |
Run hermes gateway setup + hermes gateway start, then send the bot a message |
| Start fresh conversation | /new or /reset |
/new or /reset |
| Change model | /model [provider:model] |
/model [provider:model] |
| Set a personality | /personality [name] |
/personality [name] |
| Retry or undo the last turn | /retry, /undo |
/retry, /undo |
| Compress context / check usage | /compress, /usage, /insights [--days N] |
/compress, /usage, /insights [days] |
| Browse skills | /skills or /<skill-name> |
/<skill-name> |
| Interrupt current work | Ctrl+C or send a new message |
/stop or send a new message |
| Platform-specific status | /platforms |
/status, /sethome |
For the full command lists, see the CLI guide and the Messaging Gateway guide.
Documentation
All documentation lives at hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs:
| Section | What's Covered |
|---|---|
| Quickstart | Install → setup → first conversation in 2 minutes |
| CLI Usage | Commands, keybindings, personalities, sessions |
| Configuration | Config file, providers, models, all options |
| Messaging Gateway | Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Home Assistant |
| Security | Command approval, DM pairing, container isolation |
| Tools & Toolsets | 40+ tools, toolset system, terminal backends |
| Skills System | Procedural memory, Skills Hub, creating skills |
| Memory | Persistent memory, user profiles, best practices |
| MCP Integration | Connect any MCP server for extended capabilities |
| Cron Scheduling | Scheduled tasks with platform delivery |
| Context Files | Project context that shapes every conversation |
| Architecture | Project structure, agent loop, key classes |
| Contributing | Development setup, PR process, code style |
| CLI Reference | All commands and flags |
| Environment Variables | Complete env var reference |
Migrating from OpenClaw
If you're coming from OpenClaw, Hermes can automatically import your settings, memories, skills, and API keys.
During first-time setup: The setup wizard (hermes setup) automatically detects ~/.openclaw and offers to migrate before configuration begins.
Anytime after install:
hermes claw migrate # Interactive migration (full preset)
hermes claw migrate --dry-run # Preview what would be migrated
hermes claw migrate --preset user-data # Migrate without secrets
hermes claw migrate --overwrite # Overwrite existing conflicts
What gets imported:
- SOUL.md — persona file
- Memories — MEMORY.md and USER.md entries
- Skills — user-created skills →
~/.hermes/skills/openclaw-imports/ - Command allowlist — approval patterns
- Messaging settings — platform configs, allowed users, working directory
- API keys — allowlisted secrets (Telegram, OpenRouter, OpenAI, Anthropic, ElevenLabs)
- TTS assets — workspace audio files
- Workspace instructions — AGENTS.md (with
--workspace-target)
See hermes claw migrate --help for all options, or use the openclaw-migration skill for an interactive agent-guided migration with dry-run previews.
Contributing
We welcome contributions! See the Contributing Guide for development setup, code style, and PR process.
Quick start for contributors — clone and go with setup-hermes.sh:
git clone https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent.git
cd hermes-agent
./setup-hermes.sh # installs uv, creates venv, installs .[all], symlinks ~/.local/bin/hermes
./hermes # auto-detects the venv, no need to `source` first
Manual path (equivalent to the above):
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
uv venv .venv --python 3.11
source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install -e ".[all,dev]"
scripts/run_tests.sh
RL Training (optional): The RL/Atropos integration (
environments/) — seeCONTRIBUTING.mdfor the full setup.
Community
- 💬 Discord
- 📚 Skills Hub
- 🐛 Issues
- 🔌 HermesClaw — Community WeChat bridge: Run Hermes Agent and OpenClaw on the same WeChat account.
License
MIT — see LICENSE.
Built by Nous Research.