hermes-agent/apps/desktop
Brooklyn Nicholson 1c0fa12edb feat(desktop): persist & restore terminal tabs + scrollback across relaunch
User terminal tabs and their recent scrollback now survive an app restart
(VS Code parity). Tabs, active selection, cwd, and a serialized scrollback
snapshot are written to localStorage on every change; on launch the tabs
reopen with their history replayed above a fresh shell. Processes are NOT
revived — a new shell starts one line below the restored block.

- Capture: SerializeAddon snapshots the buffer on a 750ms leading-edge
  throttle, so a `cmd; quit` lands on disk before teardown; the snapshot is
  trimmed of its trailing idle prompt (no "double prompt" on restore) and
  capped (200 scrollback lines / 48k chars) to stay under the storage budget.
- Teardown guard: app quit/reload kills the PTYs from the main process,
  firing onExit in the renderer, but React skips effect cleanups on teardown
  so the per-instance `disposed` flag never flips. A pagehide/beforeunload
  flag stops onExit from calling closeTerminal() and wiping the persisted
  tabs right before relaunch restores them. A real `exit`/Ctrl-D still closes.
- Agent mirror tabs stay runtime-only — only user tabs persist.
2026-06-28 22:12:29 -05:00
..
assets fix(desktop): pad app icon to Apple grid so dock size matches peers (#42946) 2026-06-09 11:48:26 -05:00
electron chore(desktop): keep the diff surgical 2026-06-28 21:30:14 -05:00
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): stop hermes desktop from clobbering tracked main.cjs (#52735) 2026-06-28 01:30:09 -04:00
src feat(desktop): persist & restore terminal tabs + scrollback across relaunch 2026-06-28 22:12:29 -05:00
.prettierrc Add Hermes desktop app (#20059) 2026-05-31 17:46:56 -05:00
components.json feat(desktop): add shared project UI primitives 2026-06-25 16:40:27 -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 feat(desktop): composer status stack, live subagent windows, editable prompts (#44630) 2026-06-12 08:30:06 -05:00
package.json feat(desktop): persist & restore terminal tabs + scrollback across relaunch 2026-06-28 22:12:29 -05:00
preview-demo.html Add Hermes desktop app (#20059) 2026-05-31 17:46:56 -05:00
README.md docs: sync documentation with current implementation 2026-06-20 23:23:47 -07:00
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 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) — the same layout a CLI install uses, so the two are interchangeable. Backend resolution first honours HERMES_DESKTOP_HERMES_ROOT, then a completed managed install, then a probed hermes on PATH (unless HERMES_DESKTOP_IGNORE_EXISTING=1 is set), and finally an explicit HERMES_DESKTOP_HERMES command override for packagers/troubleshooting. The renderer (React, in src/) talks to a hermes dashboard backend over the tui_gateway/dashboard APIs and reuses the agent runtime rather than embedding hermes --tui. 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.