Joshu

What Joshu does

Joshu runs the language model inside Hermes, which handles multi-gateway communication across chat, SMS, telephony and voice, routes messages to the model and executes skills. Around it sits a cloud desktop where you and the agent operate the same apps, plus jWeb, a sandboxed browser-in-browser built on Camofox and noVNC with a human-in-the-loop path for logins and 2FA.

Files are indexed semantically in the style of GBrain, and Hindsight is wired in as the memory provider. Bundled desktop apps include jChat, jMail, Connectors, Schedules and Telephone, and an App SDK is provided for building more.

It runs on a dedicated Ubuntu VPS using public Docker images, or locally for development. A hosted service at joshu.me is separate from this self-host tree.

Key features

• Hermes as the agent harness for chat, SMS, telephony and voice
• Cloud desktop with apps shared between human and agent
• jWeb sandboxed browser with human-in-the-loop login
• Semantic file indexing in GBrain style
• Hindsight as the long-term memory provider
• App SDK for custom desktop apps

When to use it

• Self-hosting a Hermes-based assistant on a Hetzner or DigitalOcean VPS
• Letting an agent work in mail and files while you watch the same apps
• Handling logins and 2FA for an agent through a shared browser

Who it is for: Developers who want to self-host a Hermes Agent based assistant with its own desktop environment.

How it fits with Hermes Agent

It is built around Hermes Agent, which acts as the harness running the model, gateways and skills.

How to install Joshu

These commands are copied from the project's README. Check the repository for the latest steps before you run them.

git clone https://github.com/db-aeon/joshu-oss.git
cd joshu-oss
npm ci
npm run dev:arozos

Requirements: Node.js 22+, npm, Docker, Go 1.24+, and an OPENROUTER_API_KEY set in .env (copied from .env.example)

Note: The README says the repository is early stage, with rough edges and breaking changes expected.

FAQ