Hermes Desktop

What Hermes Desktop does

Hermes Desktop runs the same service commands either on the Mac itself or over SSH, so the Hermes host stays the only source of truth. Sessions come from the real session store, Kanban from the upstream Hermes Kanban home, and cron jobs from the real scheduler state. Files and skills are edited in place, with conflict checks before saving. It works across multiple Hermes profiles and includes an embedded local or SSH terminal.

The design avoids a gateway API, a daemon on the host and a local mirror. The README argues this keeps the app useful when a dashboard or gateway breaks, because it can still inspect state and open a terminal on the machine. Saved workflow presets can be launched in a fresh Terminal tab against a chosen connection and profile. It ships as a universal app for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, includes English, Simplified Chinese and Russian localization resources, and is positioned next to the official web dashboard rather than as a replacement.

Key features

• Direct-local mode, or SSH mode for a Raspberry Pi, another Mac, a VPS or a remote server
• Sessions, Kanban, cron jobs, skills, files and usage in one window
• Support for multiple Hermes profiles
• In-place editing of files and skills with conflict checks before save
• Reusable workflow presets launched in a new Terminal tab
• Embedded local or SSH terminal

When to use it

• Managing a Hermes install on a Raspberry Pi or VPS from a Mac
• Reviewing Kanban boards and cron jobs without opening a browser dashboard
• Repairing a broken Hermes setup from a terminal on the host

Who it is for: Mac users who run Hermes Agent locally or on a remote machine and prefer a native app over a browser.

How it fits with Hermes Agent

Built specifically for Hermes Agent. It reads the real Hermes sessions, Kanban, cron and skills state from the host.

Requirements: macOS 14 or newer; python3 on the machine where Hermes runs; Hermes data under ~/.hermes or a configured Hermes home; for SSH, non-interactive authentication, an accepted host key and a working network route

Note: The app is ad-hoc signed and not notarized by Apple, so macOS shows a warning on first launch.

FAQ