hermes-cortex: memory tool for Hermes Agent

Hybrid-search vault memory plugin for Hermes Agent, built on Markdown and Obsidian-style notes

What hermes-cortex does

hermes-cortex loads from ~/.hermes/plugins/cortex/ and builds retrieval artifacts from a vault of Markdown notes. Search is hybrid: BM25, vector embeddings stored in Chroma, and wikilink graph expansion, fused by RRF. The plugin registers three Hermes tools, vault_search, vault_read_note and vault_build_context, and the last assembles compact, cited prompt context from the results.

A maintenance CLI under hermes cortex covers initialization, indexing, embeddings, graph building, lifecycle checks, cron packaging and graph viewer generation. The README is explicit about scope: it is not an Obsidian community plugin, not a hosted memory service, and not a replacement for Hermes' own MEMORY.md, USER.md or SOUL.md, and a fresh init does not modify those files by default. The shared-venv install is fail-closed and preserves every dependency version already owned by the Hermes environment.

Key features

Hybrid retrieval: BM25, vector embeddings and wikilink graph expansion
Tools vault_search, vault_read_note and vault_build_context
Lifecycle hooks for skill, bootstrap, recent and dynamic context
Wikilink graph artifacts and a graph viewer
hermes cortex CLI for init, index, embed and graph build
Fail-closed install into the shared Hermes virtual environment

When to use it

Giving a Hermes agent searchable access to an Obsidian vault
Building compact, cited prompt context from personal notes
Keeping notes as plain Markdown while still getting vector search

Who it is for: Hermes Agent users who keep their knowledge in a Markdown or Obsidian vault and want the agent to search it.

How it fits with Hermes Agent

hermes-cortex is a standalone Hermes plugin that runs inside Hermes and sits alongside, rather than replaces, its built-in MEMORY.md, USER.md and SOUL.md.

How to install hermes-cortex

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/Mugen0815/hermes-cortex.git ~/.hermes/plugins/cortex
cd ~/.hermes/plugins/cortex
hermes plugins enable cortex
./install.sh --with-hermes-venv --with-hermes-skills

Requirements: A Hermes Agent install with the plugin enabled and a Markdown or Obsidian-style vault

FAQ

What is hermes-cortex?

hermes-cortex is a Hermes Agent plugin that gives the agent memory backed by a Markdown vault. It indexes notes and offers hybrid search through tools and a hermes cortex CLI.

Does hermes-cortex work with Hermes Agent?

Yes. It is a Hermes plugin loaded from ~/.hermes/plugins/cortex/ and enabled with hermes plugins enable cortex. It does not replace MEMORY.md, USER.md or SOUL.md.

How do I install hermes-cortex?

Clone the repository into ~/.hermes/plugins/cortex, enable the plugin, and run ./install.sh with the Hermes venv and skills flags. The README then runs hermes cortex init --yes, index, embed and graph build.