20f2258f34
* fix(interrupt): propagate to concurrent-tool workers + opt-in debug trace
interrupt() previously only flagged the agent's _execution_thread_id.
Tools running inside _execute_tool_calls_concurrent execute on
ThreadPoolExecutor worker threads whose tids are distinct from the
agent's, so is_interrupted() inside those tools returned False no matter
how many times the gateway called .interrupt() — hung ssh / curl / long
make-builds ran to their own timeout.
Changes:
- run_agent.py: track concurrent-tool worker tids in a per-agent set,
fan interrupt()/clear_interrupt() out to them, and handle the
register-after-interrupt race at _run_tool entry. getattr fallback
for the tracker so test stubs built via object.__new__ keep working.
- tools/environments/base.py: opt-in _wait_for_process trace (ENTER,
per-30s HEARTBEAT with interrupt+activity-cb state, INTERRUPT
DETECTED, TIMEOUT, EXIT) behind HERMES_DEBUG_INTERRUPT=1.
- tools/interrupt.py: opt-in set_interrupt() trace (caller tid, target
tid, set snapshot) behind the same env flag.
- tests: new regression test runs a polling tool on a concurrent worker
and asserts is_interrupted() flips to True within ~1s of interrupt().
Second new test guards clear_interrupt() clearing tracked worker bits.
Validation: tests/run_agent/ all 762 pass; tests/tools/ interrupt+env
subset 216 pass.
* fix(interrupt-debug): bypass quiet_mode logger filter so trace reaches agent.log
AIAgent.__init__ sets logging.getLogger('tools').setLevel(ERROR) when
quiet_mode=True (the CLI default). This would silently swallow every
INFO-level trace line from the HERMES_DEBUG_INTERRUPT=1 instrumentation
added in the parent commit — confirmed by running hermes chat -q with
the flag and finding zero trace lines in agent.log even though
_wait_for_process was clearly executing (subprocess pid existed).
Fix: when HERMES_DEBUG_INTERRUPT=1, each traced module explicitly sets
its own logger level to INFO at import time, overriding the 'tools'
parent-level filter. Scoped to the opt-in case only, so production
(quiet_mode default) logs stay quiet as designed.
Validation: hermes chat -q with HERMES_DEBUG_INTERRUPT=1 now writes
'_wait_for_process ENTER/EXIT' lines to agent.log as expected.
* fix(cli): SIGTERM/SIGHUP no longer orphans tool subprocesses
Tool subprocesses spawned by the local environment backend use
os.setsid so they run in their own process group. Before this fix,
SIGTERM/SIGHUP to the hermes CLI killed the main thread via
KeyboardInterrupt but the worker thread running _wait_for_process
never got a chance to call _kill_process — Python exited, the child
was reparented to init (PPID=1), and the subprocess ran to its
natural end (confirmed live: sleep 300 survived 4+ min after SIGTERM
to the agent until manual cleanup).
Changes:
- cli.py _signal_handler (interactive) + _signal_handler_q (-q mode):
route SIGTERM/SIGHUP through agent.interrupt() so the worker's poll
loop sees the per-thread interrupt flag and calls _kill_process
(os.killpg) on the subprocess group. HERMES_SIGTERM_GRACE (default
1.5s) gives the worker time to complete its SIGTERM+SIGKILL
escalation before KeyboardInterrupt unwinds main.
- tools/environments/base.py _wait_for_process: wrap the poll loop in
try/except (KeyboardInterrupt, SystemExit) so the cleanup fires
even on paths the signal handlers don't cover (direct sys.exit,
unhandled KI from nested code, etc.). Emits EXCEPTION_EXIT trace
line when HERMES_DEBUG_INTERRUPT=1.
- New regression test: injects KeyboardInterrupt into a running
_wait_for_process via PyThreadState_SetAsyncExc, verifies the
subprocess process group is dead within 3s of the exception and
that KeyboardInterrupt re-raises cleanly afterward.
Validation:
| Before | After |
|---------------------------------------------------------|--------------------|
| sleep 300 survives 4+ min as PPID=1 orphan after SIGTERM | dies within 2 s |
| No INTERRUPT DETECTED in trace | INTERRUPT DETECTED fires + killing process group |
| tests/tools/test_local_interrupt_cleanup | 1/1 pass |
| tests/run_agent/test_concurrent_interrupt | 4/4 pass |
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 | Six terminal backends — local, Docker, SSH, Daytona, Singularity, and Modal. 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
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
Works on Linux, macOS, WSL2, and Android via Termux. The installer handles the platform-specific setup for you.
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 not supported. Please install WSL2 and run the command above.
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> |
/skills or /<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]"
python -m pytest tests/ -q
RL Training (optional): To work on the RL/Tinker-Atropos integration:
git submodule update --init tinker-atropos uv pip install -e "./tinker-atropos"
Community
- 💬 Discord
- 📚 Skills Hub
- 🐛 Issues
- 💡 Discussions
- 🔌 HermesClaw — Community WeChat bridge: Run Hermes Agent and OpenClaw on the same WeChat account.
License
MIT — see LICENSE.
Built by Nous Research.