Hermes Guide
Hermes Agent GUI: Every Way to Use Hermes Beyond the Plain CLI
Hermes Agent started as a terminal program, but it now has a terminal UI, a native desktop app, a browser dashboard, and a messaging gateway that turns Telegram or Slack into its interface. They all drive the same agent. This page maps each surface, what it is good at, and which one to pick, based on the current upstream Hermes docs.
One agent, several front ends
Every Hermes interface below talks to the same core. Upstream is explicit about this: the desktop app uses “the same config, same API keys, same sessions, same skills, same memory” as the CLI and the gateway, and a session started in one surface can be resumed in another. So choosing a GUI is not choosing a different product. It is choosing how you want to sit in front of the same agent.
| Surface | Start it with | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Classic CLI | hermes | Scripts, quick one-off prompts, SSH sessions |
| TUI | hermes --tui | Daily interactive use in a terminal, watching subagents |
| Hermes Desktop | Download, or hermes desktop | A native window with previews, files and multiple chats |
| Web dashboard | hermes dashboard | Config, keys, sessions, logs, cron and skills in a browser |
| Messaging apps | hermes gateway | Talking to the agent from your phone, or sharing it with a team |
| OpenAI-compatible UIs | API server on port 8642 | Using Open WebUI, LobeChat or similar as the chat window |
| Managed dashboard | OpenClaw Launch | An always-on agent with no server to maintain |
The TUI: hermes --tui
The TUI is a full-screen terminal interface backed by the same Python runtime as the classic CLI. The upstream docs call it the recommended way to run Hermes interactively, though the classic CLI is still the shipped default. What it adds over the plain prompt:
- Modal pickers for models and sessions, and approval or clarification prompts as overlays instead of inline text.
- A live dock of running subagents and background processes.
Ctrl+Texpands it into the/agentsroster, where you can read a worker’s transcript, steer it or stop it. - A live session switcher on
Ctrl+Xor/sessions, so one terminal can juggle several conversations. - Mouse selection, clipboard image paste, and flicker-free streaming on the alternate screen.
hermes --tui # start the TUI
hermes --tui -c # resume the latest session
hermes --tui -r "my session" # resume by ID or title
# make it the default
export HERMES_TUI=1
# or in ~/.hermes/config.yaml:
# display:
# interface: tuiIt needs Node.js 20 or newer and a real terminal; piped input falls back to single-query mode. Every slash command from the classic CLI works the same. The full command reference is in the Hermes Agent CLI guide.
Hermes Desktop: the native app
Hermes Desktop is the closest thing to a conventional GUI. It is a chat-first window with a sidebar, and it adds things a terminal cannot: a preview rail that renders web pages and files beside the chat, drag-and-drop attachments, a file tree for your projects, an embedded terminal pane, a context-usage meter, and a command palette. Profiles, skills, cron and settings are all managed from inside it.
Platform support, per the upstream install docs as of September 2026:
- macOS: a DMG for Apple Silicon. Intel Macs are not a supported platform.
- Windows: an MSIX package installed through Windows App Installer, which needs Windows 11 22H2 or later. Older Windows uses the PowerShell command-line install.
- Linux: no published package. Install the CLI, then run
hermes desktop.
If Hermes is already installed from the command line, hermes desktop opens the app on top of your existing config and sessions. The app can also connect to a Hermes backend on another machine instead of running one locally. Download links, connection modes and the step-by-step setup are in the Hermes Agent desktop app guide.
The web dashboard: hermes dashboard
hermes dashboard starts a local web server and opens http://127.0.0.1:9119. It is an admin panel first: pages for status, config, API keys, sessions, logs, analytics, cron jobs, profiles, skills, MCP servers, webhooks, pairing and channels. One dashboard manages every profile on the machine through a switcher in the sidebar.
It also has a Chat tab. That tab does not reimplement chat in HTML. The server spawns hermes --tui behind a pseudo-terminal and renders it in the browser with xterm.js, so the browser chat behaves exactly like the terminal TUI, with a session list beside it. The Chat tab needs a POSIX system; on native Windows the rest of the dashboard works but the chat pane asks you to use WSL2.
Two practical points:
- By default it binds to
127.0.0.1. Binding to a public interface always requires an auth provider (password or Nous Portal OAuth); the old--insecureflag no longer turns auth off. - This dashboard is also what the Desktop app’s remote-backend mode connects to. The messaging gateway is a separate process.
For more on opening and securing it, see Hermes Agent Web UI.
Messaging apps as the interface
For many people the GUI they actually use is a chat app. hermes gateway is a single background process that connects Hermes to Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Email, Matrix, Microsoft Teams, Feishu, WeCom and more. You get a mobile interface for free, other people can talk to the same agent, and cron jobs can deliver results to a chat.
The trade-off is that messaging apps are poor at config and debugging. You cannot see tool calls in detail or edit settings from Telegram, so most people pair a chat app with the dashboard or the TUI. Setup for the most common one is in Hermes Agent + Telegram.
OpenAI-compatible frontends
Hermes can also run an API server, by default on http://127.0.0.1:8642/v1, that speaks the OpenAI chat format. Any client that accepts a custom OpenAI endpoint can use Hermes as its backend: Open WebUI, LobeChat, LibreChat, NextChat and others. The agent still runs its full toolset and returns the final answer, with tool progress shown inline when streaming. This suits you if you already live in one of those apps. See Connect Open WebUI to Hermes.
A managed dashboard: OpenClaw Launch
Every option above assumes you run Hermes somewhere, and the GUI stops working when that machine sleeps. OpenClaw Launch runs the agent in the cloud and gives each bot a card on your dashboard with:
- Quick Chat to talk to the bot from the dashboard.
- Open Dashboard, which opens the Hermes web dashboard for that bot behind your OpenClaw Launch login rather than on an open port.
- Terminal and Files for the bot’s own shell and workspace, without SSH.
- One-click connection of Telegram, Discord and other platforms, plus a Hermes Desktop option that gives you a remote URL and credentials to paste into the desktop app.
Installable runtimes and MCP servers are handled on the Tools page, covered in Dashboard Tools. For how managed options compare, see Best Hermes Hosting.
Which one should you use?
| If you want to… | Use |
|---|---|
| Work interactively in a terminal with the best experience | TUI (hermes --tui) |
| Automate Hermes from scripts or cron on your own box | Classic CLI |
| Have a normal app window with previews and files | Hermes Desktop |
| Change config, keys, skills or cron without editing YAML | hermes dashboard |
| Reach the agent from your phone or share it with others | Messaging gateway |
| Keep using Open WebUI or a similar chat app | API server on port 8642 |
| Skip servers, uptime and updates entirely | Managed Hermes |
These combine freely. A common setup is Telegram for daily chat, the dashboard for settings, and the TUI or desktop app for longer working sessions, all on the same agent. New to Hermes? Start with What Is Hermes Agent? and Install Hermes Agent.
Hermes Agent GUI FAQ
Does Hermes Agent have a GUI?
Yes, several. Nous Research ships a native Hermes Desktop app, a browser admin panel started with hermes dashboard, and a full-screen terminal UI started with hermes --tui. All of them drive the same agent core, so config, keys, skills, memory and sessions are shared between them.
How do I make the TUI the default instead of the classic CLI?
Set display.interface: tui in ~/.hermes/config.yaml, or export HERMES_TUI=1. After that a bare hermes opens the TUI. hermes --cli still drops you back to the classic REPL for one run. The TUI needs Node.js 20 or newer.
What is the difference between Hermes Desktop and hermes dashboard?
Hermes Desktop is a native app built around chat: multiple conversations, a preview rail, a file browser, voice and settings. hermes dashboard is a web admin panel on port 9119 for config, API keys, sessions, logs, cron, skills, MCP and pairing, with a Chat tab that embeds the TUI in the browser. They are linked: the Desktop app’s remote-backend mode connects to a hermes dashboard running on another machine.
Is there a Hermes Desktop app for Linux?
Not as a download. Upstream publishes packages for Apple Silicon Macs and Windows, and notes that Linux desktop packaging is disabled in its release workflow. The documented route on Linux is the command-line install followed by hermes desktop. The TUI and the web dashboard both work on Linux.
Can I use a Hermes GUI without running a server myself?
Yes. A managed bot on OpenClaw Launch gives you a web dashboard with Quick Chat, the Hermes dashboard, a terminal and file access, and you can point the Hermes Desktop app at it as a remote gateway. The agent keeps running when your laptop is closed.