Hermes Agent 0.23.0 opens the desktop in a browser and unifies sessions

What changed

v0.23.0's release notes, published November 5, 2026, call this the Hearth release and say it fully documents the v0.22.1 through v0.22.7 patch tags. The notes count the window since v0.22.0 at about 10,080 commits, 1,950 merged pull requests, and 666 contributors. Highlights they lead with:

• Desktop in a browser. A web app serves the desktop workspace from your own gateway: the same chats, group chats, plugins, and settings, on your network or behind a public URL with sign-in. Docker and Nix ship it. It is off until you set webapp.enabled or turn on Web Access in Settings.
• One gateway per machine owns every session. CLI, TUI, desktop, ACP editors, messaging bots, and cron attach as clients. A chat opened on one surface is the same chat, with one queue and one history. You can steer or edit a queued prompt from the desktop without it running twice.
• Terminal images and rewind. CLI and TUI draw pasted images and screenshots inline on supported terminals. Esc twice or /rewind picks an earlier message so you can edit and resend, or fork a new session. The original session stays as it was.
• Several machines in one desktop window. Gateways stay connected together, including SSH and remote gateways. A group chat can mix bots from different machines.
• Group chats that route themselves. A lead bot, or an automatic router, can pick who answers a message that names nobody. Scheduled jobs can post into a room. Bot-to-bot loops are capped.
• Plugins. hermes plugins update updates everything at once, with an opt-in auto-update that holds back a breaking update. The catalog grew from about 600 entries to over 1,050, with a Verified tier for plugins built by the vendor. Paid MCP tools can show a price and a running total, and Hermes asks before a chat crosses its spend limit, including in YOLO mode.
• Delegation and skills. /delegation chooses how subagent tasks run, including an official advanced-delegation plugin. Built-in skills went from 58 to 44. Word, PowerPoint, and Excel are one microsoft-office skill. hermes curator lock stops the agent from rewriting a skill you curated.
• Cron. A running job can be cancelled from the CLI, desktop, API, or the agent, and each job can say what happens to runs missed while Hermes was off.

Upgrade notes in the release:

• The old built-in browser_* tools are gone. Browser automation uses browser_exec. Homes that used Camofox get the camofox plugin installed automatically.
• Desktop needs macOS 13 or newer, and 64-bit Windows. Electron 44 dropped macOS 11, macOS 12, and 32-bit Windows.
• hermes mcp serve is now hermes mcp-serve.
• The silent default model, when you never pick one, moves from GLM-5.2 to GLM-5.3 on Nous Portal and OpenRouter, still with a 1 million token context window.

The X post from @NousResearch the same day points at this changelog and names the browser desktop, one gateway, rewind, group-chat routing, spend limits, and the lighter build.

Why it matters

If the CLI and the desktop were writing the same chat twice, or losing messages between them, v0.23.0 is the release that makes one gateway the owner. Surfaces attach. They do not each run an agent.

The web app is the new remote desktop, and it does not turn itself on. Nothing is served until webapp.enabled or Web Access is set. A public URL still sits behind sign-in, per the notes.

Prompts, skills, and tool lists that name browser_navigate, browser_click, and the other removed browser_* tools have to move to browser_exec. MCP clients that launch hermes mcp serve need the new hermes mcp-serve command. Nobody rewrites that for you. Desktop on macOS 12 or 32-bit Windows will not run this build.

Paid MCP calls now show a price before they spend. A spend limit applies even in YOLO mode, which is the setting people turn on specifically to skip prompts.

Frequently asked questions

Is the browser desktop on by default?

No. The release notes say the web app is off until you set webapp.enabled or turn on Web Access in Settings.

What happened to the old browser tools?

They were removed. Browser automation runs on browser_exec. If you used Camofox, the camofox plugin is installed for you.

Which patches does this release document?

The notes say v0.23.0 fully documents v0.22.1 through v0.22.7. Those tags pointed ahead to this write-up.

Sources

• Nous Research on X: Hermes Agent v0.23.0 (Nov 5, 2026)
• Hermes Agent v0.23.0