Hermes Agent: Files, the browser, and memory

This is page 3 of 8 in the Hermes Agent guide. It shows what Hermes can do with your files, the web, and its memory, with one small safe exercise for each. It assumes you finished page 2 with the safety switches on.

Facts here were checked on 14 November 2026 against Hermes's own docs. Keep working in the agent-tryout folder for every exercise below.

Files

Hermes has no container around it on the local backend. Its file tools and its commands can reach any file your Windows or Mac account can reach. The cwd setting from page 2 only picks the folder where it starts. That is why every job below names agent-tryout and tells Hermes to stay there.

Writing a file is not a command on the dangerous list, so Hermes saves files without asking you first. Your protection is the instruction in your prompt, your own check afterward, and the habit of keeping only copies in the folder.

A few details from the docs help when you work with ordinary files.

• Text files from Notepad work. Hermes's file reader converts the UTF-16 format that Windows Notepad sometimes uses, instead of refusing the file, and it saves edits back as UTF-8.
• Big files are refused. The reader refuses files over 10 MB and true binary files, such as a program.
• Images can go into the chat. In a terminal chat you can paste an image or drag one in, and /paste and /image also attach one. This guide could not confirm whether the desktop app accepts other files, such as a PDF, as attachments. Put those in agent-tryout instead, and name them in your prompt.
• The desktop app shows files too. Cmd+J on a Mac, or Ctrl+J on Windows, opens a file browser beside the chat. An Artifacts view in the sidebar collects the files and images your chats produced.

Exercise: make a list and a table

Paste this into a new chat.

In the agent-tryout folder, make two files. First, a text file named shopping-notes.txt with three grocery items. Second, a CSV table named shopping-prices.csv with those same items and a price column. Use your file tools only, and do not write or run a program. Do not touch any other folder.

The last two limits matter on Hermes. A program it writes in the desktop app or a terminal chat can change files without asking, and page 2 explains that gap.

What you should see shopping-notes.txt and shopping-prices.csv in agent-tryout when you open it in File Explorer or Finder, and nothing new anywhere else.

The web

Hermes has two ways to use the web, and both work right after install.

Search and read. The web_search and web_extract tools find pages and pull out their text. With no web key set, Hermes's docs say requests rotate among the free tiers of four search companies. They are Exa, Parallel, Firecrawl, and Keenable, and no sign-up is needed. Your search words therefore go to those companies, although the docs say the requests carry no user identifiers. You can pick one company in hermes tools, under Web Search & Extract. The docs suggest these two tools first because they are faster and cheaper than the browser.

A real browser. The browser tool drives its own copy of Chromium, a free browser that the Windows app and the command install both include. On a Mac with only the desktop app, the first browser job downloads Chromium, about 195 MB, into ~/.hermes/tools. By default this browser runs out of sight, starts logged into nothing, and keeps nothing after the session. Your own Chrome is never touched. If you want to watch it work, set browser.headed: true in config.yaml under browser:.

Two browser facts carry real risk.

• The browser runs a program. The docs say the browser tool works by running model-written Python on your computer, so Hermes offers it only where the terminal tool is also on.
• Your real logins are one switch away. The desktop app has a Use My Real Browser Profile switch, under Capabilities, then Tools, then Browser. It copies your everyday browser's logins for the agent to use. The docs call it "a consent-gated convenience, not an isolation boundary," and it is off by default, so leave it off.

Exercise: compare two products

This exercise sticks to search and page reading, because the browser runs a program that the approval questions do not cover. Paste this.

Use web search and web page reading only, not the browser tool, to find two product pages. One should be for a 16 GB USB drive, and one for a 32 GB USB drive. Compare the price and one difference that matters. Save the notes as usb-compare.txt in the agent-tryout folder, with the address of each page. Do not sign in, do not buy anything, and do not touch any other folder.

What you should see a short comparison in the chat with two page addresses, and usb-compare.txt in agent-tryout with the same notes.

Memory

Hermes remembers between chats in two small text files. MEMORY.md holds its notes about your setup, up to 2,200 characters, and USER.md holds your preferences, up to 1,375 characters. Both sit in a memories folder inside the Hermes folder from page 2: %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes\memories on Windows, and ~/.hermes/memories on a Mac.

Four facts from the memory docs shape how you use it.

• It saves on its own. Hermes saves facts without asking, including from a background review that runs after a reply. By default a short line such as 💾 Memory updated appears in the chat when that happens.
• New memories show up in the next chat. Hermes reads both files when a chat starts. A fact saved now is used only after you start a new chat with /new.
• Some models only pretend to save. The docs say small local models, and others that are weak at using tools, often say "I'll remember that" without saving anything. The file is the proof, not the reply.
• Every chat is also kept in full. Hermes stores past chats in a database file called state.db and can search them later. hermes sessions list shows them in a terminal.

To read or delete what it saved, open MEMORY.md or USER.md with Notepad or TextEdit and edit the lines yourself. In the desktop app, typing /journey opens a map of saved memories and skills where you can edit or delete each one. If you would rather approve every save first, add write_approval: true under a memory: line in config.yaml. Saves then wait for your yes. The request comes as a question in a terminal chat, or in a list you open with /memory pending and approve with /memory approve. The gate does not stop a command or a file tool from editing the two files directly.

Exercise: remember one preference

Paste this.

Use your memory tool to remember that I want prices in dollars and answers in short sentences.

Then type /new to start a fresh chat, and ask the question below.

Summarize usb-compare.txt from the agent-tryout folder.

What you should see a summary in short sentences with dollar prices. When you open USER.md, where the docs say preferences go, it contains a line about dollars and short sentences. If that line is missing, the model only claimed to save it, so ask again and name the memory tool.

Sources

Research in this repo:

• Hermes raw notes
• First-hour safety checklist

Official Hermes pages (checked 14 November 2026):

• Tools and toolsets (Notepad UTF-16 files, the 10 MB limit, terminal backends): https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/tools
• CLI (pasting and dragging images, /paste, /image): https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/cli
• Desktop app (file browser shortcut, Artifacts view, /journey map): https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/desktop
• Web search and extract (keyless free-tier rotation, hermes tools): https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/web-search
• Browser automation (local Chromium, the 195 MB download, browser.headed, the real-profile switch): https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/browser
• Memory (the two files, their limits, the next-chat rule, write_approval, /memory pending): https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/memory
• Security (Python programs and file changes, in the desktop app and terminal chats; the browser's Python is not covered by approvals): https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/security
• Toolsets reference (the browser tool runs model-written Python): https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/reference/toolsets-reference

Next

Continue to Phone and schedules.