Choose a ForgeGuard artifact
Choose a ForgeGuard artifact
Section titled “Choose a ForgeGuard artifact”ForgeGuard publishes three kinds of artifact from this fork. They all run the same upstream Hermes Agent — they differ in how it is packaged and supervised. Pick the one that matches how you want to run the agent.
At a glance
Section titled “At a glance”| You want to… | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Run a persistent agent that a client connects to (web dashboard, Desktop Client Mode, messaging platforms, scheduled jobs) | Runtime image (runtime-*) | Full supervised server: s6 keeps the dashboard and per-profile gateways running; state persists on a volume. |
| Work interactively in a terminal on a Linux workstation with host integration, without installing the full dependency stack on the host | CLI image (cli-*) via distrobox | Lean interactive image; your ~/.hermes is shared with the host and survives upgrades. |
| Run the graphical Hermes Desktop app on your own machine | Desktop installers | Native Linux (.AppImage/.deb/.rpm) and macOS (.dmg/.zip) builds attached to each fork release. |
Prerequisites
Section titled “Prerequisites”- Runtime image: a container engine (Docker or Podman) and a host to run it on — a small VPS is enough. If you expose the dashboard beyond loopback you must configure dashboard authentication.
- CLI image: a Linux host with distrobox and a
container engine. Plain
docker run -italso works for one-off use. - Desktop installers: a supported Linux distribution or macOS. See Desktop artifacts for formats and the macOS Gatekeeper note.
Decision guide
Section titled “Decision guide”-
Is a client or a person going to connect to a long-running agent? Use the runtime image. This is the shortest fork-specific path to a persistent Hermes deployment.
-
Do you mainly want a terminal, on your own Linux box, that behaves like a local install but is containerised? Use the CLI image via distrobox.
-
Do you want the desktop application? Install a desktop artifact. The desktop app can also connect to a runtime deployment through its Client Mode.
Not sure you need a ForgeGuard artifact at all?
Section titled “Not sure you need a ForgeGuard artifact at all?”If you just want to install Hermes on your own machine the ordinary way, the upstream native installer is the canonical path and is fully supported by Nous Research:
curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bashForgeGuard’s artifacts exist for the cases above — persistent container deployments, containerised CLI use, and prebuilt desktop installers — not to replace the upstream installer. See the upstream Quickstart for the native path.