An AI Assistant That Actually Remembers. Yours to Own, Yours to Run.
Based on the Nous Research Hermes architecture. Persistent memory across every session — your preferences, your projects, your business context, always available. Runs on your own spare laptop or desktop PC. No ongoing subscription beyond your chosen LLM provider.
Hermes vs Standard Chatbots
Standard AI chatbots like ChatGPT reset completely every session — no memory of past conversations, no context from previous work, no knowledge of your preferences or ongoing projects. Every conversation starts from zero. An AI assistant that remembers context across sessions changes how you work with AI at a fundamental level.
Hermes maintains full context across every session. Every conversation builds on everything before it. It knows your business, your tone, your projects, and your preferences without you explaining them again every time. Accessible from Telegram, Discord, or WhatsApp so it lives exactly where you already work — not in another browser tab you have to remember to open.
Free Prerequisite Checklist
Not sure if your laptop or desktop PC can run Hermes? Grab the free checklist and find out in 60 seconds.
Two Tiers — Pick the One That Fits
Start with Hermes Core for the full persistent assistant experience, or go straight to Hermes + Social for automated social media posting on a schedule.
Hermes Core
Persistent AI assistant with Telegram integration. The full self-hosted Hermes experience.
- Full environment setup and dependency installation with copy-paste commands
- Persistent memory configuration — Hermes remembers everything across sessions
- Telegram integration — access your AI assistant from your phone from day one
- Plain language architecture overview — understand what you are running and why
- Troubleshooting reference for common setup issues
Hermes + Social
Everything in Hermes Core plus automated social media posting on a schedule.
- Everything in Hermes Core
- Automated social media posting skill — Hermes posts to your business social accounts on a schedule
- Cron job configuration — set it once, runs automatically, no manual posting ever again
- Social media skill walkthrough — platform connections, post scheduling, content configuration
Foundation Note
This guide includes the complete WSL server foundation setup. If you have already completed the Windows WSL2 Home Server Setup guide you can skip directly to the Hermes environment setup section.
Your AI Assistant Handles Your Data. Here Is How We Protect It — And How Hermes Can Help Protect Itself.
Hermes runs on your own machine on your own home network — your data never passes through a third party server. Your router firewall protects the server itself. But your API keys, your LLM provider credentials, and your Telegram bot token need their own layer of care. This guide covers secure API key storage using environment variables, Telegram bot token security, access controls, and what to never do with credentials in plain text files.
Here is what makes Hermes different from any other setup guide: once Hermes is installed and running, you can ask it to review your own server security configuration and suggest improvements. Hermes can check your SSH configuration, review your UFW firewall rules, audit your credential storage practices, and flag anything that needs attention — in plain language, on demand, from your phone via Telegram. Your AI assistant becomes your own personal security advisor for the server it runs on.
Download the free Home Server Security Checklist as a printed starting reference before Hermes takes over the ongoing checks.
Secure API key storage
Environment variables for every LLM provider credential, never plain text files.
Telegram bot token security
Protect the bot token the same way you protect any other server credential.
Access controls
Restrict who can talk to your Hermes instance and how.
Hermes audits itself
Ask Hermes to review your SSH config, UFW rules, and credential storage on demand.
Free Home Server Security Checklist
Start with the printed reference before Hermes takes over the ongoing security checks.
What's Next — New Skills Coming to Hermes
Additional skills released as add-ons — appointment reminders, lead follow-up, invoice nudges, and more. Buyers of either tier get notified first when new skills drop.
Appointment reminders
Automated reminders to clients before scheduled calls or visits.
Lead follow-up
Scheduled nudges to leads who have not replied — in your own voice.
Invoice nudges
Polite, persistent reminders to clients with outstanding invoices.
Skills Checklist — Coming Soon
Building on Hermes? Our Skills Checklist is coming soon. Get notified the moment it launches.
Build the Rest of Your Home Server Stack
Hermes runs on the same WSL2 foundation as the 24/7 streaming setups — one machine can host all of it.
Ready to Deploy Your Own Persistent AI Assistant?
Self-hosted AI no monthly subscription 2026 — Hermes runs on your own machine, on your own network, and remembers everything across every session.