Hermes Brain
Give your Hermes / OpenClaw agent a memory it can’t forget, and you can actually read. Sessions archived as Markdown, secret-scrubbed, and staged for human review.
Open Source MIT Licensed.
What you get
A plain-Markdown memory layer for your agent, with a human in the loop and no vendor lock-in.
Archive every session
Every Hermes session is exported as plain Markdown, deduplicated, and secret-scrubbed before it touches disk.
Human-reviewed memory
Candidate facts are staged for review. Nothing becomes permanent memory until you promote it.
Built-in MCP server
Six tools let Hermes, Claude, or Cursor search and read the vault and stage memory candidates.
PARA vault
Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives, plus a _System core of templates, scripts, and canvases.
Readable graph view
Colour-coded folders and node sizing turn the Obsidian graph from noise into a map.
Agent skills
Self-critique, dream cycle, radar, quiz, and more, each a script and a GitHub Agent.
One-paste install
Install with a one-line command or a single prompt pasted into Hermes. Installers keep your profile intact.
Local git safety net
Every session can get its own local commit, with a secret-scanning gate. A bad edit is one revert away.
No lock-in
It is just Markdown in your own vault or private fork. No proprietary format, no export step.
From chat log to durable memory
Four stages turn volatile sessions into facts you have read and approved.
- inventory_201
Archive
Hourly cron or real-time hooks export every session as Markdown. Secrets are scrubbed before anything touches disk.
04-Archives/Daily/ - filter_alt02
Stage
A mechanical, LLM-free pass extracts candidate facts into a review queue, with an audit log of every action.
04-Archives/Memory-Review/ - fact_check03
Review
You promote, dismiss, or skip each candidate. Nothing is promoted automatically.
promote_memory.py --review - psychology04
Remember
Approved facts sync to Hermes MEMORY.md and USER.md and are injected into every turn.
MEMORY.md / USER.md
Watch the install walkthrough
A short video of Hermes Brain being set up and used.
Up and running in a minute
Pick your platform. The installer keeps your existing profile intact and verifies itself when it finishes.
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mistrysiddh/hermes-brain-template/main/_System/Scripts/Installers/install.sh | bash
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mistrysiddh/hermes-brain-template/main/_System/Scripts/Installers/install.ps1 | iex
git clone https://github.com/mistrysiddh/hermes-brain-template.git my-second-brain && cd my-second-brain && ./_System/Scripts/Installers/install.sh
python _System/Scripts/hermes_brain_mcp.py --test # ends with: All hermes-brain-mcp self-tests PASSED
A PARA layout your agent can navigate
Every folder has one job. Colours match the Obsidian graph view, so the picture and the files agree.
01-Projects/Active work with goals and deadlines, plus architecture decision records.
02-Areas/Long-term standards, your user profile, skills, and team roster.
03-Resources/Maps of content, research, and reference guides.
04-Archives/Daily sessions, the memory review board, and audit reports.
_System/Templates, automation scripts, and visual canvases.
Give any MCP client your second brain
A stdio JSON-RPC server that Hermes, OpenClaw, Claude, or Cursor can call.
vault_searchSearch notes by keyword, tag, or snippetread_noteRead a note by pathget_user_profileAlignment rules and boundariesget_active_adrsAccepted architecture decisionsstage_memory_candidatePropose a fact for human reviewvault_statsSessions, projects, pending reviews
{
"name": "stage_memory_candidate",
"arguments": {
"fact": "User prefers concise, practical guidance.",
"category": "user_preference",
"rationale": "Stated twice in one session."
}
}
Memory you can read and approve
Use a vector database if you want zero-touch recall. Use this if you want to see what your agent remembers.
| Hermes Brain | Raw chat logs | Vector-DB memory | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Human review before memory | check_circle | cancel | cancel |
| Readable without special tooling | check_circle | check_circle | cancel |
| Portable, no vendor lock-in | check_circle | check_circle | cancel |
| Built-in agent analytics | check_circle | cancel | remove_circle |
| One-paste setup for Hermes | check_circle | cancel | cancel |
- check_circle Yes
- cancel No
- remove_circle Partly / varies
Common questions
Do I need a local LLM?
No. The vault, session archiver, and memory-review pipeline work with any Hermes agent. Only the optional trend-digest scripts need Ollama or sentence-transformers.
Is my data private?
Yes. Everything lives in your local vault or your private fork. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you configure it to be.
Can I use it without Hermes or OpenClaw?
Yes. The structure, templates, Dataview queries, Kanban boards, and scripts work as a standalone Obsidian second brain.
How do I update after installing?
Run the update script from inside your vault. It refreshes scripts and templates without touching your personal notes.
Give your agent a memory you can read
Open source, MIT licensed, and just Markdown.