folder_openGetting Started schedule2 min read update3 Nov 2026

Get Hermes Brain running on your machine in under a minute.

Option 1 — One-line install (fastest)

Linux / macOS / WSL:

  curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mistrysiddh/hermes-brain-template/main/_System/Scripts/Installers/install.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell):

  irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mistrysiddh/hermes-brain-template/main/_System/Scripts/Installers/install.ps1 | iex

The installer:

  1. Clones the template to your destination (default ~/Hermes Brain)
  2. Detects Obsidian and tells you which plugins to enable
  3. Detects the hermes CLI and registers env.HERMES_VAULT_PATH
  4. Offers to register the hourly session-archiving cron job

Option 2 — GitHub “Use this template”

  1. Click Use this template to create your own private repo.
  2. Clone it and run the installer from inside the folder:
  ./_System/Scripts/Installers/install.sh   # Linux/macOS

Step 2 — Open in Obsidian

  • Install Obsidian (free).
  • “Open folder as vault” → select your Hermes Brain folder.
  • Enable the bundled community plugins when prompted:
    • Dataview — live tables in the Daily Timeline and Dashboards
    • Smart Connections — semantic search across the vault
    • Local REST API — lets Hermes read/write notes over HTTP
    • Kanban — powers the Memory Review board

Step 3 — Generate your Local REST API key

The template ships without any API key.

  • In Obsidian: Settings → Local REST API → it auto-generates a key on first enable.
  • Store it in Hermes’s protected env (never in a vault note):
  hermes config set env.OBSIDIAN_REST_API_KEY "<your-key>"

Step 4 — Point Hermes at this vault

Hermes archives sessions into 04-Archives/Daily/YYYY/MM/DD/ using either:

  • Real-time lifecycle hooks (instant, recommended) — add shell hooks to ~/.hermes/config.yaml pointing to _System/Scripts/hermes_session_sync.sh
  • Hourly cron — 0 * * * * runs python _System/Scripts/hourly_archive.py

Verify it works 

  # Self-test the bundled MCP server
python _System/Scripts/hermes_brain_mcp.py --test

# Should print: All hermes-brain-mcp self-tests PASSED

You should see All hermes-brain-mcp self-tests PASSED and [] (no pending memory candidates on a fresh vault).

Next steps