Architecture Overview

源码版本v2026.7.20

Hermes Agent is an open-source (MIT) desktop AI agent by Nous Research, positioned as "a persistent agent that grows with you": a message arrives from Telegram/Discord/Slack/etc, the core loop calls the model + tools to complete the task, and the experience is distilled into memory and skills for reuse next time.

Layered View

Each layer in one sentence

• UI Layer: TUI / CLI / Web / ACP (editor protocol) — just entry points, hold no business logic.
• Gateway: gateway/run.py unifies access; platforms are adapters; session/delivery separated; streams and hooks pluggable.
• Core Loop: run_conversation orchestrates "model call → tool call → result backfill → budget decrement", with fallback on failure.
• Capabilities: Tools are atomic functions (tools/registry.py); Skills are higher-order evolvable flows (rewritten by the learning loop); Provider/MCP/Plugins supply models and external capabilities.
• Scheduling: Cron drives timed tasks, Subagent delegates in isolation (zero context cost), 6 sandbox backends isolate execution.
• Learning Loop: Distills conversation experience into skills and a user model — the flywheel behind "better the more you use it".

Suggested reading order

1. Startup & Entry — how a command becomes a running agent
2. Main Loop — what happens when a message arrives
3. Capabilities — the difference between tools and skills
4. Gateway — how multi-platform delivery works
5. Scheduling — automation and isolation
6. Learning Loop — the self-improvement mechanism