Hermes Desktop - Ollama

Hermes Desktop is a native AI assistant app by Nous Research. It provides a desktop chat interface for Hermes Agent, an AI agent that can work with models, run tools, manage projects, use memory and skills, and connect to messaging gateways.

Quick start

bash

ollama launch hermes-desktop

Ollama handles the setup flow automatically:

Install - If Hermes isn't installed, Ollama prompts to install the Hermes command-line agent. On first desktop launch, Hermes builds its packaged desktop app.
Model - Pick a model from the selector
Configure - Ollama configures Hermes Desktop to use your selected Ollama model
Launch - Ollama opens Hermes Desktop

Run directly with a model

bash

ollama launch hermes-desktop --model <model>

Run ollama launch hermes-desktop again to switch models later.

Install Hermes Desktop directly

On macOS and Windows, the Hermes Desktop installer is the recommended upstream installation path. It installs the desktop app and Hermes Agent together. If you prefer the command line, ollama launch hermes-desktop remains the explicit Ollama-managed path and uses the same Hermes configuration, sessions, skills, and memory as the CLI.

To force Hermes to rebuild its packaged desktop app:

bash

ollama launch hermes-desktop -- --force-build