Hermes Ershov Memory Engine Setup¶

Plugin: hermes-ershov Source: ersh123/hermes-ershov Stars: 2 ⭐ | License: MIT | Created: June 19, 2026 CI: ✅ GitHub Actions | Security: ✅ CodeQL + OpenSSF Scorecard

1. What It Is¶

A staged nightly memory engine that turns recent Hermes sessions into reviewable memory proposals -- no silent live-memory mutation. Think of it as "Git for agent memory": inspect, diff, approve, apply, revert.

Key design principles: - Artifact-first: Every proposal is a JSONL file with full diffs before any memory write - Human-in-the-loop: No automated mutation of live memory -- every change goes through review - Auditable: Local run ledger + ERSHOV.md diary tracks every decision - Offline-capable: Deterministic replays for demos and tests

How it works (nightly loop):

Recent Sessions → Analyze → Generate Proposals (JSONL)
                              ↓
                    Inspect → Diff → Validate
                              ↓
                   Approve → Apply → Verify
                   Reject  → Archive with reason
                              ↓
                   Write to ERSHOV.md diary

2. Prerequisites¶

Hermes Agent installed (plugin system supported)
At least one LLM backend configured (DeepSeek, OpenRouter, OpenAI-compatible, or Ollama)
Git (for install)
Disk space: ~50KB for plugin + ledger files

3. Installation¶

Plugin Install (Recommended)¶

hermes plugins install ersh123/hermes-ershov --enable

Local Development Install¶

hermes plugins install file:///path/to/hermes-ershov --enable

Verify Installation¶

hermes plugins list | grep ershov
hermes ershov review --help

Configure LLM Backend¶

Ershov supports 4 backends. Configure in ~/.hermes/config.yaml:

ershov:
  backend: deepseek           # deepseek | openrouter | openai-compatible | ollama
  model: deepseek-chat        # Model name for your chosen backend

  # Backend-specific configs (only one needed):
  deepseek:
    api_key_env: DEEPSEEK_API_KEY
    base_url: "https://api.deepseek.com/v1"

  openrouter:
    api_key_env: OPENROUTER_API_KEY
    base_url: "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1"

  openai_compatible:
    api_key_env: OPENAI_API_KEY
    base_url: "${OPENAI_BASE_URL}"

  ollama:
    base_url: "http://localhost:11434"

4. Capabilities¶

Feature	Description
`review`	Generate memory proposals from recent sessions
`inspect`	View a proposal's full diff
`validate`	Validate proposals against memory constraints
`approve`	Approve a proposal for application
`reject`	Reject with reason, archived for audit
`apply`	Apply an approved proposal to live memory
`revert`	Roll back an applied proposal
`ledger`	View local run history
`diary`	Read/write ERSHOV.md audit trail
`offline`	Run with `--offline` for deterministic replay

5. CLI Reference¶

# Nightly review cycle
hermes ershov review                    # Generate proposals
hermes ershov review --list             # List pending proposals
hermes ershov inspect <proposal-id>     # View full diff
hermes ershov validate <proposal-id>    # Validate against constraints
hermes ershov approve <proposal-id>     # Approve for application
hermes ershov reject <proposal-id> --reason "factually incorrect"
hermes ershov apply <proposal-id>       # Write to live memory

# Rollback
hermes ershov revert <proposal-id>      # Undo an applied proposal

# Audit
hermes ershov ledger                    # View run history
hermes ershov ledger --since 7d         # Last 7 days
hermes ershov diary                     # Read ERSHOV.md

# Offline mode
hermes ershov review --offline          # Deterministic replay

6. CorpusIQ Use Cases¶

For the CorpusIQ growth agent profile:

# Install for corpusiq profile
hermes --profile corpusiq plugins install ersh123/hermes-ershov --enable

# Run nightly review on CorpusIQ sessions
hermes --profile corpusiq ershov review --since 24h

# Inspect proposals about growth strategy
hermes --profile corpusiq ershov inspect <id>

# Approve high-quality memory proposals
hermes --profile corpusiq ershov approve <id>
hermes --profile corpusiq ershov apply <id>

CorpusIQ-specific config:

# In ~/.hermes/profiles/corpusiq/config.yaml
ershov:
  backend: deepseek
  model: deepseek-chat
  deepseek:
    api_key_env: DEEPSEEK_API_KEY
    base_url: "https://api.deepseek.com/v1"

Integration with CorpusIQ's existing memory stack: - Ershov complements (doesn't replace) Hermes' built-in memory tool - Use Ershov for: cross-session pattern detection, cleanup of stale memories, quality audits - Keep Hermes memory for: session-level facts, user preferences, quick saves - Ershov diary serves as a changelog for the memory layer -- pairs well with Honcho's peer context

Cron job for nightly review:

# Add to crontab: run at 3 AM Arizona daily
0 3 * * * hermes --profile corpusiq ershov review --since 24h >> ~/.hermes/profiles/corpusiq/logs/ershov.log 2>&1

7. Troubleshooting¶

Symptom	Likely Cause	Fix
`hermes plugins install` fails	Git not installed	`apt-get install git` / `brew install git`
`review` produces 0 proposals	No sessions in window	Check `--since` window; run a session first
LLM backend connection refused	Wrong base URL or API key	Verify env vars; test with `curl $base_url/models`
`apply` fails silently	Proposal conflicts with live memory	Inspect diff first; resolve conflict manually
High token costs	Using expensive model for proposal gen	Switch backend to DeepSeek or Ollama
Offline mode produces different results	Non-deterministic backend configured	Use `--model` override with a deterministic temp

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