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HermesPet macOS AI Companion — Setup Guide

Source: aradotso/hermes-skills · 38 installs Category: Hermes Agent Variants / Desktop Integration License: MIT · Platform: macOS · Published: June 2026

A macOS-native desktop companion built on the Hermes Agent framework. Provides persistent visual presence, interaction feedback, and personality to your Hermes agent — turning it from a background process into a visible desktop assistant.


What It Does

Feature Description
Desktop Pet Animated character lives on your macOS desktop
Agent Status Visual feedback for agent state (idle, working, error)
Quick Commands Click interactions for common Hermes commands
Notifications Desktop alerts for agent task completion
Persistence Survives sleep/wake cycles, always visible

The companion bridges the gap between a headless agent process and an interactive desktop experience — useful for development, demos, and keeping Hermes visible during long-running tasks.


Prerequisites

  • macOS 14 Sonoma or later
  • Hermes Agent installed and configured
  • Node.js 18+ (for npx installation)
  • Accessibility permissions granted (System Settings → Privacy → Accessibility)

Installation

npx skills add aradotso/hermes-skills@hermespet-macos-ai-companion

Manual Clone

git clone https://github.com/aradotso/hermes-skills.git
cd hermes-skills/hermespet-macos-ai-companion
npm install
npm run build

Start the Companion

npm start

On first launch, macOS will request Accessibility permission. Grant it for the companion to overlay on the desktop.


Usage with Hermes Agent

After starting, the pet appears as a small animated character in the corner of your screen. It changes expression based on:

  • Idle: Neutral, occasional animations
  • Processing: Focused/working animation when Hermes is executing tasks
  • Complete: Success animation when tasks finish
  • Error: Alert expression when something fails

Click the pet to access a quick-command menu for common Hermes operations.

# The companion autodetects Hermes via the hermes CLI
hermespet-macos-ai-companion --hermes-profile corpusiq

Configuration

// ~/.hermespet/config.json
{
  "hermesProfile": "corpusiq",
  "position": "bottom-right",
  "size": "small",
  "animations": true,
  "soundEffects": false,
  "startOnLogin": true
}
Option Values Default
position top-left, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-right bottom-right
size small, medium, large small
animations true/false true
soundEffects true/false false
startOnLogin true/false false

CorpusIQ Use Cases

Use Case How
Agent monitoring Visual cue when long-running tasks complete
Demo/presentation Desktop-visible agent for showing Hermes to others
Development feedback Instant visual state for debugging agent workflows
Always-on awareness Never forget Hermes is running a background task

Troubleshooting

Issue Fix
Pet doesn't appear Grant Accessibility permission in System Settings
Pet frozen Restart with npm restart
Hermes not detected Verify hermes is in PATH; pass --hermes-profile explicitly
High CPU usage Set animations: false in config

Hermes Agent Variants | Catalog Home


Part of the Hermes Skills Library. Curated by CorpusIQ — one MCP endpoint, all your business tools. Content remains attributed to original authors and repositories.